The Moovly
Guide to
Video Script
Writing
Learn how to prepare the creation of your video,
how you can avoid that blocking “empty screen”
situation, and more!
www.moovly.com
2The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
Contents
2The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
Introduction 03
Phase 1: Analysis 04
Objectives 05
Target audience 06
Distribution channels 07
Style and tone 08
Duration 09
Call-to-Action 11
Summary 12
Phase 2: The Script 14
The Outline 15
The Storytelling Formula 16
The Script 19
Phase 3: The Storyboard 23
Phase 4: Production 27
3The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
Introduction
It’s decided. This project needs a video. There’s
no budget to involve an external agency or
skilled freelancer to have this video made, but
hey, today there are these great do-it-yourself
video tools, so why not create this video yourself?
So there you go. You’ve found this pretty neat online
video creation tool, you’ve opened it to create a new
video and… there you are. Sitting in front of your screen,
staring at a white video canvas, waiting for inspiration, thinking
about how to get started…
Sounds familiar? A powerful video creation application is a wonderful tool for people
who already have brilliant ideas about the content, flow and style of the video they
want to make.
But what if you are not there yet? What if you do need a video for your project but don’t
know where or how to start? What is the best way to approach this challenge?
So many people have already created videos about numerous subjects, with a large
variety in objectives, target audiences and styles. It turns out that most successful
video projects did not start by opening a creative tool, but with a preparation phase.
That’s what this Guide is about: how do you prepare the creation of your video? What
should you do before creating your video? How can you avoid that blocking “empty
screen” situation? Or worse, how can you avoid having to redo your hard video
creation work – or parts of it – because you forgot to think about certain requirements,
conditions or expectations?
This document provides guidelines to help you make a successful video.
The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
4The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
Phase 1:
Analysis
Preparation is key to a successful video project. Gathering
information, discussing with others what the intentions and
goals are of your video, identifying the boundaries of your project:
all of these are essential and required before any creative steps
can be taken.
Ask yourself the following questions – and make sure the
answers are clear, agreed and denite before moving on to the
next step.
Give me six hours to chop down a tree
and I will spend the rst four sharpen-
ing the axe.
Abraham Lincoln
5The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
1. What are the objectives of your video?
What would you like to achieve with your video? Which goal does it have? Which
problem does your video address or aim to solve?
These objectives need to be clear and free of any doubts or dierent opinions
among the stakeholders of your video (if not, those dierences will come back
when they get to see your video).
Some examples of clear objectives:
» The goal of our video is to reduce customer complaints about the
conguration of our product by explaining it step-by-step
» Our video should generate interest and promote our product by
demonstrating its major features and benets.
» Our video should give our employees condence and insight in the reasons
behind our recent organization change.
5The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
TIP: Make sure to limit the objectives of your
video to keep them achievable.
6The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
2. Who is the target
audience of your
video?
Identifying your audience and
understanding who they are –
with respect to the content of
your video – is very important.
This question comes with many
sub-questions you should take
into account:
» Who are the people that we want to address with
this video? Employees, clients, prospects, partners, investors, the “general
public”...
» What level do they have? Is the subject completely new to them or do they
already have some background knowledge about it?
» How interested are they in the subject? Will the video be mandatory to watch
(e.g. as part of an onboarding program) or optional? What is their need or
expectation?
The more specic and narrow your answers to the above questions are, the
higher the potential success of your video. If your audiences are very broad
(dierent types of people, dierent levels, dierent interests), it will become very
challenging to create a video that meets the expectations of all these types of
viewers. In other words: try to limit your target audiences to one homogeneous
group with the same level and interests. Some examples of well-identied
audiences:
» New employees joining our organization in technical departments
6The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
7The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
» People managers dealing with yearly performance appraisals
» Online users getting started with our product for the rst time
If you attempt to broadly appeal to everyone, there’s a chance you won’t appeal
to anyone.
