Full Duck Productions
Since 1990, Full Duck has offered a full deck of written and visual communications services, specializing in low-budget video production.
Script
The script is perhaps the most important part of video production. It gives direction to the technicians directing, lighting, and shooting the raw tape that will be the source material for the final product. The script also supplies the directions for the editor to arrange the raw material into the final product that was envisioned in the script. If the script does not tell the technical crew how to create high-quality source material for the final product, the editor finishing the video will not be able to turn it into the Academy Award show you were imagining. The script contains the seeds for all the rest of the steps. See Production to learn more about shooting raw tape and Post-Production to learn about the various steps in editing. Â
In a large organization, the script serves another vital role. Before money is spent on expensive personnel and equipment, it presents the video’s concept to all the people who have an interest in the outcome and who might supply information, talent, or approval. With the expenditure of only paper, ink and a writer’s time, each person involved can determine that his or her interest will be met by the final product. Each person can review the script, recommend changes, and sign off in agreement. This assures that all parties concerned are truly imagining the same project. Because many people don’t have prior experience visualizing goals in video format, this approval process often reveals unexpected internal organizational issues that need to be solved before production time is spent on the video.
However, many affordable video projects are conceived with very little script. For example, an organization may ask for its events to be documented by a camera operator and then a video fashioned from whatever footage results. The pitfalls of this approach are that the video lacks impact and is poorly focused or does not satisfy the audience that the organization has selected. However, if the goal is not too specific, such a video may be satisfactory.
Full Duck does not advocate producing a video project with no planning and no script, but we do have experience working with very little direction. With our background in writing and education and our past experience in several different industries, we can explore your organization and develop a script that is as detailed or as open-ended as your organization requires. Full Duck can develop a script that will address the goals and audience determined by your organization, create the aesthetic qualities necessary to carry the vital message, and identify the personnel and locations needed to complete the video.
So what does it take to write a script? Typically, it requires interviews and visits, by phone or in person, with the people who determine the goals and audience, the technical people who will appear or whose ideas will be the subject of the video, and the possible shooting location sites. Then, if no further research is needed, allow one to two weeks to produce a first draft. At this point, the organization needs to become very serious about committing to the final product. If the first draft of the script does not accomplish the organization’s goals, then Full Duck will work with the organization to produce further drafts. In fact, rarely does a first draft meet all requirements! Expect to engage in a dialogue with all people involved in the final product to approve a final script.
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