Developing a script for videos is a requirement to create quality visual products that adequately express your ideas. With the video script, you select elements that capture the attention of your audience. You connect it with emotions and attract it to your content, products, or brand. When writing one, there are four critical moments:
- Identify a problem.
- Come up with a solution.
- Present a benefit.
- Invite to action (CTA or Call to Action).
Ideas for engaging these four moments can be developed through the following set of steps.
6 tips for making a video script
Like many creative tasks, writing a video script is an activity that improves with practice. Let’s take a look at the essential steps for creating a video script below:
Define the general context of the video
It is convenient to start by defining what the objective is to be pursued with the video. In some cases, it is to launch a product; in others, it is to show advertising or attract traffic to your vlog.
As part of this general context for a video script, identify a central topic and your target audience. These two elements (topic and audience) influence decisions, such as the type of video to use.
Select the style or type of video
The type of video is associated with the objective and the audience, which determines the characteristics of the characters, the dialogues, and the staging. There are sales-oriented videos that take advantage of the vlogger’s credibility and storytelling. Others teach through tutorials.
In some cases, testimonials and success stories are used to highlight the benefits of a product or brand. Also, many vloggers keep their followers’ attention by recording short videos that they post on their microblogging.
Write a synopsis
The synopsis is a general summary or brief that you create for each video script. It is a complete vision of what you want to express in the video. In a later analysis of this synopsis, you will select the essential elements that you will add to the video.
Identify the scenes and their description
- These scenes must be organized so that there is a meaningful sequence or a common thread.
- Presentation or introduction with the statement of the problem and even the action.
- Content development, highlighting the value of the proposed solution and its benefits.
- Close with the call to action, the thanks to the public, and the farewell.
- Write the texts of each scene of the script for videos. Remember that the scenes must express: the problem, the solution, the benefit, and the action. The dialogues and the situations of the scenes should take advantage of emotional aspects and interaction with your audience.
- Involve the public with your questions and appeal to emotions that identify your brand at crucial points. Speak closely and in a conversational tone. Adjust the language to your audience and the platform on which the video will be published.
- Review your video script and add missing details
As it is a guide for everyone involved in creating the video, you must be specific but at the same time detailed.
Characteristics of the characters and their reactions.
- Space where the action takes place.
- Elements of the scenes, times, and places in which they take place.
- Colors, photographs, and images.
- Sounds, music, voices, dialogue highlights.
- Examples of script types for videos
There are many types of script, and the idea is to choose the one that best suits your objective, the characteristics of the content to be disseminated, the audience, or the medium. Here are some examples of scripts that will be useful for creating marketing videos or as part of the video editing process for YouTube:
- Video recipes.
- Whiteboard.
- Motion graphics.
- Commercial video.
- Interviews or testimonials.
- Web series.
Two other types of video script are:
Technical script
In essence, it is a list with the shots that will be recorded to show the history of the video and the description of each scene (Aprender Cine, 2018). Details of the shooting angles and which part of the scenes are recorded are also indicated. A literary script can precede the technical script with the actions, characters, and settings.
A simplified way to organize the elements of the technical script is by using a template with a table of two columns: one for the description of the video and the other for the audio.
Storyboard illustrated script, or storyboard
In a sequence of illustrations that serve as a guide to show the sequence of a story. They are also helpful for previewing the elements of a whiteboard or motion graphics video and creating animated videos. The storyboard is a script for videos created from a sequence of vignettes with graphics in the style of the comic (Moreno, 2020). Whether a video is made for Instagram TV, for YouTube, for a vlog, or to spread on social networks, the script for videos is an essential element. It allows you to organize the elements of the story, the resources, the actions of the actors, and the recording environment. In addition, it will enable you to attract an audience through an account with benefits and a call to action.
