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Now that the topic or the theme on which we want to make the video has been finalized, we step into the pre-production stage. The pre-production stage involves writing a project treatment and a script and involves loads of co-ordination work to ensure a good video.
Did not someone say that we can make a bad film out of a good script but never a good film out of a bad script? To say that the script is the backbone of any production is stating the obvious. We and our team may have all the technical wizardry at our command, but without a good script, our production may not be able to convey the message we intended it to. Remember that a good production is not only about good camera angles and special effects but also about the right combination of content and form.
From the time an idea germinates to the time it grows into a full-blown script, research plays a very important role. Our research on the topic sources material from all quarters: newspaper clippings, informal chats and interviews, Internet searches, repeated visits to libraries and reading up on relevant topics, identifying people and places, getting to know stories from them, etc. Scriptwriting is basically our ability to convey a story using the right words and imagination. At the research stage, we will come across a variety of material. Extensive research involves getting our hand on as much material as possible and also spiking what is not required, for, we have already decided what to include in the video.
But then an idea and tons of research material alone cannot result in a script. We must first be able to decide on how we will treat the video. Before we actually sit down to write the script (scriptwriting has been discussed in detail in Chapter 5), it makes a lot of sense to pen the treatment.
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