Crafting Your Message
Introduction
As a video creator, you make important decisions about what to include and not include in your work. To help with those decisions, we look at using storytelling techniques to help share your message more effectively, and creating scripts and/or storyboards as an organizational tool.
What Is On This Page?
Why Use Storytelling?
Digital stories are not just facts presented with accompanying images, they are narratives crafted to take the viewer on a journey. Just like a novel or a documentary, digital stories have a plot, characters, and themes.
Stories impact our brains differently than facts.
Hearing a story activates language processing, the sensory cortex, and other areas of our brain. We hear a story and often try to make it our own, and share it with others.
“A story is the only way to activate parts in the brain so that a listener turns the story into their own idea and experience” (Uri Hasson, as cited in Widrich, 2012).
Neuroeconomics pioneer, Paul Zak, says that stories have a potential to change our brain chemistry.
"…Even the simplest narrative can elicit powerful empathic response by triggering the release of neurochemicals like cortisol and oxytocin, provided it is highly engaging and follows the classic dramatic arc … " (from Brain Pickings).
Watch
This video by the Seneca Sandbox gives an overview of storytelling for digital projects.
Stories are powerful tools and can used in your class assignments presentations, when pitching business ideas, negotiations, and more.
Planning Your Video Story
This is where you will spend the bulk of your time. Going in with a plan should make the production of your video easier. To get started:
Decide what you want to talk about
e.g. a family member, yourself, your assignment topic, etc.
Consider your audience
Who is the video being made for? Consider your audience's age, profession, or prior knowledge on the topic
Outline your story
Write out the point of the story (main message), characters, themes (e.g. struggle, happiness, success). You can start to map out your story using a technique like the dramatic arc (see below)
Identify your materials
What images do you need? What music should you use? Is there any video footage you need to find or shoot?
After you have your initial plan you can start creating a script and/or storyboard.
The Dramatic Arc
What is a Dramatic Arc?
There are many ways to tell a story, but one idea that may be helpful to use in your digital story is the Dramatic Arc. A Dramatic Arc visually shows a story's full progression from start to finish. It is different from a plot, which is the actual events that happen in the story. The dramatic arc is the path/sequence of your plot.
The Dramatic Arc works like this:
Exposition is where the story starts, explaining the set up, characters, and possibly adding a question.
Then we get our Rising Action, where tension starts to build.
This is followed by the Climax, which is the pivotal moment in the story that changes EVERYTHING.
Falling Action is when the main problem in the story resolves and the story moves towards a conclusion.
Resolution is the end of the story, where you learn the conflict is resolved and ties up loose ends.
Exercise: Understanding the Dramatic Arc
Apply the Dramatic Arc
This worksheet will let you review a story and map out which scenes fall under different parts of the dramatic arc. You can choose an existing story or use it to plot out your own story.
Why Use Scripts and Storyboards?
Scripts and storyboards are two ways of helping you visualize your content when planning your video.
Scripts
A script is a written outline of what you want to say in your video.
It can also be used to describe in text what you want to have happening in your video, for example images or text that will appear on screen.
Can't see the script on the left? Open it in Microsoft Word.
Storyboards
A storyboard is a visual plan of each scene of your video, in the order it will happen.
In a storyboard information is shown through images. these may be hand drawn sketches or digital graphics. The images could be very simple or more complex, but their purpose is to show exactly what will be happening on screen.
You may decide to use a script, a storyboard or both.
Watch
Learn about scripting and how using a script will benefit your project and save you time.
What are the Benefits of Scripting and Storyboarding?
They cover all the content
Having a script or storyboard helps make sure you don't leave anything out.
They save time
Having a plan will make building your video quicker and easier.
They make group work easier
Everyone can see the same final vision for the project and understand how their pieces fit into the whole.
They help accessibility
With content ready you can easily provide a transcript and/or closed captioning later on, giving people more access options.
Script Tips
Though professional scripts will have a set format, for your assignments you can format your script in a way that works for you.
Number your scenes
If you’re using a tool that numbers each slide, like PowerPoint or Adobe Creative Commons Express (formerly Adobe Spark), you may want to number each scene to match.
2. Read your script out loud
You'll learn your script and can adjust the wording to make it comfortable for you.
3. Estimate the length of your video
It might help to know that one full page typed in 12 point Calibri font, double spaced and indented, is about one minute of video.
4. Use consistent visual cues
For example you may use italics for notes or directions like “words move in from the left side” or “use a split screen layout.”
5. Copy and paste text directly
If you have text that will appear on screen, copying and pasting from your script can save time.
Templates
Script Templates
Blank template with table (Google Docs) (Go to File - Make a Copy to get a version you can edit)
Sample with no tables (.docx)
Sample with tables (.pdf)
Template for a video demonstrating how to use a web site (.docx)
Storyboard Templates
Basic storyboard template (.pdf)
Another basic template (.pdf)
Storyboard template (Google Docs) (Go to File - Make a Copy to get a version you can edit)
Storyboard That (storyboard creation tool, we recommend you use the Free Plan)