Best viewed in 1024 x 768

"The Media Wiz For Your Biz"

Your Ideas

Get your ideas down on paper! Once you write your ideas down, they should become more tangible and realistic. Journal writing is a good way of keeping track of your production ideas. Use a day-timer and legal pads to make reference to your ideas, production and post-production schedules...everything!

Try to reduce your idea to one sentence--this may not always be possible, but you should make it your goal. This will help you to focus and avoid making a videotape that tries to say lots and ends up communicating very little.

Brainstorming

Once your idea is written down, then brainstorm. Your ideas always should go through the brainstorming process, if at all possible. Here is a brainstorming checklist:

• List the goals of your production
• Come up with a hypothetical beginning and end
• List the positive and negative elements about your production
• Identify who the project appeals to--put a face on who you're talking to.
• Think about your primary and secondary audiences.
• Think in terms of images and sounds, not just words.
• Plan within your resources.
• List your most important points and prioritize them. Don't overload your program with too much information.
• Don't be afraid to revise your plans.
• Develop good communications with your production crew.
• Develop promotion and distribution ideas.

Research

Once you have clearly identified what your project is, the next crucial step is research. There are two main reasons for doing research: To become an expert on your subject--learn to speak the language. To define a hook--something that will put a particular slant or viewpoint on your piece.

Start your research at the card catalog in your library or on the Internet. Do a thorough search on your subject, and try to find recent books or articles about your subject. Also try to find out about the authors of your sources, and try to verify the validity and relevance of the material gathered. Search for names and addresses of people you may wish to talk and/or interview.

Other sources for research include:

• Newspapers and magazines
• Professional journals
• Other videotapes and archival television programs
• Brochures
• Photographs and paintings

The Treatment

A treatment helps you lay the groundwork before you immerse yourself in the details of the script. A treatment is a written description of how you imagine your finished program will be. The treatment doesn't deal specifically with camera shots or movement--that information should be contained in your script and/or storyboard. It should give you an image of your production.

Most simply, a treatment is a summary; it sets out your program's main ideas and tells how you will show them visually. It can be more detailed, describing what the audience will see and hear when the program opens, the sequence of scenes and ideas, the transitions between sections, and how the program ends.

A treatment can include a statement of your objectives. It can also include the names of people and places to be shown in the finished videotape.

Your treatment should answer these questions:

• What is the single idea at the center of your tape? What three or four main points will you make?
• What form will you choose? Documentary? Drama or comedy? Animation? Experimental narrative? Public service announcement? Music Video? Something completely different?
• What moods do you want the program to convey? Humor, excitement, anger, suspense, longing, righteous indignation?
• What kinds of visuals will you use? Still photographs, artwork, tables, graphs, or newspaper clippings?
• How do you want the camerawork to look? A quick-moving and jerky hand-held look, or very controlled tripod shots? Extreme close-up shots or lots of long shots with an occasional medium-shot?
• How do you want the editing to look? Lots of quick edits with wipes and digital effects, or long edits with straight cuts? Dissolves or fades?
• Will you need clips from movies or old TV shows? Will you need copyright permissions?
• Will you use music or sound effects? What kind? Will you need copyright permissions?
• Will you distribute the program beyond a local audience? Where else might it be shown? What organizations or individual could benefit from seeing it? How else might it be used? Will these uses affect how you plan the form or content of your tape?

Structure of a Treatment

Treatments should contain a cover sheet, identifying the name, date and producer(s), and what draft it is. The next page should be a treatment requirement page, which includes:

• Purpose
• Target audience
• Rundown of the production
• Schedule of deadlines for the final treatment, rough script, beginning of your production, completion of script/narration, beginning of post-production, and a date for cablecasting.

Shot List

Once the treatment is complete, break it down into a shot list, This list identifies locations and individual elements (interviews, cut-aways, archival material, establishing shots) required for your production.

Shooting Schedule

When you have a complete shot list, you can create your shooting schedule. Be conservative about how much time you plan for your shoots--it will always take longer than you think.

Writing the Script

If you rarely write, you might approach script-writing with fear and trembling. Yet if you have done your research, thought about the treatment, and event committed some thoughts to paper, then you are already well on your way. You want to make people in your audience believe in your program and enter into your vision.

A good script, no matter what kind, has the same elements as a good story: plot, character, mood, theme--everything that you learned about in a literature class. It has conflict or tension and a sense of discovery. Things happen--people change.

Some stories hold more interest than others. If you build your script around the big issues of life, you stand a good chance of holding on to your audience: Life vs. death, safety vs. danger, satisfaction vs. anguish, love vs. the absence of love. The audience will see your program through a continuum of time. It cannot turn back a page or two and review something that was unclear.

A typical program has a beginning that tells the audience what it is about, a middle that gives information, and an end that ties up what has been said: the punch line. In any case, your script should capture the attention of the audience from the start and hold it until the end.

The script might begin with a personal story, a startling fact, humor, a drama needing resolution, evocative images, an attention-getting sound, or a metaphor or analogy comparing something familiar with something unfamiliar.

Draw the audience in by getting them to empathize or identify with your characters. Let your subjects relate personal experiences and reveal their emotions. Show the activities and textures of their lives. Build your script around sections or scenes.

Think carefully about the end. do you want to give a sense of closure? Offer suggestions for action? Thank people for tuning in or ask them to tune into your next program?

Storyboarding

Storyboarding is a method of describing your production with images and text. Each individual image represents a sequence with text underneath describing such things as camera movement, camera angle, angle of view.

A storyboard is helpful in visualizing your idea, but shouldn't be seen as a replacement for the script.

Location Scouting

Once you have identified some possible locations for your production, check them very carefully in advance for interesting details and potential problems. Things to look for:

• Colors, shapes and unique elements of the location
• Types and amounts of available lighting
• Sound absorbency (or lack thereof)
• Noise pollution
• Traffic
• How conditions change during the day
• Location of outlets
• Preferred camera angles
• Adequate current for lights

Preliminary Interviews

Preliminary interviews lead to script development. Use the phone to talk with potential interview subjects. When you speak with them, just chat and listen to their voices. Get a sense of their interest level in your project. Imagine how they would fare on videotape. Don't pre-plan their interviews or deliver questions up front. If they ask you what kind of questions you might ask, it's usually a sign that they have something to hide, or are very anxious about appearing on videotape. This is usually a sign of potential trouble, but sometimes it's unavoidable, and may lead to a more interesting project.

Interviews

Always be over-prepared for your interviews. Try to bring a production assistant or two--you'll need them. The camera operator should not be asking the questions, if at all possible. If you're working with a two-person crew, one person should be operating the camera, while the other person monitors the audio and does the interview.

Before you run off to do your interviews, prepare questions on index cards. If you have any notes about your interview subjects or topics that they will be discussing, keep that information handy in a notebook.