Communication

Communicate clearly to achieve professional goals using visual and verbal modes to explain and persuade

Context

This educational video was the final product of a project in which I created a movie that demonstrates how to make a tasty, authentic Greek salad. To design the movie, I wrote instructional goals and learning objectives, interviewed a Greek salad subject matter expert (SME), wrote the movie’s setting and script, produced a storyboard, planned the video shoot, filmed the video, recorded the audio narration, and edited the movie.

As an instructional designer I had written storyboards for web-based lessons, but this was my first experience writing a detailed storyboard, script, and shoot plan for a video. Not only was I enthusiastic as a connoisseur of Greek cuisine, but also I was excited to discover how my storyboarding experience would translate into a video lesson.

Linkage

In addition to writing an instructional narrative that concisely and clearly explained how to make a Greek salad, I used sound instructional design principles governing the use of visuals to assist in learning. For example, taking conclusions from Hartley (2004), I used subtitles to assist the viewer in learning what part of making the Greek salad was about to occur during that particular section of the video.

The audio narration provided the majority of the instructional content, leaving the visuals in the video to supplement the instruction by demonstrating the expected learning task, i.e. making the salad. I purposely wrote the narrative with a light-hearted tone to engage the learner with levity. Thus, the narrator character I created required a personality who could act more like the comedic host of the Tonight Show rather than a 60s folk singer droning on with a lullaby.

Challenges & Opportunities

Writing a video script was the main challenge in this project. I organized the script into a two-column table format that was much different than the format used for storyboards I write for work. For example, the script used an abbreviation system to describe the camera angle in a particular scene. Despite the initial learning curve for the video script, writing it actually made planning the video shoot easier. Because the video script was compartmentalized according to various movie scenes, it was easy to plan the video shoot sequence based on scenes that were easiest to shoot first.

Results

Although the design process was very different for me, I think the resulting movie turned out nicely. Both the visuals and audio effectively communicated the video’s instructional goals.

While I think the video is one of the best I’ve ever produced, there is one thing I would improve if given the chance. I would probably re-record the audio narration with the narrator maintaining a relatively even volume level in his voice. In the current movie, there are some abrupt volume increases that sound a little awkward.

Instructionally, the video is solid. In my opinion, it achieves its objective. Learners who watch the video can make a world class Greek salad as long as they have all the right ingredients.

Personal & Professional Development

On a personal level, I learned how to adapt my writing to a different style. I wrote more colloquially with shorter sentences containing demonstrative verbs, which was perfect for listing ingredients and describing procedural steps.

Making the video gave me a broader experience in the field as compared to my professional work setting. At work, I only write storyboards that a separate development team then uses as blueprints to build web-based lessons. In the case of this educational video, not only did I design the blueprint for the video, I also created the product.

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References:
Hartley, J. (2004). Designing instructional and information text. In D. Jonassen, (Ed.), Handbook of research on educational communications and technology (2nd ed., pp. 917-947). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.