3. Where will your video be seen?
Via which distribution channel(s) will you oer your video to your target
audience? Will they fnd it on your intranet, your website, your Learning
Management System (LMS) or YouTube? Will they see it on a large television
screen, in a presentation or on a booth at an event? Will they view it on their
mobile devices?
These destinations may determine how you approach the content of your video:
» If most of your audience is able to watch your video on a computer screen
while listening to its voice-over, you can achieve higher levels of attention
and concentration on your content.
» Television screens in a noisy factory, restaurant, exhibition or reception area
requires video content without sound and containing clearly readable text
messages
» Mobile viewers will see your video on small screens, so any text you use in
your video requires a big font size
Narrow your audience and focus on it. If you attempt to
broadly appeal to everyone there’s a chance you won’t
appeal to anyone.
7The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
8The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
4. What style and tone should
your video have?
Videos come in many dierent styles and tones: a serious documentary style
with footage, funny cartoon or simple whiteboard styles, animated motion
graphics, screen recording based tutorials, pushy commercials, dynamic music
videos, a “talking head” in front of a camera… – or a creative mix of these styles.
If your company is a brand or a large enterprise, your video may need to respect
the brand style guidelines, including the correct colors, fonts, graphics and other
visual elements.
Before you start writing a script for your video, you’ll have to determine what the
style and tone of your video should be. When your video features cartoon gures
in a humorous dialogue, your script will be very dierent compared to that of a
footage and voice-over based video.
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9The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
5. What is the ideal
duration of your
video?
When you create a video, your
nal purpose is that it is viewed
by as many people for as long
as possible. Attracting and
keeping the attention of your
target audience is a challenge
in environments where every
app or screen is trying to tempt
them.
Many studies have shown that shorter videos are more eective than longer
ones.
The following table lists the optimal video length with the best viewer
engagement for dierent types of video:
9The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
Video Duration
Attention
10The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
Type of video Optimal video length
Explainer video 2-3 min
Product video 2-3 min
Communication video 1-3 min
Promotional video 1-2 min
E-learning/training video 2-5 min
Social video 30-60 sec
Testimonial video 2-5 min
Onboarding video 3-10 min
Teaser video 15-30 sec
As a major part of your audience doesn’t make it to the second half of your video
– even for videos of 2 minutes – you should put your key messages in the rst
half of your video. In other words, organize the content of your videos in the
same way journalists do when writing news articles: by initially providing the
most important information, followed by supporting details.
TIP: If your video risks to become too long because you have
too much to tell, consider cutting it in two or more shorter,
independent pieces. Divide and conquer!
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11The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
6. What is the Call-to-Action of your video?
As your video has objectives, its purpose is that you want your audience to
understand, know or actually do something. What is the next step you would
like your viewers to take? That is the Call-to-Action (CTA) of your video. Before
you start writing your script, you should think about what this ideal call to action
would be.
In many cases that call to action is explicitly presented at the end of the video.
For online videos, it usually involves clicking on a link, visiting a web page or
completing a form.
Here are some examples of calls to action:
» Visit a web page
» Contact a person
» Enter your email address
» Complete a form
» Download a document
» Download an app
» Buy a product
» Subscribe to a service, a newsletter…
» Watch another video
» Share on social media
» Become a member
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12The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
7. Summary
Now that you’ve given some thought to these questions, you should be able to
complete the following table:
Video Title
Objective(s)
Target audience
Distribution channel(s)
Style
Duration
Call to action
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13The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
An example of an internal communications video:
An example of a product promotion video:
Video Title Security in the workplace
Objective(s) Increase awareness of key security precau-
tions at work
Target audience Employees
Distribution channel(s) Intranet
Style Photo/footage/text based, aligned with
company brand Including voice-over and
music
Duration 3:00 min
Call to action Visit the internal corporate security web
page
Video Title Save time with this simple app!
