Chapter 5

 The digital media environment has enabled the
digital message designer to utilize a variety of
digital equipment in the streamlined
compatibility.

 Preproduction in the digital media
environment consists of the preparation of
digital video message proposals, synopses,
treatments, scripts, production schedules,
budgets, and storyboards.
 A proposal is a market summary of the project
theme.
 A synopsis is a paragraph describing the
theme of the video story line. A treatment is a
longer detail of the synopsis.

 The digital media environment has facilitated
production more than any other time. HD
cameras, hard disk drives installed in the HD
camera, fire wire or USB cables connect the
camera to the computer to directly capture the
scenes for edits.

 Postproduction with digital technologies is the
culmination of digital video message creation
process. Powerful computer programs such as
Final Cut Pro or After Effects enable the digital
video message designer to complete a video
story in a digital format.

 A producer is generally in charge of
preproduction. The producer carries out
research, writing, law, budgets, scheduling,
and other production issues that may occur.

 During the production phase, the director
plans, specifies, and implements the
production idea.
 The digital video message designer can take
responsible for the director position by
handling video shooting, visual/sound
integration, lighting, casting, and rehearsing.
 The editor is in charge of postproduction. The
editor integrates the pieces into a work that
consists of visual effects, narration, and sound
effects.

 Digital video production needs five elements
that characterize the particular communication:
production organization, message design,
video medium as a channel of
communication, the audience, and audience
feedback.

 A realism based digital video message creates a
reflection of reality. The stylistic conventions
behind realism are concerned with the
audience’s acceptance of the video message as
real.

 Modernism in digital
video message creation
can be defined as a
liberal style of realism.
 While a modernist
video message
emphasizes the message
designer’s self-
expression, a
postmodernist video
message goes beyond
self-expression and
focuses on human
subjectivity.

 The digital video message designer first sets
goals and objectives for a project. Goals are
general statements of the purpose. Objectives
are concrete anticipated results of the message
project.

 The next job of the digital video message
designer in the preproduction phase is
audience analysis.
 Audience demographics generally consist of
age, gender, income, education, religion,
culture, and language.

 Based on the goals and information obtained
from the audience analysis, the digital video
message designer can create a proposal.
 A proposal is a written document designed to
explain the digital video message production.

Proposal
TITLE: Charity Campaign
WRITER: Seok Kang
CLIENT: UTSA
PAGE: 1
LENGTH: 30 seconds
DATE: 02-12-12
The digital video message team in the department of communication will produce a 30-
second HD digital video message to be used as a charity campaign promotion for UTSA
employees. The digital video will target the importance and worthiness of charitable
contribution to the fund for people in need. The digital video message will emphasize
why the charity campaign participation is important and how the UTSA staff can
participate.
The digital video message production schedule will last for three days, weather and other
acts of nature notwithstanding. Postproduction will last for one week following the
production period. Research and preparing of the treatment will last a week following the
acceptance of this digital video message proposal. The final script and storyboard will be
prepared within two weeks in connection with the treatment.
The production will be implemented by volunteering actors. Therefore, no separate
budget will be needed. The format will be a public service announcement with captions
and graphics. An HD video camera and tripod will be the equipment for the production.
The production crew will consist of four members who will research the production
topic, schedule the meeting of actors, shoot the scenes, and edit the scenes in a nonlinear
video-editing program.

 As introduced in the proposal, there is treatment
writing.
 The differences between a proposal and a
treatment are as follows.
 A proposal includes summary statement, purpose
and objectives, budget, shooting schedule, and
equipment list.
 A treatment, meanwhile, contains a description of
the video message in specific in third person and
present tense. Further, it describes action
sequences, main characters, and the storyline from
the beginning to the end.

Treatment
TITLE: Charity Campaign
WRITER: Seok Kang
CLIENT: UTSA
PAGE: 1
LENGTH: 30 seconds
DATE: 02-12-12
This one minute digital video message will start with several video segments of smiling
faces of the university employees. Examples of such scenes are:
A professor expresses his/her happiness about helping others with a smiling face.
A school cafeteria staff member smiles with coworkers.
An administrative staff member smiles sitting at his/her desk.
These scenes will be enhanced with captions introducing their names and their charity
experiences. Cheerful music will be added to the scenes.
Following the scenes, the narrator will walk into the scene and describe how the charity
participations can make a difference in the lives of those in need.

 The audio writer must:
 (a) write the story conversationally
 (b) write to be understood on the first listening
 (c) write concisely
 (d) write visually meaning as if the listener can
imagine vivid images as he listens to the story
 (e) use appropriate sound effects going
together with the story
 (f) use words and phrases that appeal to other
sense, such as smell, touch, and taste.

 Building the story rather than writing it.
 Exposition.
 Characterization.
 Conflict.
 Climax.
 Resolution.


 The first is the theme-based structure.
 Themes are generally derived from the values,
beliefs, and goals of the digital video message.
 The second type of script writing structure can
be presented in adaptation.
 An adaptation is an altered translation of a
play, a novel, or a comic strip into a film or
digital video message.

 The third type of script writing structure is the
short fiction form.
 Some digital video message designers may
plan to create short situation comedies or
episode-based video messages.
 The fourth and most digital-related script
writing structure is the interactive story.
 The interactive story format in the digital
setting is represented in video or online games.

 Nonfiction scriptwriters rely on the expository
structure of cause-solution or theme-counter-
theme in the message.
 The digital message designer for nonfiction
scriptwriting can use the dramatic structure as
well.

 The first format is news messages.

 The second format is talk shows. Talks shows
mostly consist of interviews.

