Chapter 3 Writing the Script

A television story is really THREE stories … How so? Script, video AND AUDIO. All must work together. Watch a TV newscast with sound off … and you still pick up a lot of information from the visuals.

Writing to the picture The pictures (video) rules the script. “Referencing” … p … In our copy, you must reference what is being shown … What does that mean? Examples? Talk about what is being seen … show audience what is being discussed. SEE AND SAY. Name is spoken precisely when picture appears. Mention the president’s name as his picture appears.

Preview the video In previewing, decide what must be put into words and what can be carried by the visuals alone. Linda Ellerbee, p. 56 … the pictures come first … changing the words to fit the pictures makes more sense, because once you have the video, you can’t change it. (Works only when video really does tell the story.) If words don’t match the video, you have “video fruit salad.” Write loose …What does this mean? Don’t try to pack too many details into a story … if copy has too much detail, the audience will not remember it anyway … let the visuals tell the story as much as possible.

Avoid the obvious Written words should supply only the information the visuals can’t. If you include too much detail, the audience won’t remember much of it anyway. Example: p. 57 (Miss America).

Terminology, p. 43 Actuality? VO? SOT? TRT? CG? Outcue? P. 58. Examples of TV format, p Learn VO-SOT format on p