Watch this video or read the story below the video for my top tip in how to write a video script effectively.
I often get asked how I write a video script. And to answer this question, I thought I’d tell you about a project I’m currently working on, developing some animated explainer videos for an educational organisation.
The animation videos will help to explain difficult maths topics. And for projects like this I usually get some existing material to work from. It’s a really good start. It gives me background knowledge on the topic and helps me understand what people need to learn. But; there are two main challenges in using existing material for a video script.
The first is that sometimes in existing material there’s too much detail. And that’s because the material was originally written for the eye to read and this can be difficult to convert into a script which an audience will be listening to.
The second challenge with using existing material might be that there is not enough detail or the right detail. And that might mean going back to the client, and asking questions like:
- What is the story here?
- What are we trying to teach people in this video?
- What is the key learning point?
- What is the current material not doing that the video could do really effectively?
You don’t want repeat everything, your existing materiel is already covering. Instead you want to be able to use the power of video, to approach the topic from a slightly different angle.
Whether there’s too much material or not enough details, the video script writing process involves editing existing material, simplifying the words, and some times writing new material, like a story or scenario.
Writing a video script, particularly for educational content does require skill. And remember for all video scripts, don’t write for the eye to read. Instead, write the video script for the ear to hear as if you’re speaking to someone right there in front of you.
So that’s just a brief tip into my video script writing process. If you have any questions, drop them in the comments below.