Writing for Visual Media
This reference focuses on the fundamental problems faced by novice writing programs that will be viewed rather than read.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Writing for Visual Media
Introduction
THE PURPOSE
Although this textbook is intended mainly for students in colleges and universities who are taking their first course in scriptwriting, it is also intended for all writers making the transition to writing for visual media. It assumes that these students begin with minimal skills and minimal understanding of the nature of writing for visual media. Most beginners have had a large number of experiences viewing visual media: films, television, and video. They probably contemplate the originating creative act that lies behind such programs without much idea of how it's done. They may not understand visual thinking, or if they do, they don't know how to set it down. They don't know formats. In short, they don't know where or how to start. This textbook is designed to get the beginner started. It is not intended to make professionals out of beginners, nor to deal with every type of media writing, nor all the issues of scriptwriting, but it does cover all the material a beginner will need to write viable scripts in the main media formats.
THE PREMISE OF THIS BOOK
This book is based on the premise that the fundamental challenge is learning to think and to write visually, that a script is a plan for production, and that visual media are identifiably different. Although broadcast journalism overlaps visual writing in some of its forms, other journalistic concerns about sources, objectivity, and editorial issues dominate. Shaping a news story delivered to a teleprompter does not require visual...
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