How to Write an Explainer Video Script?
We’ve been lucky enough to produce hundreds of exciting explainer videos that brought millions of views to the brands. And no video is complete without a fantastic script. We are ready to share our experience writing a script for a video. Here you may find the ideas on how to come up with a great explainer video script.
What’s an Explainer Video Script?
An explainer video script is usually what the voice actor or narrator is going to say in the video during its voiceover. For a great result, they need to tell it like a real story.
That is why it’s suggested that the authors of the script or scriptwriters should work closely with the production designers to align their vision on how the story narrated would look like while being visualized.
Why Explainer Video Script is Important?
There is one very wise rule in creating effective videos: to always rely on the script. This applies to any types of videos, even those where free speech is implied.
The explainer video script is important because some videos cannot be simply visualized without it. The script is what the narrator or voice actor will say in the product video – and storytelling is a great solution. Another reason why explainer videos are so popular among businesses is their flexibility for storytelling. That’s why scripts are a great tool to align the information with visuals. Otherwise, the video may be a mess in the end and have no meaning despite the superb animation.
Challenges in Explainer Video Script Writing
Scriptwriting for explainer videos is a tough job. Until you polish it and come up with an ideal variant, there may be quite many challenges to take and mistakes to do. Some of them are here:
The focus of the strongest scenes
The audience expects the clarity of the most intense scenes, to see more of the events in the critical moment, and hear a little fewer dialogues (if any) about everything that is happening and will happen in the end to stay more tensed and focused on the narration.
Description of what cannot be shown on the screen
If you need to depict characters’ thoughts, feelings, inner problems, and mental turmoil, it can only be shown on screen through actions. Mind that. You need to describe actions, gestures, facial expressions, and sounds that will help the audience understand what is happening in the inner world of your personages to the viewer.
Timely exposure
It is both a voice-over that adds a little to what we already see on the screen, they may be some flashbacks that stop the action of the film, and so on. The main principle here is not to reveal to the audience the past or future while they’re focused on the happening. Though, there may be exceptions that depend on your video genre.
Indeed, good scripts are like sonnets. They are elegant, simple, and rhythmic, follow a certain structure, and describe the problem/solution in the required number of lines. So, that’s a formula to stick to.
5 Best Explainer Video Script Examples
Here you may look through great explainer video script examples and the videos produced based on them by the team for a variety of businesses from different industries:
1) Spearline
2) Swiss Fin Lab
3) CrowdSec
4) Tohu
5) Zoominfo Engage
Explainer Video Script Writing Process
It’s often may be hard to say exactly what makes a good video explainer script. Unfortunately, alongside clear business goals, screenwriting is also based on an esoteric art, inspiration or a blend of it all. There is no universal formula suitable for each business project, a formula that, will allow you to come up with a stunning script from scratch.
More often it’s a mix of knowledge on your business, the audience and the industry trends altogether. The magic begins when the author, knowing the basic rules, as well as the business needs, begins to break them, confirms your expectations, and then challenges them again. That depends. And the process may be as follows:
Write an explainer video script with visual words
For the authors, it’s better to forget what they are good at, and rather focus on what the customer wants to pick the right words. They also need to consider the length, keeping it short. Connect emotionally to tell a valuable story.
Show your sense of humor
Humour is rarely applied in marketing videos, but if the script allows you may consider humor as a stylistic device to do the unexpected and surprise your audience.
Write like you talk
Be conversational to communicate effectively and grab their attention. To tell stories articulately, try to emphasize your words with the proper pronunciation and diction. Emphasize your words and tone.
Write just enough
Do not chase the quantity while you need the quality. Better less but better. Just throwing 160 pages of text with a huge number of characters speaking epic verse on your client’s desk just won’t do. Keep it short but genius.
Apply the classic structure
Last but not least, you need to implement the classic structure of any narrative. Clear structure, reduced design, and the extensive use of sound effects will be just perfect for an awesome explainer video.
5 Tips for Writing Your Explainer Video Script
Here are also a couple of tips on explainer video script writing for you to more straightforward deal with the challenges of the scriptwriting process.
Summarize the entire video in a 30-second sentence
After you have decided on the idea, and finally catered the script, there should be a summary. Here the work is not easy: first, decide whether you are going to strictly follow the brand concept or render the whole plot in a 30 second video sentence in your own words.
Give the audience what they don’t have, tell them what they do not know
The best exploration reveals itself through relaxed, confident authenticity. Your character’s world or the concept of your video should be visualized as if it’s your world, not the other way around. Educate and entertain the audience, keep it in the golden middle.
Know when to be humorous
Psychologists see humor as a character strength. If your video script has such, go ahead and provide them with a great sense of humor to reveal through the narrative. They tell stories, and comedy is also a part of storytelling. Be careful with any humorous elements if used randomly as stylistic devices throughout the script.
Don’t fear to make mistakes in a script
Good grammar and proper formatting are the minimum requirements to follow when submitting your script. Clarity and accuracy in the use of your language = clear communication of thought. If you don’t do it right, nothing else matters. However, if you have minor mistakes in your composition or somehow complicated the idea, etc., that’s not the end of the world.
Showcase your expertise
Most of those who read your scripts do that from their devices, which means that when a baffling fact appears in a script, it only takes a couple of moments to check it with Google. You’d better trust that the facts you’ve put in the script will stand up to scrutiny because nothing undermines credibility more than a distortion of facts. The market or company expertise is also something to scrutinize. So stick to insider information provided by the clients from the start.
Do you want to create your own video? – Feel free to contact us!
It’s common that writing scripts are complicated. To avoid the worst scripts, mind that each script reader has different preferences of their ideal videos for marketing. So, it’s better to use professional video script writing services when you approach your explainer video production. Use tips and the best script templates & examples to research and choose carefully.
Conclusion
If you did everything right, then by the time you start the video production process, you will have several sheets with a printed script and many notes. Do not be afraid. This is what a sketch usually looks like, which eventually becomes a summary for a great video. The main thing is to understand the brand message, specifics of the business, and the audience. Welcome for any assistance if you encounter difficulties with the video script writing.
