Script Tips for CLEAR Studio Produced Video

Keep your students' perspectives in mind while writing to ensure that your topic is informative but also exciting and entertaining.
Think of ways you may be able to insert a story to make your topic more relevant and engaging for your students.
- Example: Dr. Karen driving from Denton to Waco to explain complicated math formulas.

Avoid having more than two people on screen at a time unless it is important to your course subject matter.
- Consider chunking multi-person content up into separate sections and assigning the sections to each person accordingly. We can stitch the sections to make a single video.

There are times when a graphic or video clip can help complete or reinforce your story. Make notes in your scripts for potential visual examples. We can work with just text descriptions of an idea, but if you do provide existing graphics or video clips, please document their sources so that we can determine if we can legally use them and what attribution may be required.
We recommend that you use an A/V Script Template (MS Word) because it will provide a separate column for you to easily note suggestions for supportive visuals at specific points in your script.
Based on your suggestions, we can find and add supportive images, videos, and graphics for your video to improve student engagement, retention, and understanding.
Examples:
- Discussing a historical event (display supporting pictures and video clips about the event)
- Math problem about driving a certain distance (display clip of someone driving with graphical overlay)
- Employee retention data (display a clip of people quitting angrily)
Text can also be used as an on-screen graphic to support your delivery, but keep in mind that keywords are often easier to consume and more effective than long runs of text.

Write/speak to the camera as if you are speaking to a single person rather than a group.
- Although speaking to a camera may seem like a less personal experience, when done well, video can offer up-close undivided engagement with students bringing your lesson into their personal space.
Write/speak lines out loud as you write to hear the flow of your script.

Think about sectioning your video into bite-sized chunks of easily digestible information.
For educational videos, we recommend run-time lengths of about 3-7 minutes. Most people speak at about 150 words/min, so 3-7 minutes translates roughly to 450 – 1050 words. If your script is significantly longer than this, you might want to consider breaking it into multiple video scripts.

We’ll load your script on our teleprompter, but delivery will feel more natural if you’ve practiced in advance. Please practice reading your script out loud in front of a mirror, pet, or friend at least a couple of times before you come to the studio.
Written words may read nicely in your head but not roll off the tongue as easily. Revise your scripts so you’re able to clearly and concisely deliver in front of the camera/student.

Well-planned, practiced scripts can significantly increase the quality of your course and reduce the post-production time needed to produce your videos.

We ask that you submit your completed script 2 weeks before your scheduled shoot date. Early script submission allows you more time to rehearse, but it allows us to:
- Review, ask questions, and provide feedback in advance.
- Suggest and plan for additional graphics/b-roll to further support your vision.
- Format your script into a proper two-column A/V format for our video editors and to load your script on our teleprompter.

This may be the only time your students see you. Be dynamic! Show your personality. Don’t be afraid to talk with your hands or use a range of emphasis in your delivery.
If you end up going a little off script to do this, that's ok. The script is your guide, but your energy is more important than reciting word for word.