Objective(s) Convince new users/customers of the
benets of our product
Target audience Visitors of our web page and YouTube
channel
Distribution channel(s) Company web site, YouTube, social media
Style App screenshots, graphical style (icons,
gures…)
No voice, only music – key messages in text
Duration 1:00 min
Call to action Download the free trial version
13The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
14The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
Phase 2:
The Script
Now that you’ve made these decisions and you know exactly
what kind of video you want, you’re ready to take the next
step in the process.
You might not write well every day, but
you can always edit a bad page. You
can’t edit a blank page!
Jodi Picoult
15The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
1. The Outline
Before moving on to elaborating a detailed script, start with writing a short
outline of your script: a checklist with the key messages you want to convey to
your audience.
Think about the following questions, and write down the answers in bullet list
style:
» What is the main reason for your video, the context that gave birth to the idea
to create this video?
— Try to write it down in a language your audience can understand.
» What is the issue you are trying to tackle or the problem you’d like to address
in this video?
— Try to identify an issue or problem your audience can relate to.
» Which messages are essential to communicate to your audience in order to
reach the objectives you’ve chosen? If you have 4 or more messages on your
list, what is your top 3?
15The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
Think of the elevator pitch metaphor: suppose you’re
standing in the elevator with one representative person
from your target audience during 1 minute, what would
you tell him/her?
16The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
2. The Storytelling
Formula
Even when you have clear view about what
you want to tell in your video, how you tell
your story is possible in many dierent ways.
Storytelling is a combination of fact and
narrative. If your video is just a sequence of
facts or messages, chances are high that
your audience will quickly nd it very boring and drop o. Bringing your message
through an emotional, engaging or entertaining story has a much more powerful
eect on your audience and increases both attention and retention.
There are many dierent storytelling formulas you can choose from. Which one
to select is dependent on the nature of your subject, your target audience and
your objectives.
Below are a few popular storytelling formulas that are commonly used for videos:
Problem – Solution
Start with a description of a problem or problematic situation your
audience can relate to (that will also catch their attention). Then explain
what the solution is and how it will solve the problem.
Example:
• Many people are confused about… This causes…
• Therefore we are introducing… This new approach will improve…
16The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
17The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
5 Tips To…
Start with one or more questions about your subject to your viewers.
Then provide a sequence of tips to deal with it.
Example:
• Are you looking for the best way to handle…? Do you often
experience…?
• This video provides 5 tips to better…
• Tip number 1: Make sure to…
The Character’s Story
Create one or more characters and tell their story: rst tell who they are,
then let something happen (an incident, a new situation, a problem…).
Next, describe how they are handling the situation and come to a
conclusion.
Conclude your video with a few tips for the viewer in case they run into a
similar situation.
Example:
• This is Tom. Tom works at a… Every day, Tom does…
• However, due to…, Tom suers from…
• One day, Tom decides to change… From now on he…
• Therefore, if you happen to run into a similar…, … [action]
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18The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
The Dialog
Two characters have a conversation. One character is the challenger,
the interviewer asking the questions, or someone complaining about a
problem.
The other character provides answers, proposes solutions, brings help.
Example:
• Character 1: “Oh no, this can’t be true, I’ve lost my…”
• Character 2: “Really? What happened?”
• Character 1: “Well, this morning I… and then…”
• Character 2: “Don’t panic, there are ways to … You can always… You
know, it also happens to me, but what I do then is… “
Headline news
Bring your messages in the style of a news show, rst with strong
headlines, then elaborate with more details. You can also insert a
testimonial from a person and/or a quote from an expert providing
advice.
Example:
• The number of people with … symptoms has never been so high! Over
…% of all people working in… say that… [insert testimonial of a person
conrming the statement]. The reason for this is… To do something
about this situation, experts advise to…
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19The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
3. The Script
When you have chosen a suitable storytelling formula, you are ready to apply it
to your outline and write your script.
The script is a chronological description of your video, the blueprint of the story
you are telling.
