Here at 360nz we’ve created a few educational video series now and feel confident in our recipe for success. Here’s the basic three-step process we go through when planning a new educational video series…
1. Learning Goals
Firstly, establish what the overriding learning outcome that the organisation or client is trying to achieve. Is to increase awareness of safety issues such as entering and exiting open water safely? Or is it a more simple “how-to” such as how to setup your new cell phone? This will form the the main goal of the video and provide a learning outcome to refer back to during the project and upon review.
Secondly, what are they key takeaways for the viewers? Which specific bits of information delivered throughout the video will be key learnings for different types of people, with varying levels of understanding.
2. Presenter & Environment
Your presenter obviously needs to be well-versed in the topic but how experienced are they at presenting on camera? This will dictate the length of shoot, the size of team required and how detailed your script can be. Less experienced presenters (in front of a camera that is) will typically need double or triple the amount of time to get their delivery down than a seasoned pro.
Now take your presenter and imagine them in the environment that you’re planning to shoot. Will they be able to stay focused or can you foresee a constant stream of distractions to lure them off track? Is there anything that you can do to minimise these distractions, such as shooting on a different day (or time of day) or having them perform some practiced delivery in a similar environment?
3. Script & Story Board
With the first two points in the forefront of your mind, write your script. Then revise if over and over again, and trim it down as much as possible. Be brutal here!
Time yourself talking through the script, then double it and you may have something close to the final length – shots depending. If you’re going to be the presenter, practice your script in front of a mirror to build confidence in what you’re saying and how you’re saying it.
Take the final script and create a story board of scenes to match. We like to start this process this with a hand written flow diagram of sorts, then we put it into a more formal document. It can be a simple PDF with five boxes, one per scene, and bullet points in each box. The most important thing is that you can easily follow it easily on the day of the shoot.