Marketing With Digital Video

Chapter 4 - Writing The Script

Writing an effective video script is hard work, but it can also be fun. We'll begin the script by brainstorming a few good scenes. Next we'll play with the structure and order of these scenes so they tell a logical story. Then we'll illustrate the story and add some narration. After we have a good basic story we can polish it till it shines.

BRAINSTORM A FEW GOOD SCENES

Put on your creative cap. Pull out all the stops and let your imagination run wild. No matter what you do here, you won't end up in jail or broke. The only rule is that there are no rules. If you can imagine it, write it. Don't make any assumptions yet about whether your ideas are practical to produce on a low budget. To start, look again at the list of marketing scenes:

Still Photographs
The Testimonial
Manufacturing Process
Product/Service in Action
Message from the President
The Re-enactment
Computer Scenes
The People of Acme

Which of these jumps out at you? It's probably one that best
addresses your main goal. Start with that one and write two or three sentences describing how this scene will promote your business. You don't need a lot of detail, you just need the essence of the scene. Write the first thing that comes to mind and don't censor your thoughts. "Satisfied Customer tells how much he likes our service, how fast we deliver, and how much we helped his business."

Put that scene aside. Starting now you have 10 minutes to write 10 more of these. Put this book down, grab paper and pencil and check the clock...

How'd you do? Surprised at how much you wrote? You've made a good start. Keep going with it. And remember anything is fair game at this point. If you get a great idea, don't worry about what it might cost to produce. Write it down anyway. Later I'll show you some great tricks for producing expensive looking scenes on a shoestring. Keep that little devil, your internal censor, away. It's not time for him yet. If you keep this process going over the next few days, you'll find you can invent quite a few interesting scenes. Keep pencil and paper close because you never know when a scene will pop into your head. You might think of one while driving to work, first thing in the morning or in the middle of the night.


(continued in the book)

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