There is nothing worse than a blank piece of paper (or computer screen),
so where do you start?
Answering these questions will get you started, and before you know it the outline of a script will present itself.

• What is the Need for a Video?
  
  
• Who will be the Audience?
  
  
• How or Where will the Video be Shown?
  
  
• What are the Objectives of the Video?
  
  
• What is the Key Message?
  
  
• What Approach are You going to Use?
  
  
• What Will be the Format of the Programme?
  
  
• What Personnel are Available to Work on the Video Project?
  
  
• What Additional Material is Available?
  
  
• What will be the Corporate Style of the Video?
  
  
• What will be the Shelf Life of the Video?
  
  
• What will be the Production Dates and the Completion Deadline?
  
  
• What will be the Duration of the Video?
  
  
• What will be the Technical Specification?
  
  
• What will be the Distribution Format?
  
  

If you can answer these questions, well done, you are practically ready to write a draft script.  But don't worry if you can't answer them all.  Your production company will advise on the best way to present your message and suggest alternative treatments and formats.
After all, that's what we are here for!

Get the need for the video clear in your mind.  Is it to save money by reducing the demands made on your sales force, or by reducing expensive visits by your technical personnel?
Is it to improve your sales and profitability?
Will it save you money by reducing accidents or safeguarding you from expensive litigation?
Remember that it's going to cost money so it has to save even more in the long run.  If you are not very clear what you want the video to achieve, then it probably won't.

Remember that you are not making the video for yourself.  Visualise the audience.  How interested are they in what you want to show?  How much do they know about the subject?  What is their background, language ability and general interest in your specialist field?  Put yourself in their place and make a video that they may want to watch.

It's a waste of time making it if it never gets shown, and the way in which it will be shown will influence its design.

This is the key question.  Remember that objectives are not vague aims such as "The video should be interesting and improve the image of the company". Objectives are specific, measurable and achievable.   For example, "The video should reduce the time taken for a sales presentation and increase sales."  Once objectives are clearly spelt out, it becomes much easier to start planning the video and to eliminate elements that serve no real purpose.

However many different sections there are in a video, there is usually only one thing that you are really trying to get across, and probably only one concept that the audience can absorb at a sitting.  You will fail altogether if you try to achieve too much.  You may be saying "Ours is the best product that you can buy.", or "A few moments carelessness can cost you your life."  Be very clear what your Key Message is and ensure that everything about the video contributes to this message.

How best can you communicate your message?  Will you use a documentary style, drama, humour?  Should the programme be sensitive and factual, light-hearted and lively, conservative in its approach or "trendy"?  Think about your company, your message, and of course most of all, your audience.

Having decided the Key Message and the Treatment it is usually not difficult to come up with the Format - the main sections of the programme.   A typical format might be:

1. Musical Introduction Sequence showing intriguing high-tech glimpses of the new product.
2. Brief Overview of the history of the company leading to the development of the new product.
3. The Benefits of the new product.
4. The Upgrade Path and future benefits.
5. Lively Summary of the Benefits.

In other words, one key message with everything supporting that message.

1. Create interest.
2. Tell them what you are going to tell them.
3. Tell them!
4. Tell them some more!
5. Tell them what you told them.

With a bit of luck (and lots of pictures, explanation and music), they might remember what you were on about.

It is no use planning to allocate your staff to producing a video if they are already over-stretched with other work.  Make a realistic plan which allows someone in the company some time to manage the project, and have a clear idea how the responsibilities will be divided between your staff and the video production company.

Do you, your suppliers, or even your customers, already have video footage that you will be able to incorporate into the video to improve it and/or save cost? Why re-invent the wheel?  What artwork, brochures or photographs are available that could be incorporated into the video?

Don't let an imaginative video designer loose on a wonderful creative (and probably expensive) image that is not in keeping with the rest of your corporate house style.  Ensure that all elements of your image are unified.

You want to get as much use as possible from the video.  Anticipate changes that may make the video out of date.  Hopefully your scriptwriter will avoid phrases like "we installed the latest CNC machinery LAST YEAR", but also try to imagine anything that may make the video look dated in a year or two's time. Perhaps these things can just be left out, or included in such a way that inexpensive modifications can be used to update the video on a regular basis.  It is easier to change an image or two in a video, than to alter the voiceover; so information that may date such as prices, could be shown on screen rather than spoken.  If regular revisions will be needed to keep the video current, then budget for them.

The difference may just be a couple of weeks, but one week before your major exhibition is so much better than one week after.  Once this is established, a production schedule can be planned.

Unlike the rule of Bridge, the phrase should be "Strength before Length".  A longer programme is probably not a better programme.   The aim is to achieve the objectives in the shortest possible time.   Put yourself in the position of your audience once more.  Would you want to watch a corporate video any longer than necessary?  Nor do they.  This is communication not entertainment.
Stand up, speak up and shut up!

Ensure that the production quality does the job well but appropriately. Established broadcast quality filming and editing will be necessary in most cases, but do you really need extravagant state-of-the-art systems?

This is usually DVD.  Do facilities exist for playing from DVD?  Do you want to show the programme over the internet?