Planning For A Scripted Video, pt. 2
Filed under: Social Marketing on Friday, May 23rd, 2008 by Steven ShaeferOkay, you just got out of that meeting with your client. They like your idea. The general plan indicated by your storyboards and treatment seemed to match their concept/mission statement. Time to move on to the next step.
As the producer, you already knew how you wanted this program to look, but you had to ‘comic book’ it for your customer. Now, you need to develop your script - the most detailed exposition you will come up with.
You will be taking the work you have already done and fusing it with further details to create the ready-to-be-shot version of your program. Keep in mind, professional treatments and storyboards are quite a bit more detailed than I explained in Part 1. Nonetheless, this is your beginner’s guide to how scripted [commercial] video is done.
Let’s once again return to our example. If this were your video (I still hope it isn’t), your script might start something like this:
INT. OFFICE BUILDING - MAIN FLOOR - WS/ESTABLISHING - DAY
A man enters the bullpen of a vacant but expensive office building. The man appears to be acting for a non-existent camera, coming to a brief standstill, then he reaches down towards his shoes. He swiftly removes his left shoe and tosses it once up in the air and catches it in his right hand as if it were preparing to pitch his shoe at the batter directly in front of him.
MS - CLOSER ON THE MAN
The man puts the shoe to his ear as if it were a customer on the other end in a low-budget infomercial. He addresses the unseen audience with his thoughts in an incredulous fashion.
This is just one example of how your script might start. It would be important to note here that in this video, there is no fade in - which is why I have put “FADE IN” inside of parenthesis. Just about all of your programs will fade in from black, unless your piece is for a firm that is so avant-garde that even their farts have landed in the Guggenheim.
The two lines that have been put in all-caps are what are called “sluglines.” These lines in a script tell the reader everything they need to know about the setting. The first line says that this shot is an interior shot in an office building on the main floor, during the day, and that it is a wide shot (or establishing shot). This specifically is a shot that has a wide depth of field and “establishes” setting.
You can then adapt your treatment to fill in the details. The second slugline says that the next shot is closer to the man and that it is a medium shot, or from about slightly above the waist and up. The shot in the video is a little bit further out than your average MS, but for our purposes we will call it as such.
You would follow this formula and work out the rest of your piece - including this information for EACH shot and every piece of action and decription that goes with it. Some basic shots that you will probably use: Wide Shot(WS), Long shot(LS), Medium Shot(MS), Medium Close Up (MCU), Close Up (CU), Big Close Up (BCU).
