Here is the second part of a series of marketing video tips, which deals with script and presentation. Whether this is a simple presentation to camera, or a full blown corporate video – don’t rely on what was on a brochure or flyer. It may be too wordy and may well be boring when spoken on camera or as a voiceover. Make it more conversational without being too informal, in order to engage with your viewer. Expand the ideas from the bullet points (mentioned in business video tips part 1) until you have something resembling a script and then refine it. Less is often more.
On very rare occasions, I have made promos with no voiceover at all but only where the pictures are so powerful that they tell the story, reinforced by short informative captions. However that is not the norm. When you write the script, don’t forget to include a “call to action” at the end. As a minimum, it is going to be contact details but maybe a special offer – free consultation etc.
Without getting into what my media trainer colleagues and I teach, eye contact is crucial, whether to a camera or an interviewer. If you are doing a presentation to camera – pros call these, Pieces To Camera, (PTCs) then learn the script and practice the intonation but you need to know which words to emphasise in order to get the message across in an informative way.
If it is a PTC it is TO CAMERA – straight to the centre of the lens, so no idiot cards or anything that moves your eye contact away from the camera lens. Ideally you will work with a pro who will have a teleprompter system. These are often called an “Autocue” in the same way that vacuum cleaners are called “Hoover”. Whilst there is software, often free, to scroll text on a laptop, phone or tablet, you have to place your device above or below the camera lens, which results in the eye line looking wrong. With the teleprompter the text will scroll in front of the camera lens on special glass but does not appear in the picture. If you have learnt the script, then you can concentrate on it sounding right, as opposed to struggling to get it right.
Finally, when you reach the end of the script, maintain eye contact for 5 seconds, to enable a clean “out” on the edit. So “it’s a wrap” …if only.
I am happy to answer questions and can be contacted here or by email david@dsvp.co.uk or visit my website: www.dsvp.co.uk