Reading & writing

The Bare Bones Camera Course For Film and Video by Tom Schroeppel

Chapter 8 – Doing It

• First step: decide what you want to end up with.
  • What’s the story you want to tell? Who is your target audience? 
• Shooting plan
  • Film the entirety and then do it all over again with different camera shots like medium and close ups, etc.
• Slates are the little clapper things you see in behind the scenes with the shot # or description shown in front of the camera so editors/directors don’t forget which scene is what.
• Shooting script
  • Description of what you’re going to shoot and then the audio.g
• Storyboard
  • Simple drawings showing what you’re shooting.

Additional articles

The art of creating an invisible podcast episode script

• I agree that podcasts should at least have bullet points planned out. A podcast I like, and he does a really good job of directing the conversation back on track, is Rich Roll Podcast. You can tell he’s done his research, mostly reading books guests wrote, listening to other podcasts guests were on, or following the guests’ journey and asking specific questions about their process. 

The 5 reasons why it’s a good idea to write invisible script

1. Helps create your Podcast structure, ensuring you cover all points.
2. Ensures your content flows and engages.
3. Builds your reputation as a slick podcast host.
   1. (I don’t think this is the correct term for this honestly)
4. Gives you the roadmap to deliver confidently.
   1. Deliver what? The podcast? Well, duh. Helps stay on track yes, but this was already stated in #2. I think if you write a good script, then you should be confident because it will flow and be engaging.
5. Cuts down on production time.
6. Write how you talk!!!

Podcast scripting: How do I write a podcast script?

• I really like that this article gives you 3 different ways to plan a podcast script. The first is nitty-gritty down to the last detail, the 2nd is a list of all the pertinent information needed and can be as detailed as you need, and the 3rd is just a rough outline that is bulleted.
• I think if your podcast has been established, like Rich Roll, then you can just have the bullet points and kinda go off-topic and reeling it in once in a while.

Research to inform

Examples of podcasts that are done well, in my opinion.

For the first example, I chose the Rich Roll Podcast. If the YouTube link doesn’t work, click here for the Rich Roll website to access the podcast episode.

I listen to the Rich Roll podcast frequently, and admire the way his brand shines through each episode. Not only podcasting, but on YouTube you can watch the full episode. Theediting is done very well. Even on his social media pages he posts shorts of the podcast episodes when the guests say something of extreme value.

For the second podcast example, The Mel Robbins Podcast is another I admire. I love her energey and the way she presents herself, and it’s no wonder she’s become so successful. This episode goes into procrastination and how to get around it to succeed. I really like her website because it breaks down every episode by topic, and makes it easier to find specific sections of the hour long episode with time stamps. The podcast also lists resources for listeners to dig deeper into the topics.

The only qualm I have with the podcast is the way Mel segues into the ads segment and the amount of ads per podcast episode. I understand the ads fund the podcast, but if a shorter episode has six ads – it’s just too many.

This third podcast, Completely Arbortrary, is a podcast about trees. While you can’t watch the hosts in this video, it’s very resourceful of them to still post their episodes on YouTube. For this podcast, each episode is about a different tree.

In this one, the Sugar Maple episode is one that I recommend to those that wish to get to know me better. While this episode is very dorky and quirky, the personalities of the hosts really come through. You feel as though you are sitting there with them. The hosts, Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson, mention one of my favorite books – Braiding Sweetgrass, and go into the science behind maple syrup. Spoiler: it’s the product of sunshine!

Podcast planning assignment