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DVworkshops.com
Just wanted to share this fun clip from my appearance last month on the SYFY Cable Network.
The subject was my documentary
DID WE GO? which
revealed NASA's destruction of all the Apollo 11 original video & science data.
This film was funded by the State of Ohio and Premiered at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.
Enjoy the clip..and feel free to give us a call for workshop details and housing information,
Aron Ranen Instructor
DVworkshops.com (415) 810-5934
Upcoming Workshops
All Equipment/Computers can be provided at no additional charge.
- 6-Day DV Documentary/Journalist/Corporate Video Workshop February 21-26 $1,045
- 4-Day Video Crash Course March 19-22 10am-7pm $545
Info Request form, more details .please click here
Don't Fear The Reaper>
No longer do you have to fear the written script...follow these short steps and you will never have writers block.
The secret?
Don't write the script first!
First Evaluate your interview elements...then select the 4-8 best sound bites..and write the script "around" them
Step One: Watch & Find the Best Interview Segments.
SCRIPTING THE VOICE OVER
Here's how
First "Log" your footage...write down the best interview material along with it's corresponding Time Code location on your tape or Clip.
I circle the best Interview Sound Bites... or if I am using an Excel spread sheet, I create a "VERY GOOD" column and a "Theme" Column. This makes it easy to find the best bites, and later I use the "Themes" to group related sound bites.
If you are a reporter..you're watching interview clips...trying to find the 4 best sound bites that will tell your story.
A Corporate Video Producer working on an HR training film is viewing employee interviews, folks at work (Chill Footage) and HR Personnel. Taking notes of the best material.
The creator of a Website promo video piece is looking at footage of customers using the product/website at home...Interviews with them and the website's CEO..then has screen shots created in real time using Camptasia software .
The bottom line is that the "Cream DOES " rise to the surface..your best material will be obvious
But you have to watch it all before you begin to script.
In a short video...at the most, you will use 4 to 10 sound bites. Keep this in mind when shooting & Logging your material...keep it simple.
Step Two: Create a "Sound-Bite Flow Chart"
Create a list of the order of your best sound bites. I call this the "Sound Bite Flow Chart"
You will end up with a list of the best segments in the order that tells your story.
Seasoned news reporters and corporate producers are not trapped by logic, they will open with their BEST MATERIAL, and then if needed, back into the story from there.
Step 3: Write the Voice-Over Script
How do I use the "Sound Bite Flow Chart" to write a script?"
I like to visualize the voice-over "snaking" around the Interview clips I've selected..
Each Sound Bite determines the content of the narration that comes before it. I like to say "You write to the sound bite..not the other way around".
Your material drives the voice over, which acts as glue...you organically connect these dots..instead of driving the material into script...you shoot then glue it together with narration/reporting/hosting material.
STEP 3 ...... Example of Script Creation
I am going to use a news segment as an example but this will work for any short form video.
The"Sound Bite Flow Chart" pictured below will help determine what type of voice over needs to be written before each Interview clip.
All news segments begin with 1.5 seconds of Image with Natural Sound..then the first Voice Over is edited into the piece.
Here we need to write an intro which will explain the Fireman's first interview segment.
" Three alarm fire at 44th and Harrison Street, Fourteen people are now homeless...Deputy Fire Chief Ed Marshall was there while the structure still in it's early stages"
The next voice over is going to connect the Fireman's last interview clip with this upcoming Red Cross Sound Bite.
"Volunteers from the community donated food and clothing, and the Red Cross is helping those made homeless from this horrific fire"
Can you see how I have used the previous sound bites to determine what it's preceding voice-over track would be?
According to my "Sound Bite Flow Chart" I see the next interview segment is with two victims from the fire.
All I need is a simple line.
"Among the Homeless are Silvia and Herb Hernandez, they have lived in this building for the past twenty years"
The final Fireman Sound Bite deals with the cause of this fire, I would set up the final fireman's interview clip with:
" Arson investigators confirmed that this this tragic fire was started by a cigarette in a mattress."
A reporter would then toss it back "live to the studio" or edit their on camera stand up/close/ID
In the case of Marketing videos, Customer Testimonials or
Corporate Video segments..you could end with a BUTTON
A button is a sound bite that "sums up" the segment, or gives it an emotional send- off....here it would be the victims hugging each other... underneath the images you will hear them with a hopeful sound bite.. "we will re-build...we have no choice".
Buttons are easy to find...be sure to label them as you come across them. They generally will they scream out at you.
This works for Corporate, Marketing Video, Testimonials and more...
How do you incorporate this scripting into a corporate / marketing video, or an on-line product or web service demo?
It works in the exact same way.
- Find the best elements (Interviews, Chill Footage/Verite)
- Create a "Flow Chart"
- Use your voice-over to tie them together
Here is a tip for Documentary Filmmakers,
instead of using voice over..use WHITE TEXT over a BLACK BACKGROUND as your story-telling device.
The new thought here is.
"THE SCRIPT COMES AFTER THE SHOOT"
Summary
- The key is to evaluate your material first...
- Make a list of the order of the segments...
- Script "around" the Interview and other story telling segments.
- Work organically with your material instead of forcing footage and interviews into a script written prior to identifying the best elements.
You can do this in Real Life
Our Documentary/Journalist Workshop includes this scripting process. Please join us for a hand-on experience in San Francisco.
Link to more information at DVworkshops.com website
Watch documentaries made in our Six Day Workshop
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Please feel free to call us for help at (415) 810-5934
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