Attention and length

A slight caveat, as with all educational approaches videos will not connect with every audience member. However, for other participants the same might be true for long demonstrations or hands-on sessions or workbooks. As a further weapon in your educational arsenal, videos will allow you to pitch your teaching to a broader range of learning preferences, delivering improved retention of training outcomes.

Throughout this chapter the focus is on short videos, of around five minutes duration. Why no longer? Again, attention span is key here. The longer a non-interactive video continues, the greater the risk of attention drop-off. As you will see in the ‘Concept’ section both brevity and impact of your core message are linked.

Bespoke vs reusing

While we are concerned with the production of custom videos there is no reason why you should not make use of the vast collection of materials produced by other librarians and educationalists. Sites such as YouTube and educational sites such as Jorum Open and institutional repositories are rich sources of films for easy reuse. Explore them, seek colleagues’ recommendations or see the Videography for a few initial suggestions. Even if you want to make customised videos but feel you lack the time or resources to create them yourself, this does not rule out bespoke creation. See, the sections on ‘Filming’ and ‘Editing’ for more on how to outsource elements of production.

Time commitment

One of the most common questions a new film-maker, or their manager, has is ‘How long will this take?’ Moving from initial idea to final product will take a non-trivial portion of time, especially initially. With experience some steps, such as scripting, will become faster exercises. Others, such as editing, may actually take longer as you bring to bear more of the tools and special effects that your software allows. Since each film-maker will take a variable period of time to accomplish them let’s illustrate this with an example:

There are maybe a dozen separate shots in this film, three actors to organise, one of whom is doubling as producer and director, along with a camera operator. For James to go from start to finish would likely take the time shown in Table 7.3. Nearly 12 hours might seem a lot of time, although it is less than two working days. Some of the commitment can be split across other members of the team so that one person will not carry the whole burden. However, these are sequential rather than parallel steps, and some stages (editing and reviewing) can often involve more than one person in the process, so the team’s total commitment may exceed 12 hours.

It might be possible to reduce the time James spends on each of these steps, although there is one likely outcome from this skimping. The final product will be less than satisfactory and he may need to re-shoot, re-write or re-edit in order to save the video. James might be able to revive the project from what he has already shot, but would probably end up investing yet more time on it. Haste, makes a waste of his time.

Convincing your managers

While you might be keen to use video, given the required time commitments you will need to obtain senior or line management buy in. As with any new development it is important to be able to stress the benefits, not solely to your teaching practice but to the organisation’s goals and activities (as shown in Table 7.4). Hopefully, you will get to make your pitch face to face. Be prepared to make a simple business case keeping in mind the points shown in Table 7.4.

It may well be that you might want to go ahead and make a video in your own time. Even without management’s initial blessings this kind of guerrilla librarianship can deliver dividends. Now you can demonstrate real production experience, a strong awareness of actual time commitment and perhaps a favourable audience response as a demonstration of feasibility.

Concept

Every film starts with an idea. Every great film starts with a concise concept. Knowing what you want to communicate is essential in ensuring your video actually has a clear message that your audience can take away. The very best educational films have this message embedded in every moment.

There is a temptation to cram videos full of information, which is the complete converse of what your audience will be able to digest. Video is a non-interrogative medium with a limited engagement span, thus message clarity is very important. Many library-produced videos have generalised or vague core concepts and the muddy results are neither engaging nor particularly effective education. Take Caroline’s idea:

Good luck getting all that across succinctly in just five minutes! Chances are the resultant video from Caroline’s pitch would be muddled, rushed and unsatisfying for her audience. Your core message must ring out from every scene. There is simply too much information in a idea like Caroline’s to convey in a short time-frame. Thankfully there is a simple tool that can help.

The pitch

In Hollywood they believe in the 25 words or less movie pitch; that is any good film can be boiled down to a short concept (see Table 7.5). This effective tool helps to ensure that your idea is a solid one and can be communicated within the brevity of a video. It will also help sell your proposal to key stakeholders such as management. Let us illustrate how this approach works with some real movies.

