If there’s one thing you need to know before diving into making a video, it’s that the script is the most important part of your process. Seriously.  Want to know the reason horror movies and rom-coms never win awards? It’s because their scripts are a little embarrassing.

Now writing a great script ain’t easy, especially when it’s your first time at the rodeo. It takes time, creativity, and most importantly patience. That perfect script you were mentally writing in the shower might not look so perfect once you get it down on paper. But, that’s ok! The first, and often hardest step, is getting a basic outline down of what you want to include. Once you know what you want to say, or the story you want to tell, take time time to follow our 5 simple steps to guarantee you get it right.

Now before you get started, one important thing you have to tell yourself is to not be embarrassed about your writing. People can be very shy about their writing (myself included). So before you get started, kick those negative thoughts to the curb! You’re going to have to share your work with people eventually, so you may as well get over those self-critical thoughts now so that they don’t creep in and ruin whatever story magic you have going on in your brain.

Transcript

Oh, hello. Are you here for the video blog? One second, I’m just finishing up an email.

Uh huh… uh huh…yup…ok…clicking send…and done.

So what do you want to know?

Sure, let me give you 5 quick tips for writing an explainer video script that sells:

Number one: Stay focused.

Limited time means limited content. Focus on covering the essentials and skip the rest.

Number two: Keep it short.

People have very limited attention spans these days, so try to keep it to a minute or less. Hey, stop looking at him.

Number three: Know your audience.

Every good writer understands his or her audience. It’s the only way to write relevant content.

Number four: Use humor wisely.

A little touch of humor, when done right, is a good way to get viewers smiling and engaged.

Number five: Have a call to action.

Make sure to include a clear next step that’s compelling and friction-free.

Remember, a great script is the most important part of any video, so take the time to do it right and everything else should fall into place.

5 Quick Tips For Writing A Great Explainer Script [VIDEO]

Seven years ago I graduated from Wheaton College in the suburbs of Chicago. A lot of my best memories came from my four years at Wheaton, so I was excited to get a chance to work on the animated explainer video for Wheaton in Network. WiN helps connect students and alumni for conversations about calling, career, and life after college – something I wish I had before I graduated.

Non-Profit Explainer Video Transcript:

Welcome to Wheaton in Network, or WiN – an online tool connecting people within the Wheaton family for conversations about calling, career, and life after college.

So, who can use WiN? Everyone in the Wheaton family. Here’s how:

Students and young alumni can use WiN to learn from other’s experiences and seek advice about life after Wheaton.

All alumni and parents, including young alumni, can serve on WiN as short-term advisors or long-term mentors, sharing their talents and experiences with the Wheaton community.

Sounds pretty great, right? Here’s how you can start using it.

Sign up at win.wheaton.edu and complete your profile.

Students need to register for a training session on campus.

If you’re a student, or if you graduated within the past ten years, you can search for advisors or mentors by career field, location, major and a variety of other criteria. You’ll notice that all profiles are anonymous at first.

Once you find someone you want to contact, you can bookmark their profile for later, or send them a message through WiN.

If you’re an alumnus or parent, you’ll receive an email notification when someone contacts you. Then you can log into WiN and review the requestor’s profile.

You can decline the request if you’re too busy or you can reply through WiN anonymously.

If you accept the request your contact information will be automatically shared via email. Then it’s up to the student or young alumnus to contact you by phone or email in order to start connecting.

And that’s how WiN works. You’ll find more resources at win.wheaton.edu. And don’t forget when you’re interacting on WiN to be professional, responsive and always express thanks for people’s time.

Thank you for being a WiNner! You’re helping make the Wheaton family more connected.

New Non-Profit Explainer Video: Wheaton WiN

Life’s moving so fast. You hear about a great restaurant, a Top 25 bestseller, a luscious recipe and a movie you want to see – but you just want to save it for later. Springpad will instantly enhance and keep on updating what you save with more information. Save a restaurant and they’ll give you a map and reviews. Save a movie, and they’ll give you the showtimes nearby. Save a recipe and they’ll give you a shopping list, wine pairings and local deals. Save a product, they’ll tell you when there’s a price drop.

Video Transcript

Life is busy. It seems like there’s never enough time to do the things we really need to do, while still having time for the things we love.

We think everyday can be done better, which is why we built SpringPad. With SpringPad, you can keep your entire life organized, whether you’re at home, or in the office.

It’s like having your very own personal assistant wherever you go.

Collaborate privately with co-workers on your upcoming business trip.

Clip interesting web pages directly from your browser, and follow other helpful SpringPad notebooks with a click.

And it’s not all about business…Need to remember a good restaurant, book, or article? Springpad has you covered.

Access everything from anywhere at anytime, like during your lunch break.

Keep track of the things you have to do, and check off the things you’ve already done. Cake and balloons…check.

At home, you can pull up saved recipes, make a grocery list, add ratings, and jot down notes. Don’t forget the lemonade and dinosaur chicken nuggets!

And when it’s party time, you can bring all of your favorite ideas to life, then share your party planning tips with friends.

When your little guy’s tuckered out at the end of the day, and you’re ready for a little “me time”, we’ll recommend the perfect movie to help you unwind.

