FEATURE: Script Writing for Video Projects

By Alex Van Valkenburgh | AV Support Analyst

 

Van Valkenburgh adj portraitWriting a script is the single most important step of the preparation process for creating a video. This is true regardless of whether the primary purpose of the video is to inform or entertain its viewers. Putting careful planning into a script will greatly assist you in determining exactly what information needs to be conveyed and how to best package that information for your particular audience. Writing a script should be the first step of the creative process; it will guide you through the remainder of the steps needed to create the video. You’ll discover that a well-scripted video will be more concise, much quicker to shoot, and more positively received by its audience than a video with a poor or non-existent script. The following are some suggestions for preparing your script.

Length– Determine how long you would like the finished video to be. While there is no set rule for video length, audiences tend to prefer shorter videos. A 10-minute informational video can seem much longer than that to its audience. There is, similarly, no perfect guide to determine how long a script should be on paper, even if you have a Continue reading FEATURE: Script Writing for Video Projects

COM Donor Videos

In this project, the College of Medicine has asked us to help them thank specific donors for their contributions to various scholarships. Most of these 30+ videos are going to be inserted into personalized video greeting cards, addressed directly to the donor. The remainder of these will either be generalized and ready for future usage, or posted online for promotion. This project required a studio atmosphere where we can control lighting and sound quality, so we decided to make our own studio.

The time lapse video below shows Jason and I transforming a standard classroom (Graves 1187) into our own video production studio.

23 Clinchot and Student General TY.00_00_40_47.Still001 IMG_1719Screenshot of the final product.

Spring Cleaning in Winter!

What do we do when our office slows down for the holidays? SURPLUS! Technology moves very fast. Every year, new AV equipment is purchased, old equipment is retired, and a lot of stuff accumulates in a corner. Over the past few weeks, we’ve had the time to clean and organize all of our storage rooms around the campus, to help our department function more efficiently. We threw out approximately 10-15 carts of trash straight to the dumpster, recycled hundreds of items, and managed to surplus (and document) a whopping 194 items. That’s a great way to start 2015!

James Care for Life – Nutrition Video Series

If there’s a will… there’s a way! Today we trucked 2 of our production carts through a couple inches of unplowed snow over to Atwell Hall, to shoot the first of 6 nutritional videos for James Care for Life. Each instructional video will be dispersed by the James Care for Life team beginning in Jan 2015!

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