3 types of scripts for short video planning

A short video script refers to the outline used for shooting short videos. Although the short video is short, every scene and every line needs to be carefully crafted. The more refined the shooting and editing of the video, the more it will be liked by users.

If building a house is likened to shooting a short video, then the script is the blueprint of the house. The script provides a detailed process guide for the shooting and editing of short videos. When shooting, just follow the script process to complete the shooting quickly. There are three main types of short video scripts: outline scripts, storyboard scripts and literary scripts.

1. Outline Script

The outline script refers to the key points of the shooting content formulated for shooting a Vlog. This form of script is mainly used in documentary shooting. Documentary photography is a photography method that focuses on recording the reality of life. The material comes from life and truthfully reflects what we see. For example, tourist attraction explanations, street interviews, and food explorations all use documentary shooting techniques.

Before shooting, the photographer does not have a very reliable grasp of the scene and events to be photographed, so it is impossible to plan very accurately. If there is no plan, the logic of the video will be very poor. Therefore, according to the scene to be filmed or the possible process of the event, the key points that must be filmed should be written into the shooting process to ensure the quality of the video. Planning a shooting outline is mainly divided into four steps, as shown in Figure 6-19.

Figure 6-19 Steps for making a shooting outline

1. Decide on a topic

Determining the theme means clarifying the subject and creative direction of the video before shooting it. Can you use one sentence to explain what kind of video you want to shoot?

For example, you can shoot a video to lead users to experience the delicious food and fun things to do in Beijing's Nanluoguxiang.

2. Scenario Assessment

Situational estimation refers to outlining what the shooting scene will be like or what will happen in the shooting event.

For example, Nanluoguxiang may be crowded with people, with many delicious food and fun shops. You should focus on photographing 2-3 food stores and entertainment stores, and focus on photographing some representative stores.

3. Information organization

Information organization refers to preparing and learning knowledge related to the shooting scene or event in advance, so that the explanation during shooting will not be illogical.

For example, the history of Nanluoguxiang. Nanluoguxiang and its surrounding areas were once the city center of Yuan Dadu. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was a place of great wealth and honor. The streets and alleys here were crowded with dignitaries and there were countless royal palaces. It was not until the fall of the Qing Dynasty that the prosperity of Nanluoguxiang slowly came to an end.

Nanluoguxiang is now a bar street with very distinctive features in Beijing. It is the most intact courtyard area in Beijing. The entire bar street is dominated by small courtyard houses with small red lanterns hanging high in front of the doors. The decoration style has returned to the traditional and simple style. Different from Sanlitun and Houhai, most of the bars here are relatively quiet, harmonious, natural, located in the city yet away from the hustle and bustle, and closer to life.

There are many former residences of celebrities around Nanluoguxiang, such as Qi Baishi’s former residence, Mao Dun’s former residence, and Chiang Kai-shek’s headquarters.

4. Determine the plan

Determining the plan refers to determining the shooting plan, which mainly includes three parts: timeline, shooting scene, and dialogue.

Still taking Nanluoguxiang as an example, the specific shooting outline is shown in Table 6-14.

Table 6-14 Nanluoguxiang shooting plan

A storyboard script refers to a series of shots that describe a video scene through continuous text. It is equivalent to the production instructions for the entire video. It is the process of translating the video plot into shots. It is much more detailed and sophisticated than an outline script.

2. Storyboard Script

The storyboard script is mainly composed of elements such as the selection of scene, shooting methods and techniques, shot length, shot content, background music, etc. It not only includes the complete story, but also translates the plot points of the story into shots. Each shot contains many shooting and production details, such as picture, lighting, camera movement, sound and subtitles.

The storyboard script has relatively high requirements for the photographer, and it is difficult for general short video photographers to master it. However, authors who like to shoot videos with strong storytelling or literary style can learn from this technique.

Case Study:

The story is about a senior student who is participating in the last game of the football team. In order not to leave any regrets in his student days, he has made a lot of preparations for this game. The video mainly captures the protagonist's complex emotions on the way from the locker room to the court before the game starts. The shot script is shown in Table 6-15.

Table 6-15 School team players shooting script

3. Literary Scripts

Literary scripts are a type of script that is made possible by adapting various novels or stories into a revised version that can be completed using camera language. It is not as detailed as a storyboard script and is suitable for creating short videos that do not require a plot. For example, teaching videos, evaluation videos, express unpacking videos, etc.

A literary script only needs to specify the tasks that people and objects need to do, the lines they say, the shots that are selected, and the length of the program.

Case analysis: Taking the common mobile phone test video shooting as an example, the mobile phone test script is shown in Table 6-16.

Table 6-16 Mobile phone evaluation script

Author: Bai Gaoliang

Source: White Sorghum (LWXBGL)