SpringPad is beautiful, helpful, fun, and free! So download it today or go to Springpad.com. It’s the everyday, done better.

New Live Action Video: Springpad 4.0

Hiring the right people can feel like navigating through treacherous waters, searching through a sea of applicants to find just the right person for your company. Resumes and interviews can be unreliable, and don’t give you a very complete picture of the candidate. Criteria’s HireSelect takes the guesswork out of hiring. By using HireSelect’s pre-employment tests early in your recruiting process, you can get detailed insights into what makes your potential employee tick.

Animated Video Transcript

Hiring the right people can feel like navigating through treacherous waters – searching through a sea of applicants to find just the right person for your company.

Resumes and interviews are subjective and unreliable, and don’t give you a very complete picture of an applicant.

You’ll spend a lot of time, and still only see the tip of the iceberg.

It’s time to dive deeper.

HireSelect features aptitude, personality, and skills tests that take the guesswork out of hiring.

By using our pre-employment tests early in your hiring process, you gain detailed insights into what really makes a candidate tick.

And to streamline your hiring process, you can put a link to our tests directly in a job posting.

Don’t worry about paying per-test fees; with Hire Select, you pay a low annual fee and get unlimited use of all our tests.

The results are available immediately, and our score reports are simple and easy to understand.

Hire Select also contains advanced analytical tools that allow you to compare candidates to each other and to benchmarks by job category.

Pre-employment testing reduces turnover and helps you hire more productive employees, so stop just skimming the surface and dive deeper with Hire Select.

Go to www.criteriacorp.com and start a Free Trial today.

New Animated Video: Criteria’s HireSelect

It’s summer and you’re thirteen. Huddled around a crackling campfire with the rest of your compadres, your scoutmaster paces in and out of the shadows recounting the terrifying tale of the one legged coyote.

You didn’t miss a word…in fact you didn’t even blink. To this day, I bet you remember that entire story… and you’ve probably forgotten almost everything else that scoutmaster’s ever said to you.

That’s the beauty of stories. They engage, compel, and have a knack for nestling into your memory. And they’re not just for the campfire. Let’s take a look at three reasons why storytelling is key to your company.

1. Engage the Listener

Whether you realize it or not, you are an excellent storyteller! In fact, I’ll bet you told at least one story today whether it was online, drawn on a cave wall, or even in person! It’s what we’ve been doing since the dawn of man, and due to this innate storytelling talent – we are also excellent story listeners. So why do we, when in a corporate setting, forget our most basic forms of communication and turn to PowerPoint presentations?

Try using this structure next time you need to communicate a message:

• Setting: Set the stage

• Conflict: Illustrate a problem that listeners can relate to

• The Quest: Explain how that problem can be fixed and fix it!

• Resolution: Show how everything is better now that you fixed the problem. This is also your call to action!

When you speak to someone through story or metaphor, you’re taking your bare facts and moving them through the structure above. This makes it easier for your listener to understand and connect while creating a more exciting and engaging experience.

In an excellent blog by KISSmetrics, they state, “Simply collecting a bunch of stories without much consistency is a quick way to lose the interest of your audience. You must have a strong central narrative theme to tie them all together.”

Here’s another interesting article that digs deep into engagement and the effects of storytelling on the brain.

2. Compel Action

In the blog post The Most Important Thing You Can Do As a Founder by Demo Duck Founder Andrew Follett, he states, “…an inspiring story brings your business to life for potential customers, investors, and employees.” The story can be the difference between prospective clients understanding your business and leaving confused and uninspired to convert.

The Piano Guys put out a funny and well edited video explaining how they develop their music, their struggles, and their general love of creation and collaborating. This all leads up to a call to action which is strengthened by everything preceding.

Studies have shown that when it comes to decision making, we favor emotion and feelings over reasoning. This is important to note for when you might be pitching a new idea to your team or trying to raise money. While your data may be compelling, it’s vital to include elements of story into your pitch.

In an article by George Bradt, he explains how HOPEHIV’s Phil Wall chose to use story at an annual meeting rather than just rely on their powerful statistics. Through story, Wall brought up feelings from the listeners, making his eventual call to action that much more compelling.

3. Have a Lasting Impact

“Any time we experience something in a heightened emotional state, we’re more likely to remember it,” states professor of psychiatry Dr. Gary Small.

By sharing an idea through story, you are in fact heightening your listener’s emotional state, causing them to feel and relate to what you’re saying.

Telling the story behind how we produce our explainer videos

Now I’m not saying get up on your desk and do a dramatic retelling of Braveheart (even though I would probably pay to see that), but think about the different ways you can relay information in order to keep it fresh in people’s minds.

So what now?  Here are three platforms for telling stories that stick.

1. An Explainer Video

If you haven’t guessed from the name, explains your product or service by simplifying – through visual and story – how your product works and the problem it solves.

2. A Founder Video

An interview with your founder is an excellent way to share the story of how your company came to be, what values your company stands for, and struggles you’ve had to overcome. Founder videos are great because they key the audience into a side of the business not normally seen, the human side! This creates an honest connection between the founder and the potential client.

