Script Writing for Broadcast Multimedia Broadcast

Feel the force LET YOUR BITES DRIVE THINGS – You have a story to tell, but that’s your backbone. You can’t change what you have on tape, but you can adapt what you write to what you already have. LET YOUR VIDEO DRIVE THINGS, TOO. – This is one of the best things about telling a story visually, and one of the worst things, too. Use it. And work around it when you have to. TALK about your video with words like “these students” or “like this.” Let it help you tell your story. Let it SHOW so you don’t have to TELL everything. (You don’t have to say “The puppy is cute” when you can see the cute puppy for yourself.) WEAVE YOUR STORY TOGETHER – Connect one interview to another. Connect track to your SOTs. Connect it all to what you’re seeing.

NatSot Yo! USE NATSOT TO TELL YOUR STORY – NATSOT helps grab viewers’ attention and helps to draw them into your story. BE SPECIFIC, USE FACTS & DATA, WRITE IN ACTIVE VOICE – You know this part. It’s the same as any other kind of good writing. – "The sentence 'John picked up the bag' is in the active voice because the subject, John, is also the thing or person doing the action of 'picking up.' "The sentence 'The bag was picked up by John' is in the passive voice because the subject of the sentence, bag, is the passive receiver of the action....passive voice because the subject of the sentence, bag, is the passive receiver of the action.... BE CONVERSATIONAL – You’re telling a story, not giving a lecture. Engage people and keep it interesting.

Chill, it’ll be alright. THERE’S MORE THAN ONE WAY TO GET THERE. – Don’t be afraid to experiment, to start over if something isn’t working, to throw out the plan you expected to have. There’s not a single right answer. DON’T WORRY TOO MUCH ABOUT GRAMMAR AND SENTENCE STRUCTURE – How it SOUNDS is more important than how it LOOKS on paper. Thank us, because this is the only class that will ever tell you that!

After the video footage has been logged, the reporter can begin writing the story. The very first sentence of a story is the lead. A hard lead begins the story abruptly and does not waste words. It contains a straightforward action verb and is active, not passive. The most important information is presented immediately. For example, “A bomb threat caused the evacuation of City Hall today.” A soft lead communicates the general idea of the story, but does not offer any facts. It often sets the scene or introduces the characters. For example, “It’s noon. It’s quiet. That’s about to change. In less than three hours, the Cowboys will take the field in front of thousands of fans and the quarterback decision will be history. The controversy started last week when…” The reporter scripts a package by writing the reporter track to connect the sound bites. A good reporter does not write, “We asked Joe about the new theater and this is what he said” as a lead in to Joe’s sound bite. A more eloquent and interesting lead in may be, “Visitors to the new theater at Roane County High School find several features especially nice.” The script then cuts to the sound bite of Joe talking about the surround sound system of the theater, with a lower third key identifying him by name and title. The B-roll footage is reviewed to determine which images may be inserted into the script to make it stronger and provide visuals during the audio of the reporter track. The ending of a story, or the close, may look to the future—what will happen next, who will be called to testify next, or when is the next game? Sometimes the close may be a “punch line” that sums up the story.

A two-column script is used when you want to plan out exactly how a video will appear on screen. Different elements are identified on the left and right side of the screen. There are a variety of different abbreviations used that you should begin to familiarize yourself with. Two-column script

SOT – sound on tape (soundbites) VO – voice over –A voice is recorded and then edited into the final sequence NAT Sound, Nats, NatSot – natural sound –The sound that is recorded from the camera SFX – sound effects –Sounds other than music or voice overs Common abbreviations

GFX – graphic –This can be labeled to identify full screen, lower third, a picture, bugs or other types of graphics. CGI – computer generated image –Another way to label a GFX, but you could see this in place of GFX in the industry. Common abbreviations

LEFT SIDE VIDEO descriptions, abbreviations and special instructions Graphic formatting and wording You can also include directions on how you want your on screen talent to act or position themselves RIGHT SIDE AUDIO script should be exact and have every word that you want to be included Music instructions –(Fade up, continue, fade out) Sound effects should be on this side as well Writing two-column scripts

WS – Outside of HS CU – School Sign LS – School in the distance with lots of traffic in the foreground NAT Sound – Traffic VO – Student “Each day that students come to our high school there is an inherited risk in the traffic they have to cross to enter the school.” Two-column example

Different than most other media in journalism, script writing for television can be conversational. It would be difficult watching a show where the talent read a newspaper article or website. Writing two-column scripts

Conversational script-writing –Find a newspaper, or online article and read it. –Now, explain the article to the class. –You should still include all of the facts and people included in the article, but you want to be much more conversational. Writing two-column scripts