While these potted concepts do not give the full details, they do give you the distilled essence of these films. Enshrining this kind of clarity in your production will aid in shaping the script by helping identify what is truly relevant in your visual narrative and provide a benchmark for reviewers to evaluate against. Table 7.6 shows some library.

Now think of what you want to communicate in a film. Write it down, in 25 words or less. If it takes more than 25 words, chances are you are trying to cram too much in. Better to split these ideas across multiple videos.

Now you are clear on what your audience should take away from watching, it is time to start planning the details.

Roles and responsibilities

Educational video making works well as a team process from bouncing ideas off each other to assisting in the overall production process (see Table 7.7). Like any project it will work more smoothly where people accept clearly defined roles, ensuring activities are completed in a timely and successful manner.

The producer is the most crucial role, driving forward the whole process and overseeing the work of others. Commonly in small teams this role is merged with that of the director. It is possible for one person to embody all of these roles, although this will increase the pressure upon them. As with all projects, a small team will ease the producer’s burden, allowing the producer to take a more high-level overall quality control viewpoint. For those unwilling to take on a named role, assume they have taken on the task of production assistants: willing helpers to all of the other key production staff.

With roles agreed and plans in place it is time for the producer to move the team into the next phase, script writing.

Scripting layout

Laying out a script (see Table 7.8) may be a little different to anything you have written previously. You may also be astonished by how few words (perhaps 200) you can have your actors speak on screen in a three-minute script. Visuals and action will have impact on your audience beyond the spoken narrative which supports a brevity of spoken word.

The following is an example of a simple screen writing format, that should be readily comprehensible to your team. This layout format will mean one script page equates to approximately one minute of screen time.

Let us illustrate this with a script extract (see Table 7.9) to give you an idea of how this might look on the page.

You do not need to follow this style exactly and you will likely develop your own house style, but it should help in laying out your earliest scripts. It also illustrates how much more than simple dialogue makes up a script, since actions, sets and camera directions all play a part. Let us explore how to plan out a good script.

Plotting

Put simply, plot is the sequence of events that will occur in your video and will be used to guide the dialogue and actions performed by the cast. How you plan out your plot is up to you. A list of scenes is easy enough, or if you are artistic you might prefer to storyboard them as a series of illustrations. Alternatively you can use the following template approach (see Table 7.10). Planning out each scene and establishing resource requirements for the shoot can also save the director and camera operator time later.

Large post-it notes are ideal for recording this sort of detail. These can be arranged to help plan out the plot sequence visually, and should you want to re-order the events of your video they can be easily rearranged. A plot outline for one of James’ Example 1 scenes might look like the one shown in Table 7.11.

With each scene plotted in this way James can easily plan out the half-dozen or so that make up his video’s narrative. However you prefer to approach it, once you are happy with the event sequence it is time to write the dialogue.

Dialogue

While it may be the visual cues and actions on screen that carry your narrative forward, it is dialogue that will punctuate the situations and give them context. Always write the dialogue before you decide on the actions or camera work, otherwise you may find it hard to make it flow naturally. Aside from the hook and sting the flow of dialogue is important to maintain your audience’s attention.

The easiest construction to aid this flow is the question and answer technique between two characters, mirroring many real world conversations. In practice this might look like this:

In this way you can see how this example video would continue into a demonstration of good searching techniques. Questions and answers mirror the audience’s thoughts which will help their engagement with your message.

Pacing

For education videos speech needs to be delivered at a steady pace, a little slower than normal conversation. This will limit the number of words you can use in a script. Don’t worry about this when you write the initial draft, but when you come to revise it try focusing on brevity and impact. A more staccato pattern, such as in Example 3 works better than long expository passages. Aim ideally for between 150–200 words in total.

Edutainment

A touch of light educational comedy (or edutainment) can improve a video’s impact significantly. Conversely an utterly straight-laced approach will diminish the audience’s attention span and engagement with your topic. Humour offers in many respects as powerful a communication tool as does rhetoric or repetition within an information literacy setting. More importantly within a video it offers three key advantages for your message: engaging the audience’s interest, making messages memorable and subjects more digestible. In this way humour will deliver serious audience engagement and recall dividends.

