Welcome back to the Hack... hackin’ it up! That we’re gonna attack. Wow. I don't know. I was just. I didn't think you would break out into raps. I didn't think I was either. I regret everything I've just said. Okay, so in this hack, we're talking about scripts and script writing. So getting right to the content, it's a hack. The biggest hurdle that we come across with new clients is where do we start? It's a big question. But the good news is that the answer is simple. You start at a script.
Basically, every animated piece should have a script if it doesn't have a script. Big red flag there. The script dictates what you should see and what you should say. So even if it's all visual, it should tell you kind of what you should feel. So there are many formats to writing a script, and the one that's easiest for businesses to kind of learn is in an A.V. Script. A V stands for Audio Visual script. A. V. and in an A. V. Script it looks like a spreadsheet almost with two columns in there.
So in this hack, we can't tell you what to write. It's impossible. That’s ChatGPTs job. Yes, correct. You as a marketer, as a strategy person, you already probably know what you need to say. But what we can tell you is how to structure your script. Once you have a first draft. So that it's easier to work with and so that you can change it and collaborate with people on so that it's consistent. For sure. That's a good way to put it.
So here at Open Pixel, we use actually just a spreadsheet for all of our scripts. We love spreadsheets. We can’t get enough. I know this. I know it's a little bit kind of out of the box thinking a little bit. But. But we use Google sheets. Super easy to use. And it's a template. And it's very simple. It's a sheet with just a few columns, and we're going to put a link in the description. OoOooh. Super extra bonus content. The idea is simple.
So once you have a first draft of the script, you want to split your script up into sentences. Okay. So in other words, for every sentence, you're going to put a new return line for every single sentence you put in there. So you have one standalone line of text, one right after the other. And one caveat here is that you may want to split longer sentences at the commas, usually with long sentences, you'll have a comma in there somewhere. Put another carriage return in there so you have a new line
at that place. Okay. So why. Would I do that? So usually with a long sentence, the comma is where... verbally, we’re... splitting one idea up from another. Right. So, like, if my long sentence has, like three different visual ideas that could be built within there, you're saying it could split up the commas, make them their own line, and then... create descriptions for that.
Yeah. And and just always like, if you're if you're looking at a sentence structure, you get a subject, you get a predicate, you get, you know, those things and that structure, when you split it up at the comma, you then have another visual that you're actually talking about when you come from one place to another. So. So it's really just kind of organizing the visuals. But I didn't want to get too much into that. We're. We're going to it next. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So you would then take all of that, all of those lines, and you basically copy and paste those lines into say “Column A” on this A.V. Script. Remember, it's a spreadsheet. So... this is an audio medium, so I’m trying to visually describe here. Sure. So we copy those into column A and then in column B, you would basically come up with try to come up with visual descriptions for just that one piece of sentence or one that one sentence on the other side.
Would you say instead of Column B, “Column V” for visuals, A - audio. V - visual. You know that you're not wrong. You're not wrong. I'm clever. You would come up with these visual descriptions on a per sentence basis, and that allows for clarity and allows for your audience to sort of sort of visually see exactly what you're saying or what you're talking about. So it really it connects all aspects of writing visual and listening.
Like all of your senses are coming together into one without smell or taste, you know? Right. Right. So it doesn't always need to be written this way. There are definitely different types of scripts that you can that you can write out there. So if you want us to cover any of those, please let us know in the comments. Find the comments box somewhere out in the world and put your comment in there. You’re talking about just anywhere
on the internet? Anywhere on the internet, just @ tag us and we'll find it. Right. Right. Perfect. Yeah. So this method helps us sort basically visual ideas from *audio* sentences. We use it all the time. And again, we'll put that template into description. It's a really, really easy way to... Yeah, really easy way to write scripts. Yeah. Is there another way, though, if, like, I'm a visual person. So is there another way that I could understand this?
Yes. So if you are on YouTube, you can find this episode on YouTube. It'll be the same description we're actually going to do a little video there that will with the same hack. Come like a weatherman. Yeah. And we'll we'll put a graphic in there that basically takes you through the template. The template will be in the description and yeah, go download that, check it out. Hopefully it will sort your animations in a much easier way. And you'll go
make awesome scripts. Yeah. And then we'll get to see those. And then... Please send us your versions. Yeah. We’ve love to see ‘em. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Good luck with your scripts. Good luck with the project. and we’ll see you in the next episode.