Mini Assignment #3: Video Script

The Assignment
To write a short video script (no more than 6 to 7 minutes), using the standard two-column documentary scripting format, in which you integrate at least two voices (one of these voices may be a conventional TV commentary voice telling the story), moving pictures, sound and music.

The assignment begs for two kinds of sparkling writing: the writing (often in abbreviated form) that contextualizes the content (the scripting conventions), and the content itself. As a reader, I should be able to visualize clearly from your script the final product that will be realized from your writing.

I'll thus be looking for:-

a) succinct but dramatic descriptive writing as you use location/scene descriptions, shot descriptions, descriptions of music, etc.
b) succinct but dramatic writing as you 'tell the story' in your script itself

Good Luck!

Objectives of the assignment:

to understand the relationship between text and moving pictures
to integrate the clear, concise, dramatic writing already practiced with moving pictures
to gain command of standard scripting formats for video/screen drama prior to adapting them to the scripting of interactive multimedia
to understand basic narrative trajectory: hook, story development & closure

What you need to do

You should adhere to the two-column documentary script format and control the length of your assignment very carefully. You must meet time and length limits precisely to write successfully to commission, or to meet your specific assignment within a multi-author project.

Err on the side of too much material initially rather than too little: most writers and script editors (often a role taken by the producer, executive producer or director) find it much easier to cut extra material tha to generate new material to pad a thin script.

Scenario

You will find the raw material for the scenario on the disc that accompanies Writing for Multimedia and the Web. You should follow the link to Chapter 21, and then click on the segment entitled, "Video: The Making of The 11th Hour." You will find seven segments of video.

Your task (I feel as if I'm in Mission Impossible) is to write a five-minute video script detailing (in whatever way you wish) the making of The 11th Hour. You may choose your own target audience (from MTV to boring old national news, broadcast or online). Just make sure to include the target audience at the top of the first page.

Remember to use the two-column documentary script format we discussed in class. You may use anything from the interviews and any of the shots in the video segments on the CD-ROM. You may also imagine other shots that you would like to use in creating your script (as long as the new shots don't cover more than 10% of your script).

You may add music, special effects, graphics, etc., always bearing in mind that such additions should be purposeful:

establishing your personal creative approach to the story
suggesting a mood or an attitude of mind
adding specific meaning to that provided by the video, interviews and commentary

Please include all interview comments in full. And don't forget to include additional two paragraphs tracking your use of the competencies.

Some Tips
As with the radio script, try to choose a theme on which you can concentrate throughout the item. And try to find a theme that imparts a little tension to the item, so that it isn't just a straight narration of 'what happened' (although keeping straight exactly what happened is always important). Are there uncertainties that need to be overcome? Are there conflicts that need to be resolved? Is there an obstacle that has to be overcome? And so on...