Girls Who Skip- How to make a crowd funding campaign video
Video practice fun- click to see blooper
A friend who writes scripts for Warner Bros told me right off the bat: A campaign video should be short, engaging, informative, short, a clear call to action…did I mention short? “Whatever you do,” he said, “don’t preach. Make it entertaining.” People like to send a smile to their friends.
One page of script-style writing = one minute of footage. (Script style is centred, double-spaced, speaker’s name gets a full line, and stage directions are included.)
I wrote what I wanted to say and it came out to 4 minutes. I cut it and pared it down to less to than 2. I like writing that way (I’m a poet at heart.) The leaner writing becomes, the more powerful it gets.
Khaled Hosseini (The Kiterunner) said in an interview that he starts writing with an image in his head. He builds the characters and story out of that image-he started an entire novel that way. I started with a thought- that we can’t know the future- and it led to the image of picking apart a daisy.
I hired a young videographer, piled together a bunch of appropriate images, bought a big box of popsicles and invited my friend’s children over. I didn’t overlearn the script. I figured if my guests had fun, my stomach might forget the anxiety swirling within, and I might have fun too.
And I did! The fun translated onto the footage: mission accomplished. (My video)
Pick apart a daisy;
wish upon a star.
Love me, leave me;
tell me who you are!
Read my tealeaves;
search my palm.
Tell me, tell me,
tell me do!
Gaze into a crystal,
pour over tarot cards.
Doctor, lawyer, tribal chief,
bring me joy or bring me grief.
Pick apart a daisy;
wish upon a star.
Love me, leave me;
tell me who you are!
-Laurie Fraser
“For love is as perennial as the grass.”
