yeah…sign me up for that stuff right away….
When most people go to edit a video, they start by writing a script, then laying in all the audio first and then covering it with video.
This kind of wallpapering may make for faster and easier video (maybe, but I don’t think so); but one thing it does for sure is to make for video that no one wants to watch. Or even if they watch it, they aren’t going to retain a thing. For most scripts you could substitute the Manhattan Phone book (if you could find one) or an admission that killed Jimmy Hoffa. No one will even notice.
Television and video are visual media first, second and third.
The ‘script’, that is, the track, comes later. Much later. Particularly when it comes to sound bites.
When I was at Columbia and later at CBS, we cut all our pieces in this way – driven by the sound first.
This makes for really mediocre television and videos.
How do I know?
The anwser, ironically, is in front of you about every 5 minutes, on TV.
Ever watch those pharmaceutical ads?
Now, those guys spend millions on each spot, but they know exactly how viewers respond.
They aren’t that rich for nothing!
They layer in beauty shot after beauty shot. Attractive ‘stars’ of their little stories – depression, impotence, whatever the illness of the moment.
It’s nicely shot and nicely cut, with a bit of music underneath to hold it together.
But listen to what they say:
Taking this drug may cause blindness, stroke, paralysis, death…..or an erection lasting more than 8 hours.
OK.
If the commercials were just audio track, that is, if they were done for radio, people would petition Congress to ban Abilify (and a lot of other drugs). Who in their right mind would put one of those things in their mouth?
But they don’t.
They don’t because when we watch TVÂ or videos, we don’t really pay much attention to the track.
We watch the pictures.
That’s why it’s called teleVISION.
But when we go to structure and cut the films and videos, we take exactly the opposite approach: we begin with the track and so, throughout the edit, we are driven by the track – the part of the flim people pay the least attention to.
This does not make any sense.
So learn from the best – your major pharmaceutical company (and their attendant insurance and medical gigabusinesscomplex).
Start with the pictures.
Then… write to what you see.
3 Comments
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Laz Abalos March 02, 2011
While I totally agree that video is an important part of a news story. I don’t think your comparison to erectile ads works. You argue that the reason people don’t complain about those ads is cause everyone is watching the pretty video of people and scenes and not payin attention to what is being said. As a photojournalist I try to shoot my news story with the best “pictures” but not at the cost of it being a “distraction” to the viewer so much so that the viewer stops listening to important info being said. I believe its a balance leaning in favor of great video. 🙂 Just my two cents. Keep up the great site. I enjoy your work and have learned good things from you.
Laz
Michael Rosenblum March 02, 2011
Do your own experiment. I have done this dozens of times. Show someone a news story with really killer video but stultifying yet ‘important’ information.
Then, quiz them. Ask them what they remembered from the piece. 90% will be the visuals. Trust me. (PS. This does not work if its only talking heads, in which case people remember almost nothing at all).