Action

However powerful your dialogue is, a video script needs to show more than just a pair of heads talking to camera. One of the major advantages of video is that you can take your audience to locations, times, and circumstances beyond that which they would be able to experience within a lecture hall. It also needs to include any actions, locations and special effects you anticipate using. The maxim show don’t tell is key here; it takes more dialogue to describe how short loans can be borrowed than to simply show it in action. With lecture slides you do not put every word up on screen to be read, because you are talking about the topic as well. In the same way a video will be able to show how to accomplish something without a speaker having to explain it all in words.

Visual shorthand or cliché can be a useful tool here. For James it could be an effective shorthand to have his poor and good searchers dressed slovenly and smartly respectively along with a note in the script for the former to slouch and their counterpart to sit neatly. A large amount of information will now have been communicated to the audience about their respective approaches without a word being uttered.

Video is a medium that is predicated on movement. Static shots of people standing and talking are visual poison to an audience. Show people entering a room, reacting to their situations and other speakers and carrying out the activities you are demonstrating. It will save on your dialogue budget and convey your message effectively. Otherwise you may as well forget the video and simply lecture to your audience.

Even if you feel you cannot engage with a humorous approach do make the most of the dynamic video medium. At the very least try and avoid the mundane talking head to camera paradigm and you will find that your audience will respond positively.

Polishing

By now your script should be full of engaging dialogue and well thought out sequential actions which all convey your core message. The most effective way to discover if your dialogue works is to have it read aloud by someone unconnected with your project. Does it flow? Are there moments that lack clarity? Did your attention wander? Take these perceptions away and revise your script to tighten up the dialogue. Rehearse it with your cast and make any final minor modifications.

Once done it is time to take your narrative and capture it on camera.

Location, location, location

You may well expect to shoot most of your videos in library-related locations. If you have in mind something a bit different be prepared to get filming permission. Public places can limit the times at which you can film without interference from passersby, although having a production assistant keeping onlookers back can be invaluable. If your script calls for a more unusual setting, then it will be up to the producer and director to come to a realistic compromise if it is unavailable locally.

The first time you use a location, shoot some test footage and then view it. Does the POV (point of view) of the audience take in too much or too little of the set? How well lit does it appear? Is it difficult to make out your cast against the background? How does the dialogue sound? With these thoughts in mind the director can then make the final decisions about the locations used and the set-up.

Sets and set-up

Many of your sets will need little dressing or set-up, for example filming scenes set at an issuing desk, although you will need to allow room for actors to enter and leave the frame of your shot.

It can be easier to substitute a mock-up location than use a real one. Seminar and meeting rooms can be easily redressed with desks, lecterns and other props to imitate other areas with the advantage that you will not be interrupted mid-scene by a passing customer. The relative privacy can help coax less confident members of your cast into better performances. You also should not have to worry about keeping the noise down so much either.

Wherever possible avoid busy backgrounds. Library shelves may be visual shorthand for the library, but they can be a distraction if the focus of that scene is on the speaker. Simple cloth or wall backdrops ensure the viewer’s focus is on your cast’s situation, and not trying to read the titles of books behind them.

Shooting footage

Good camera work comes from operator experience, as much as good direction. Make sure you frame the speakers centrally, keep the shots steady and remember the maxim: shoot once, shoot twice, shoot thrice. Chances are at least some takes will be of inferior quality. Re-shoots can be problematic in terms of getting your cast back together or even accessing your filming location again. Through capturing multiple takes, the editor will be able to splice the movie together from a choice selection of shots.

Lighting

Illuminating a set well is key since most camcorders will struggle with even the best office lighting. Without good lighting camera auto-focus will struggle and your final product will look gloomy and unappetising. Obtaining a free-standing spotlight will help enhance visual quality and multiple spotlights can help eliminate shadows behind your subjects giving a more professional on-screen look. Be wary of directly lighting reflective surfaces as glare may ruin the shot.

