Script length and mistakes

When i started the process of script writing at first i found it difficult as I prefer working with footage in a documentary fashion of creating a story from what has been captured. I think the mistake i made at the start for this video was not appreciated how short it needed to be, and because of the idea of a script I felt like i needed to write more than was necessary for this project.

Ultimately this experience has helped me work on my script writing, and also appreciate revisiting and revising work, much like the SCAMPER methodology of revising, removing the unnecessary, and adapting what is there.

Script Development

After having several meetings with the team at VPoint TV about the promotional video I decided to finalise a script and reduce down the number of words within it. I removed any unnecessary wordings and reduced the time down to around 40 seconds. Originally I had proposed a video of 60-90 seconds, however I after discussing this with the team we decided if the video could be as short as possible then that would be ideal as a promotional video needed to be short and sweet and leave the viewer wanting more.

Script Draft 1, longer 60 second+ video with ideas of potential visuals

Finalised script for wording, with ideas for key visuals included

At this point I still needed to think about the various clips that were going into making this video. I decided to outline the key elements on the script, and then left the part in between down to working with the archive footage that I had from VPoint TV and then reviewing the edit with my client to think about different ideas for footage that would work with the voice over in parts that were less obvious about what should be on screen.

This process has taught me that I need to constantly revise and get feedback when scripting as my initial ideas were too broad and the voice over had too many unnecessary words that only made the video longer than it needed to be and didn't add anything to the message.

Story Board Feedback

I spoke to Ian at VPoint TV about the initial storyboard ideas and how i could progress them further to work on the project. Here is the video where I discussed this. Having this discussion really helped further my ideas and begin prototyping some ideas with the team at VPoint TV.

The storyboard we discussed:

Marketing Online

Carrying on from my last post about marketing research I read an interesting article from the Guardian about the future of video and why it is the future of content marketing:

http://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2014/jan/14/video-content-marketing-media-online

Some interesting stats from that article were that youtube receives more than one billion unique visitors each month, which is proof about why it is important to have current up to date content that represents your business on youtube. This was why i wanted to create a new promotional video for VPoint TV.

"Nielsen claims 64% of marketers expect video to dominate their strategies in the near future. It's not difficult to see why."

This quote especially outlines why it is important for VPoint TV to really target businesses that will be looking to create videos to help market their company. 

"By 2017, video will account for 69% of all consumer internet traffic, according to Cisco. Video-on-demand traffic alone will have almost trebled."

VPoint TV currently specialise in VOD (video on demand) and online video to help promote a business or a product. This will be a key message to get across in a video, especially as the video itself will be more than likely viewed on either the VPoint TV website or the VPoint TV youtube channel.

Marketing Secondary Research

After discussing social media and marketing in my primary research I decided to further research into the ways video is used within market and social media. A useful resource I found was this entry of 6 examples of social marketing with short video.

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/use-short-video-for-social-marketing/

The key points in this article were:

• Show how to do something
• Highlight your skills
• Showcase an event
• Reveal a product
• Go behind the scenes
• Use what you have

Although these ideas are primarily ways for businesses to use social marketing with video this article help provide a good insight into how video is consumed online for promotional purposes.

The whole goal of my clients video is to highlight their skills, show how they do something and also go behind the scenes. These three points from the list apply well to the video I am created for my client, and I think connecting with an audience online using the shortest video possible will be a tough but ultimately rewarding task.

Marketing Primary Research

To investigate my target audience further I did some primary research by asking questions to Emma Hubbard, she is a staff member in charge of social media marketing at Gymophobics. She is someone VPoint TV would likely need to communicate well with to be hired for video production jobs.

Firstly I asked her what would a company need to do for you to want to use them over other video companies:

"It's important that as a client they are made to feel unique. They won't want to see something that is done all the time. A lot of companies are looking for a way to connect with their audiences, by keeping up to date with new trends, which should be reflected in the video." - Emma Hubbard

This is an important part of my initial ideas, I wanted to get across that VPoint TV create unique videos designed to make an impact. It's interesting she highlighted the fact of keeping up to date with new trends. I think with a video company as old as VPoint TV it has changed the style of video making with the times and it's important to show that they create modern looking video productions as well as more tradition video too.