 The third short nonfiction format is commercials.
Commercials are messages aiming at selling
products, brands, or services.
 The digital message designer decides if the
product needs a hard-sell strategy or soft-sell one.
 For a hard-sell strategy, a commercial uses
aggressive or real-life dramatization script
structure. Automobiles are an example of hard-sell
products.
 In the case of soft-sell strategy, the digital message
designer uses the strategy of less direct appeal and
soft touch on the product. Clothing or beauty aids
are examples of soft-sell products.

Scene Script Format (30 sec)
Fade in:
1. Interior/Exterior: Campus Day/Night 1
Brief scene or shot description, camera angle, music
Professor (John) (5 sec)
Smiling face; caption (sociology professor; donated to a local animal shelter)
Cafeteria staff member (Jane) (5 sec)
Smiling with her coworkers and doing a high five with the coworkers; caption (cafeteria
cashier: previous donor to the charity campaign)
Administrative staff member (Michael) (5 sec)
Smiling with a thumb up (registrar’s office staff member: previous donor to the charity
campaign)
(Dissolve to)
The narrator (Emily) (15 sec)
“Your participation in the charity campaign will make you as well as those who need
help happy. For more information, call at 123-4567 or visit our website at ------------------
-.”
Caption (the phone number and website address).

 A public service announcement (PSA) is
identical with commercials in the processes of
creation except for the nature of the message
goal.

 The last format of short nonfiction is
instructional videos. Instructional videos are
commonplace in the digital environment
because website users can easily become a
digital message designer and quickly create an
instructional video using website services.

 Focal length means the distance from the
optical center of the lens to the point where the
image is in focus. It consists of wide-angle
lenses (zoom out) and telephoto lenses (zoom
in).

 An iris determines the
amount of light in the
camera so that the
object is shown either
bright or dark. The
size of iris ranges
from f-1.4 wide
open— extremely
bright, to f-2.8
medium, to f-22 tiny
open—extremely
dark.

 Another concept is depth of field. It is defined
as the portion of the scene that is in focus in
front of the camera.

Long Depth Short Depth

 The digital message designer should decide if
the video will be displayed in aspect ratio—4:3
or aspect ratio—16:9. Television system
standards use either 30 frames per second or
525 lines per frame (horizontal) in the U.S. or
25 frames per second or 625 lines per frame in
Europe.

 Dolly in or out a camera means the movement
of the entire camera and its support such as a
dolly toward or away from the scene.
 Truck left or right a camera indicates the
horizontal movement of the camera with the
support of a dolly or a wheeled tripod in front
of the scene.

 Panning left and right a camera is used to turn
the camera to the left or right to take a shot of a
location such as a room, a hotel lobby, and
others.
 Tilting up and down a camera is used for the
purpose of taking the shot of an object from top
to bottom or the opposite. The camera crews
tilt up or down the camera with or without a
tripod for a scanning shot of an object.

 A-roll is an interview shot of a person
appropriate to visual sequences.
 B-roll is widely used in news production or
documentary to describe the visual footage
(e.g., concert scenes) with a narration.

 A typical scene creation involves first an
establishing shot-the scene of where they are.
 The establishing shot is also called as exterior
shot (e.g., a city skyline, the entrance of a park).
 The establishing shot can be an interior shot
(e.g., the entrance of a concert hall).

 The second step is to make a master shot.
 A master shot refers to the entire range of
action in the scene (e.g., the shot of both the
orchestra and the audience in a concert hall).
 This master shot can be an over-the-stage-shot
of the orchestra.

 The best video shot consists of several key shot
elements (Compesi, 2000). Those shots include
an extreme long shot (XLS)-an overview of the
large scene, a long shot (LS)-the positional
relationship between the actors and the setting,
a medium shot (MS)-tighter (closer) than the
long shot but not as tight as a close-up shot

 A medium close-up (MCU), a close-up (CU) is
an extremely powerful shot that vies an
extremely tight shot of the subject’s head, and
an extreme close-up or tight close-up (ECU)-
the tightest shot possible for your subject. A
medium 2-shot is a medium shot that includes
two people and a long 3-shot is a long shot that
includes three people.

 A point-of-view shot (POV shot) places the
camera in the approximate special positioning
of a character in a direction. It is also possibly
called over-the-shoulder shot.

 A low-angle shot places the camera lower than
the object and the camera lens looks up toward
the object. This shot is used when the digital
video message designer wants to exaggerate
the importance of the object.

 A high-angle shot places the camera from the
top and directs toward the object. The camera
looks down the object. This shot is used when
the digital video message designer wants to
downgrade the importance of the object.

 An overhead shot places the camera overhead
and creates a unique angle as a scene in action.
In this case of shot, a camera is attached to an
airplane or crane.

 Continuity refers to the consistent and logical
connection of shots. This is also called logical
montage.
 The second element is spatial continuity. For
an organized scene structure, a digital
storyteller should set a real or imaginary line in
a shot.

 White balance is defined as an adjustment of
the amount of the color white in the lens. Most
HD video cameras have automatic settings of
exposure and white balance.

 In the production phase, either built-in
microphones in the video camera or separate
microphones can be used to for audio.

 These days, the digital video message
designers use a digital audio recorder that
allows a digitized audio file (e.g., .mp3, .mp4,
.wav).

 A typical audio message consists of three types
of sounds: track, actuality, and ambience.
 The track is the voice of the reporter.
 The actuality is an interview segment for the
story.
 The ambience is any other supporting audio
segment for the story (e.g., train passing sound
on railroad, airplane take-off sound, animal
sound).

 If there is a narration, it should be edited in a
nonlinear audio editing program (e.g.,
Garageband, Audacity).

 The video needs to be sequentially edited using
video editing programs (e.g., Final Cut, Avid,
Premier Pro). All of these details are covered in
the instruction chapters of audio and video
editing.

Chapter 5

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