Strong back-lighting, like a window, can wipe out any clear impression of your cast so be cautious filming near them. Exterior shooting introduces additional lighting complexities that there is not room to cover here. However, for most interior shoots it is sufficient to light locations to minimise shadows, illuminate the focus of attention and ensure the cast can be clearly differentiated from the background.

Cast

In an ideal world your cast would be word perfect, have memorised your script and have a background in amateur dramatics. In reality you may well have to make do with whomever of your colleagues are available. They must be able to speak clearly and audibly, prepared to repeat actions and lines; and crucially prepared to listen and respond to the director’s instructions.

Be prepared to be a patient but firm director as you uncover the divas in your midst. Working with peers can be difficult if you have not defined responsibilities at the outset. Persuade rather than order, but remember it is the director’s goal to deliver the shoot as required from the script and so the whole production team should be prepared to back them up. If you make sure your cast know what you expect from them, fewer tantrums, a more professional work ethic and a smoother shoot will result.

Outsourcing or Do-It-Yourself?

You may have a choice between filming yourself or making use of organisational audiovisual assets, though there are pros and cons in either case. Outsourcing means you can draw on superior equipment and experience, likely ending up with a more polished final product. On the downside you will need to slot filming and editing sessions around their timetables. It is also possible that they will not have quite the same creative vision which in a worst case scenario might necessitate re-filming portions yourself.

Keeping the whole process in-house means you will retain a much stronger creative control of the final product. It might not look quite as polished but you can be sure few of your audience will notice. It also allows you to be more adaptable to your cast’s availability and to any last minute script revisions. Drawbacks include a need for initial outlay on equipment, and the time to become familiar with it to film and edit the video. The choice is something you need to carefully consider in pre-production.

Whatever your approach, once all the key scenes have been captured it is time to edit them into your final video.

Example 4: Hunting for searching success

A 90 second video involving 20 lines of dialogue between two speakers discussing the importance of well constructed search strategies set to a royalty free soundtrack. Each speaker is shot separately in close up, along with a wide angle establishing shot.

Splicing

Step one of any edit is to take the raw footage and arrange it in sequence of the scripted scenes. Here the plot outline and script can be valuable references. Glance through the footage to ensure that at least one take from each scene is of usable quality. If not let the director know as soon as possible that they will need to reshoot.

Selecting

The next step is to select which of the multiple takes you will use in the final film. Once you have cut out the unused takes you will have the very first rough cut. Do not worry about exact timings or silence between scenes as you will refine these later. Screen this rough cut for the director and team to give them an idea of the final product. If some scenes need to be re-shot then this is a decision best taken sooner rather than later.

Fine edit

Once the team are broadly satisfied the editor will refine the rough cut and will trim footage around the dialogue, remove silence and irrelevant moments and ensure a strong and engaging visual narrative. While high action drama may cut the viewer’s POV every three seconds, shots of 20–30 seconds are quite acceptable in an educational video, although the editor may introduce additional cuts for timing and flow if judged appropriate. You might wish to cut a scene up into several shots, perhaps inter-cutting a speaker with reaction shots of someone listening. This is a more advanced technique, but looks excellent on screen.

An almost imperceptible pause of a second is needed between the end of each speaker’s line and any response; otherwise the audience will find it hard to follow the conversation’s thread. Where speakers are on screen at the same time and there is no gap, it is possible to slow the footage down or insert an interstitial shot to provide the necessary pause for the audience to process the speech.

Where a speaker’s line has been poorly recorded or delivered, but the visual is strong, it is possible to overdub replacement dialogue. This works well in distanced shots as matching mouth movements in close up is hard. This is one of the ways in which an editor can rescue a video from minor shooting flaws.

SFX

Most training videos do not call for extensive special effects. However, you may wish to strengthen your on-screen presentation through the addition of scene transitions, video effects, captions, subtitling, music or sound effects. These can enhance the viewer’s engagement if used well. They will detract from your message if overused; like too many PowerPoint animations. Use sparingly for maximum effect, remembering that each one will add complexity and time to the editing process.

