video for learning
Actors – you can’t do it without them You can’t make drama without actors. Actors bring your story to life. Invest in actors because people think acting is easy – it isn’t and a good cast costs money. Actors because why else are you making a drama? It’s all about people, so invest in the people who represent your people. That means investing in the casting process.
The director The director comes next. That’s me. Thinking of myself as a chef about to cook you a meal, if I already have a good recipe (script) and the best ingredients (actors), then I’m halfway there. As your chef am I going to be better than self- catering? You bet.
Directors understand how video works, how all the elements fit together to bring your vision to life. And, of course, in video for learning we have to make an engaging film which also delivers the learning points. Directors realise the vision with command of all the technical elements at their disposal. To some extent, directors are also writers with the script as their libretto.
Production values – does gloss matter? Did Matisse need oils to create beautiful art? When infirmity forced him to work only in coloured paper the cut-out pictures that resulted took his art a leap forward. Production values are the difference between filming a clip on your mobile phone and getting a trained film crew in with lights and lenses and costume and makeup and grips and dollies and… all sorts of stuff! Production values can add a great deal in terms of gloss and beauty that make the video more of a pleasure to watch, but the secret is that their contribution to the learner experience is not directly proportional to how much budget they take up. In summary, make sure the foundations of your video drama are as strong as possible to guarantee that your remaining investment will reap the biggest reward.
Tom Hickmore, creative director and founder of Nice Media @nicemediauk
Masterclass
Across our three articles and accompanying videos we will present a masterclass in video drama, designed specifically for learning professionals
We begin the series with the script. At
http://vimeo.com/103899770 you
can find a short video file about bullying in the workplace. It contains two clips of the same scene running back to back, written by dramatist and instructional designer Anita Sullivan; the first clip has a good script and the second a better one. The basic script is a text that makes sense on the page to someone who is ticking off a list of learning points. It’s what we’d call an expositionary script – that is to say one that takes all the learning points and puts them clearly into the speech of the characters. The other script differs subtly: the learning points are
less clearly signposted in the text, but they are all there and the writing is more emotionally engaging on a subject that is emotional. Look at the two clips and let us know what you think (@nicemediauk). Next month we will look at the scriptwriting techniques involved accompanied by a video of a discussion with the writer, director and cast. In our final article we’ll discuss production values. We’ll show you versions of the scene filmed with a range of glossy and more basic visual treatments to enable you to judge where it’s worth investing.
e.learning age september 2014
19
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