"Older generations might struggle to create innovative ways to attract new customers, so that is what they would be looking for from you." - Emma Hubbard

It's interesting that Emma assumes older generations may create old style videos, and may be important to reflect that even though a company is old the staff within that company can be quite young as well as old and change from time to time. Also the current staff could easily move with the times like i feel the staff at VPoint TV do so it may be important to get that across.

"They want to know how much confidence they can put in you to get a good result, so your skills need to be obvious from the start. Clients want a quick turn around in their investments so they have to feel happy that they are getting that." - Emma Hubbard

I think by showing the range of videos that VPoint TV have created as best I can within a promotional video will be useful to help show marketing people like Emma that they produce good consistent videos within a small time frame. I want to communicate the skills of the staff but without saying it within the video, I think it can be easy to ignore if the video says "we're great at video and editing", instead I would rather show previous videos that show the skill is clearly there from the staff.

"It's important to stand out from the crowd, you equally have to stand out from other competitors to show that you have strong skills in that industry." - Emma Hubbard

This is ultimately the goal of created a promotional video, to stand out from other competitors and get hired on video jobs. I feel like creating something unique that speaks well to people will both be able to get VPoint TV's message across, but also prove that message itself by having produced a video that does that very thing, proof is in the pudding so to speak.

I'm glad I took the time to talk to Emma about what she personally looks for from a video production company, this helps back up my ideas for the video to create soemthign that communicate well, in a short space of time and engages the viewer.

Developing Ideas

To further the discussion I had with my client we discussed further ideas to the initial ideas of what the video needed to contain and deliver. This footage was recorded by myself as part of my research, I felt having the discussions on video would make it easy to reference back to, and would provide better information than writing notes.

Researching for marketing

The video I am creating will be aimed towards either business owners or more than likely marketing people or departments within a business. I have decided to get in contact with a marketing person to talk about what it is they would like to see from a business advertising video services. I will blog about my findings from them and include their input into my final design.

From my meeting with VPoint TV I decided that it would be important to show not only the fact that VPoint TV create videos but also work with marketing departments to decide how to deliver these videos whether that be traditional advertising or through platforms like social media.

I think this is an important message to get across as many companies may worry about what to do with a video once it has been created and how to get the best to help return on investment for their business.

Client Interview

After having an initial meeting with the team at VPoint TV I decided to meet with Ian the director of VPoint TV and narrow down the exact reasons he wanted a promotional video and what he wanted it to achieve.

This was to give me a better understanding of what I needed to make for my client, and to give me something to reference back to when creating the promotional video to make sure I'm creating what is briefed. I have edited this interview down to a six minute (ish) video.

Initial Idea Development

To further my idea to a point where I could begin writing a video treatment and then script the promotional video i was making for VPoint TV, I decided to have a meeting with the team at VPoint TV to get their input on the ideas I had.

The meeting lasted about an hour and from the ideas I put forward we helped to generate further ideas and condense down the message of the video and what the format for the video was going to be, as well as where the video would be delivered.

From the notes I took in this meeting I came out with these points:

Core Message of the video?
What is it VPoint TV can do for you (the client) to help your business/brand.
Who is the target audience?
Either business owners or marketing people within a business
What’s the desired outcome?
To create videos that engage with people and help make a brand relatable
How long will the video be?
A single piece of video of 60-90 seconds
Where is the video intended for?
The VPoint TV website and/or pitches to new businesses/clients

What’s the concept?
A video made from multiple sources (VPoint TV Videos, new material, stock images/video, timelapse, graphics, animation) that creates a fast paced video that explains to brands what VPoint TV can do for them, with the use of voice over and using the multiple sources as visual aids. The visual footage can also help convey images of VPoint TV without the need for the voice over to say it e.g. Technical information showing the use of latest technology, or behind the scenes fun. Other elements such as timelapses with staff to show they're hard working, or interactions with their clients to show they are enjoyable to work with.

Key points:

• Video contains new branding (logo or shot of logo somewhere maybe end with logo animated)
• New colours for branding used for graphics, graphics also an opportunity to show we can do graphics
• Voice over saying what we can do for businesses like yours to show what it is your business is about and why customers want to use your business (the viewer)
• A music track used that is original or quirky rather than common electronic showreel music that is common amongst video showreels
• Use of archive footage from VPoint to help communicate the message if possible
• Use of stock footage or images to help communicate what the voice over says