Planning for a scripted video, pt. 1
Filed under: Social Marketing on Friday, May 9th, 2008 by Steven ShaeferMaking a well rounded video program, no matter the length, is a lot like preparing your best dish for a dinner party. Every step of the process needs an equal level of precision and applied fundamental understanding. Lack of attention to detail anywhere in the regiment can turn your five-star tiramisu into a deflated pile of broken mascarpone dreams. A professional videographer/producer can tell you the real value of your piece comes from good pre-production.
Let’s begin with a hypothetical situation: you have just been asked to produce a 1 minute spot for your employer or client for over-the-air broadcast (a majority of your productions will be for broadcast).
As a videographer, your first job is to take the concept handed to you and, using that as a guideline, begin developing your program. Naturally, you’ll want to jump right in and start shooting footage, but that’s a pitfall many will make and good planning is the key here.
A treatment is a literary transcription of exactly what will happen on screen during your program. For example, if this video was your program (god, I hope it isn’t!) your treatment might have begun something like this:
Storyboards on the other hand are active visual representations of your concept. For every time there is an edit in your program, you would draw out what you imagine seeing in the frame during that shot. It becomes more and more like a comic book based on your personal visualization of how this program should look. With your concept, storyboards, and your treatment, you can now return to your client and walk them through how their commercial (or other scripted program) will look. If they like it, only a script is keeping you from production. If not, it’s back to the drawing board (or photoshop)….