» If you are using voice-over in your video, the voice-over text can serve as the
basis of your script, optionally with some visual instructions in between.
» If your video has no sound or only music, your script is a detailed, sequential
description of each scene.
Note that the length of your script will also determine the
length of your video. If you plan to add a voice-over,
the number of words is a guideline for the duration
of your video. Professional English voice-over
artists usually read at a speed of 120-140
words per minute. (Note this may be
dierent in other languages).
While writing your text, think about
your audience and make sure you’re
using a language they understand
and can relate to. How do they talk?
What kind of words do they use?
Convert your logic to the logic of
your target audience. Your video
needs to appeal to your audience,
not to your boss!
How can you motivate your audience to
pay attention to your video? What is their
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20The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
feeling, position or opinion about the subject? (ignorant, defensive, interested,
positive/negative…) Take this into account while thinking about how to word your
messages.
And (it’s a cliché but so true): keep it simple and short! While you are writing,
chances are that your script is too long for the target duration you had in mind
(see Phase 1.5). As said before, if you have too many messages to convey and it
is very hard to shorten your script, then consider making two videos instead of
one. One about this and one about that, instead of one single video stued with
too much information that doesn’t come across anyway.
A commonly used format for a script is a table with 2 columns: one column
describing the audio, the other describing the visuals (= what happens during
the audio). You can do this scene by scene or phrase by phrase. Just create a
table as follows:
Audio Visuals
21The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
Audio Visuals
[Title scene] Soft introductory music Footage of blue sky with clouds
Title appears centrally (fade-in-out):
What is cloud computing?
Music fades away
[Voice] Most of us have already heard
about “the cloud”. Our computers,
smartphones and even TV screens are
connected to it.
Show an icon of a cloud and below
the icon, the words “The Cloud”
Icons of a computer, a smartphone
and a TV appear around it, in sync
with the voice
[Voice] But what is this abstract thing
called “the cloud”? And where is it?
Fade in soft, still, blue background
picture with clouds.
[Voice] This video explains what cloud
computing is and how you can benet
from it
2 words appear over the background:
What? Benets
... ...
21The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
22The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
A few nal writing tips:
» Don’t hesitate to address your audience directly, as if you’re speaking to them.
When your video contains advice, tips or solutions for your audience, address
them with words like “you” and “your”.
» Don’t mix personal pronouns (I, we, you, they…) in your script, as if may
confuse your audience. An example text with mixed pronouns:
— We all know how dicult it is to manage your agenda. Always start with
a to-do list. Everyone needs to nd their own way of dealing with time
management.
The same text rewritten with all pronouns converted to “you”:
— You know how dicult it is to manage your agenda. Always start with a to-
do list and try to nd your own way of dealing with time management.
» Don’t concentrate too much information in every sentence or message. Give
your audience the time to listen, view and absorb your content. Again, if you
have too many messages to bring in your video, spread them over multiple
videos. You can’t drink from a re hose!
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23The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
Phase 3:
The Storyboard
Note: if you are the only one producing the video and
deciding about the content, you may want to skip this phase
and immediately move on with Phase 4 (production). If,
however, you have other stakeholders involved in this video,
this storyboard phase may help you save a lot of time in the
production phase…
The storyboard for me is the way to
visualize the entire movie in advance.
Martin Scorsese
24The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
While the script describes the content of your video in a textual form, the
storyboards describes it in a visual way, by adding a series of thumbnails or
mock-ups to every scene.
In other words, a storyboard adds visual detail to your script. Every visually
dierent part of your video is illustrated with a graphical representation. This
way, your stakeholders and/or video producers can easily understand what every
scene will look like, and provide feedback or ask questions before the content is
created, shot or composed.
The drawings or sketches of a storyboard can be very rudimental and should not
be very detailed. They should be clear enough to be interpreted correctly but it is
not required you are a graphical talent to produce them.