3. Infographics

3 Reasons Storytelling is Key for Your Company

The ducks have flown south!

We just couldn’t handle the lack of warm weather in Chicago, so we hit the skies and landed in sunny Buenos Aires, Argentina. Why BA, you ask? Well, we decide it was time to pay a visit to some of our wonderful creatives.

Take a peek at what we’ve been up to:

Our first full day in the city, we met up with our tour guide name Mariela, who came highly recommended from Trip Advisor. Mariela showed us around La Recoleta Cemetery, pointing out the famous mausoleums of political figures, cultural icons, and even an old groundskeeper who saved up enough money to be buried in his beloved place of work. She also brought us around the Plaza de Mayo, as well as a famous theater that had been turned into a bookstore, and finally at a traditional old cafe for a cup of sipping chocolate and churros.

But in spite of the tours and churros, the greatest highlight of our trip was meeting with our creatives. We’ve been working with some of them for over 2 years, so it was a pleasure to finally hang out in person. Buenos Aires is a design focused city. Everywhere you walk you see brightly colored buildings, and fascinating murals, so it’s no surprise that the city has so much creative talent. We have so much to say about our creatives (including some interview videos) that we’re going to dedicate more posts on who we met, and what we did!

¡Hola from Buenos Aires!

A little over two years ago I launched DemoDuck.com (see below). At the time, I picked a nice template on WooThemes and threw together the rest in a couple weeks. The site served us well, but we decided it was time for something more creative…something that better reflects what we do.

This time around, things took a little more time (and money), but we couldn’t be happier with the way it turned out. You’ll notice an updated logo, a new color scheme, and some other fun additions. Thanks to our friends at Twin Collective, our new website is responsive, which means you can open it on your phone or tablet and still have a great experience. We also want to thank Wistia who has been our video hosting partner from day one. Their new Video Foam feature ensures that our videos look great on any device at any size.

That’s about it! If you’re looking for more of our videos, you can find them on YouTube and Vimeo. And make sure to stay up with the latest video news, tips, and tricks, by signing up for our blog updates  using the subscribe form on the right.

If you have comments or suggestions for the new website, please let us know in the comments below!

Demo Duck Gets a Facelift

Premium screencasts – or Fancycasts as we call ‘em – tell the story of your website or mobile app. They give a unique perspective to your product or service and help increase viewer engagement. While regular screencasts are a nice, clear cut way to show off your product or service, Fancycasts add that special bit of pizzazz to make your video stand out.

Let me break it down for you!

With a Fancycast, we’re taking the assets from your website or app (typically the layered PSD files) and manipulating them in Adobe After Effects to add motion and tell a story. We’ll walk a user through your application, like a visual tutorial. The best way to understand what we’re yammering on about is to see it with your own eyes. So check out our latest video blog (vlog) installment, “What’s a Fancycast?”, above.

What’s a Fancycast? [VIDEO]

I know you’re just sitting there, agonizing over the style of your upcoming explainer video. Your brain keeps asking…

“Live action…or animation? Live action…or animation?”

I’m sure many sleepless nights have been tormented by this question (ok, maybe not, but stay with me here).

Well by golly, thank goodness you found this blog so that you can get your life back on track.

Ok, ok, so that question may not torment you, but it’s still one that we get quite often. The truth is there is no easy answer (sorry!), but we’ve attempted to put the two styles head to head for the ultimate battle of Live Action vs. Animation, in the latest installment in our vlog series.

You can also check out our Live Action and Animation playlists on Youtube. We’re constantly adding new content so be sure to subscribe!

Video Transcript:

If you’re considering making an explainer video, the first question that might pop into your head is whether you should use…

Live action or animation?!…. Live action or animation?!…

We get this question all. the. time.

The answer really depends on what you do, and who your audience is. But let’s take a closer look at the pros and cons of each.

Live Action is a good way to demonstrate a tangible product or service.

Take Oven-2-Table for example. We did a Live Action video for them because they have a tangible product to sell (in this case, it was bread). When given the option, most people would probably rather see a product or service in action than see it as an illustration.

Live Action is also a great tool for connecting with your audience, especially if you run a personal business, like a consulting firm, or a restaurant. People like seeing other people. It gives them an emotional connection, which can be powerful and effective when telling your story.

On the flip side, Live Action can be somewhat limiting.

Say you want to have a duck fly through the sky with a cape on. This is very difficult with Live video. VERY. Difficult.

With animation, you can do just about anything. It works well for tech companies and web services, and it’s a great way of demonstrating something abstract or conceptual, like a “cloud” service.

Animation makes it easy to brand your video. By using similar colors, styles, and themes, your video can fit in seamlessly with your website and marketing materials.

And if your product or service is constantly evolving, it’s easier to make an update to an animated video down the road than it is to a live one.

So there it is. Animation vs. Live Action.

Whether you’re selling duck capes or cloud services, both have their unique benefits, but either one can be a great tool for marketing your company!

Video Blog Music: ”Rythme Gitan” by Latché Swing

The Ultimate Battle: Live Action vs. Animation [VIDEO]