You will produce three short scripts with every part marked and a shot list for each.
Most people film without a script because they plan to say it naturally on the day. Then they press record, ramble, start again, forget the main point, and end up with fifteen takes and no video. Or they post the first take, which runs long, opens slowly and never quite gets to the point.
A script fixes that before the camera is even out. This exercise turns your three best hooks from module three into three finished scripts, each with its parts marked and a list of what goes on screen for every line. When you film in module five, you will not have to think about what to say.
Take the three ideas whose hooks you filmed in lesson 3.4, Write and test hooks for three ideas. For each one, write the script under four labels: hook, setup, payoff and next step, as in lesson 4.1.
Write each part in your own spoken voice, then read it aloud and tidy it as you learned in lesson 4.2, Write for the ear and cut every spare word. Check that the hook is the winner from your test, that the setup gives just enough context and no more, that the payoff delivers exactly what the hook promised, and that the next step is a single action.
A shot list is a plain note of what is on screen for each line of the script. It sits beside the words, line by line, and needs no special format: two columns in a note or a sheet will do, with the line on the left and the shot on the right.
The shot list makes filming faster because you know what to capture, and it makes the script better because it shows you where words and picture repeat each other. If the picture already shows something, the line can probably go.
Here is Farah's script for her blouse video, with its shots, as an example.
Hook. Line: "It's not your size, it's the cut." Shot: close-up of the blouse gapping as she sits down. Text on screen: "It's not your size." Setup. Line: "Most blouses are cut for standing. Sit down and the fabric pulls across, so the buttons open." Shot: side view of her sitting, the pull visible across the front. Payoff. Line: "Look for this: a hidden strip of fabric behind the buttons. It holds the front closed when you move." Shot: blouse turned inside out, finger tracing the hidden strip, then her sitting again, no gap. Next step. Line: "Save this for your next shopping trip." Shot: the blouse on a hanger. Text on screen: "Check for the hidden strip."
Read aloud, it ran to about 25 seconds, and the payoff arrived around the halfway point.
There is no correct length for a short video, and platform limits change. The working rule is that the payoff should arrive well before the viewer's attention runs out. In practice that means getting to it as soon as the setup allows, and ending soon after.
Time each script as you read it aloud. If the payoff comes after most of the video has passed, the setup is probably too long. Cut it, or move a detail to the caption, which lesson 6.1, Post captions that add something the video does not, covers.
Now read each script aloud to one person, ideally someone like your buyer, while they watch you rather than a screen, and resist the urge to explain anything before you start.
Watch their eyes. The moment someone looks away, checks their phone, or their face goes blank is the moment your script lost them, so mark that line. It is almost always in the setup, or at a point where a sentence is longer than it needs to be.
Afterwards, ask one question: what was the one thing you took from that? If their answer matches your payoff, the script works. If it does not, the payoff is buried, or the hook promised something different.
Farah read her three scripts to her sister. On the second, about how to style one blouse three ways, her sister looked away during a long setup about why Farah designed it. Farah cut the setup to one sentence, and on the second reading her sister watched to the end.
You should finish with three scripts, each with the hook, setup, payoff and next step clearly marked, a shot list beside every line, a timed read-through, and notes from reading it to one person with the changes you made. Each should be ready to film as it is, with nothing left to decide on the day.
Now write your three: script each of your tested hooks into four marked parts with a shot list, then read all three aloud to one person and revise.
Write three scripts from your hook exercise with parts marked and a shot list, then read them aloud to one person and revise.
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