The format of a storyboard can be as simple as an extension of the script format
as used in the previous phase. The audio and visual descriptions should be
added next to the illustration of every scene.
In a storyboard format, the example used in the previous chapter could look as
follows:
24The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
25The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
Storyboard: “What is Cloud Computing?”
1.
Audio
[Title scene] Soft introductory music
Visuals
Footage of blue sky with clouds
Title appears centrally (fade-in-out):
What is cloud computing?
2.
Audio
Music fades away
[Voice] Most of us have already heard about “the
cloud”. Our computers, smartphones and even TV
screens are connected to it.
Visuals
Show an icon of a cloud and below the icon, the
words “The Cloud”
Icons of a computer, a smartphone and a TV ap-
pear around it, in sync with the voice.
3.
Audio
[Voice] But what is this abstract thing called “the
cloud”? And where is it?
Visuals
Fade in soft, still, blue background picture with
clouds.
4.
Audio
[Voice] This video explains what cloud computing
is and how you can benet from it
Visuals
Question mark fades out and 2 words appear over
the background:
What? Benets
... ... ...
25The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
26The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
When your storyboard is ready, share it with the stakeholders and reviewers of
your video, and ask them to provide you with detailed feedback. If they have any
comments about the content, style, wording, order, length or other aspects of
your video-to-be, now is their chance to share them with you!
When you receive feedback, process it, update your storyboard and if useful or
expected, share your nal version once more with your reviewers.
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27The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
Phase 4:
The Production
Congratulations! When you’ve made it to this phase, you’ve
thoroughly prepared every aspect of your video. Now is the
time to get started with the production of your video.
The most ecient way to turn your storyboard into a video is
the following:
The play button is the most compelling
call-to-action on the web.
Michael Litt
28The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
1. Record the
voice-over
2. Search and gather your
media
Extract the pure voice-over text
from your script and paste it in a
new document. If you are going
to record your own voice, this
text is the one to read.
If you are relying on an external,
professional voice actor, add
reading instructions (particularly
when some of your words are
abbreviations or specialized
jargon) and put the words to
emphasize in bold.
Your script and storyboard describe the visuals and
audio (music, voice, sounds) to be used in your video.
If you are using Moovly, browse and search the
millions of available media objects in the Moovly
libraries for the ones you want to use in this project.
Or if you have these assets on your computer or
mobile device, upload them to a separate personal
library in Moovly. That way, you have all your media
nicely organized in a project media library.
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29The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
3. Structure your video in Clips
4. Drag, drop, animate
and synchronize
As your storyboard is organized in separate scenes, it is convenient to preserve
this structure in your video project.
Moovly enables you to organize your content in dierent Clips, which are
groups of animated objects. Organizing your content in Clips not only gives you
structure and overview, but also allows you to easily shift, copy and move pieces
of content.
You can put your audio in a separate Clip, for example containing your
background music and voice recording. Or you can cut your voice-over into
smaller pieces, one per scene or Clip.
Scene by scene, drag and drop
your media objects to your
video stage and synchronize
them with your audio and
each other. Add animation
eects for every object
as appropriate. Don’t
exaggerate your animation,
always consider the best way
to get your message across.
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30The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
5. Review, ne-tune and share
Video creation is an iterative process: you’ll spend some time ne tuning the
visual details and timing. The nice thing about that is that with every iteration,
your video gets better.
It is inevitable to have several rounds of revision, certainly when there are
multiple stakeholders. As you’ve built the video content based on an approved
script or storyboard, there’s only limited details left that your stakeholders can
provide feedback on: any global feedback on content structure, voice-over text,
duration or style should have come earlier.
When you’re using a simple, flexible and powerful video editing application such
as Moovly, updating your video is as simple as updating a PowerPoint slide. In
other words, any corrections can be done easily and are just a natural part of the
video creation process.
30The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
31The Moovly Guide to Video Script Writing
31
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