Still images with voice-over can be used to occasionally illustrate points, but overuse will make your video look more like a narrated slide-show. Using text captions over your scenes to highlight points, complementing the cast’s actions on screen, is a better approach.

Final cut

Once your edits for time and quality are made, credits and captions positioned and any special effects added it is time to output the final video. Produce this in two sized formats: a compact web-ready version for swift downloading and a larger high quality version. This higher quality version will be the one used in face-to-face lectures and archived for long-term storage; and the one you will present to your stakeholders and students for review.

Evaluating

As you premiere your video to a live classroom audience, take a moment to reflect back on how much you will have achieved by this point. Remember not all of your audiences will love your video so be prepared for some critical reactions. Learn from their reactions to your screening as well as their comments afterwards. Observe them as they watch the movie. Which bits resonate with them? Where do they smile? Where do they react? Where do they appear not to be watching? All of these insights will become invaluable guidance in producing your next video project!

Cameras

Read some of the popular electronics review magazines, such as Which? and What Digital Camera, before trying to identify what is suitable. A few hundred pounds will buy a camcorder sufficient for your filming needs, and even a ‘Flip Video Camcorder’ can produce reasonable quality results. Borndigital (hard-drive or flash) is an easier format to work with since there is less physical media (discs, tape, etc.) lying around and you never have the problem of forgetting to load the camera and then losing a session’s shooting. It is also simple to transfer camera footage onto computers or network drives.

Preferably obtain a camcorder with an optical as well as digital zoom and make sure it has a name brand lens (like Zeiss) as your results will be significantly sharper. You can invest in other add-ons like microphones if you like and while not essential it can be worth future-proofing your purchase by making sure there are compatible peripherals available.

There are a lot of places to buy cameras and filming equipment from and online retailers probably offer the broadest selection and range of prices, alongside helpful user reviews. You might even be able to take advantage of organisational deals with local firms.

Software

Editing software is relatively inexpensive and may be already available locally. The Corel VideoStudio packages are excellent, but Adobe Premier, Microsoft Moviemaker or iMovie might well suit your needs just as well. They all offer user friendly interfaces allowing for easy editing, and graduated discovery of more advanced functionality. You can practically go from installation to editing your first video within minutes.

Golden rules

Some final tips to remember when producing your own films:

Establishing shot wide-angled shot used to establish the location and characters present.

Final cut final master version of your video.

Hook opening line or visual/audio cue that grabs the viewer’s attention.

POV short for Point of View, the viewer’s perspective as framed by the film-maker’s camera.

Rough cut unfinished video assembled in scene order without exact timings or effects. Reviewed to establish if shot footage is adequate to the task.

Shoot the process of filming your video.

Shooting script final version of the script including camera directions, set details and any special effects required.

Sting closing line or visual/audio cue that underscores a video’s message.

Visual narrative the message the video conveys in a structured and understandable sequence.

Vodcast the use of video as a downloadable, rewatchable information resource.

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Videography

Better Library Inductions for New Readers & Students, online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYRQ4KLlyMw (accessed 24/5/10).

Boolean Logic & Database Searching, online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enPSOq1_QmY (accessed 24/5/10).

Boolean Craft, online at: http://www.commoncraft.com/ (accessed 24/5/10).

Explaining Twitter Simply, online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4__htJ-IdU (accessed 24/5/10).

Handling difficult customers, online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3Jud4b9ik0 (accessed 24/5/10).

How to Evaluate Websites

Learning objects: Movies and demonstrations, online at: http://ilrb.cf.ac.uk/bank_type/demos.html (accessed 24/5/10).

Librarians vs UFOs, online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdWUxV1F054 (accessed 24/5/10).

Librarians Dress to Impress: appropriate attire in the library, online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otCRqwHvEYk (accessed 24/5/10).

Professor Weasel goes on a Mandate, online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBdM_0pfyQ8 (accessed 24/5/10).

Understanding Academic Copyright, online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7giW7efQggo (accessed 24/5/10).

University of Liverpool Library’s Videos, online at: http://tinyurl.com/24wmxok (accessed 24/5/10).