168 Video Digital Communication & Production
Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.
Preparing a Treatment
If you are planning a short, personal video,
you can probably start production as soon as
you have settled on the content, length, and
(above all) concept. Most professional videos,
by contrast, require that your informal design
be transcribed onto paper as a treatment, a
storyboard, or a script.
Uses for Program Treatments
The simplest transcription is called a
treatment (Figure t 9-9). A treatment is a few
paragraphs that explain the program’s concept,
its subject, its order of content presentation, and
its style. A treatment serves two purposes: it
allows you to see and evaluate the organization
of your video, and it communicates your plan
to others. By committing your ideas to paper,
you can see whether they are appropriate to
your program and whether they fl ow smoothly fl
and logically. By examining your treatment,
you can spot problems and opportunities that
might otherwise be overlooked.
A treatment is also useful in communicating
your vision to other people, especially the
colleagues who will help you produce your
program and the clients who will pay for it.
Without a treatment’s overview of the program,
your crew can only make one blind shot after
another, without knowing how they should fit fi
together and what they should achieve. As for
the clients, few if any will underwrite your
production without a clear idea of the program
you propose to deliver.
Levels of Treatment
Video program treatments have no fixed fi
style or length. They can be a one-sentence
statement of concept and content, or a
multi-paragraph synopsis. They can also be an
outline so detailed that it identifi every separate fies
content component. Whatever the level of detail,
program treatments attempt to convey the effect
of fi nished videos. Here are samples of program fi
treatments developed to three different levels of
detail. Each is for the Sidewinder Drill program.
Skeletal Treatment
A skeletal treatment covers all three parts
of the Sidewinder video, in the briefest possible
form:
The Sidewinder Drill
Part One: A succession of quick scenes
shows the many jobs performed by the drill.
Part Two: Several vignettes in which a
husband is frustrated because his wife is
always using his Sidewinder drill.
Part Three: After he presents her with
her own Sidewinder, the two of them
collaborate happily on a construction
project.
Summary Treatment
This excerpt from a summary-level
treatment covers just one third (Part Two) of
the skeletal treatment in greater detail:
The Sidewinder Drill, Part Two
Scene One: Husband asks where his
Sidewinder is, as we see wife using it to
repair kitchen cabinet hinge.
Scene Two: As wife assembles picnic table
bench in backyard, husband appears and
again asks where his Sidewinder is.
Scene Three: Wife is repairing child’s
toy at kitchen table when she hears
husband asking where drill is. As he
appears in kitchen doorway, she hides
drill in her lap.
The Sidewinder: Part Two, Scene Three
Seateda
at the kitchen table, the wife is repairing
toy for her admiring daughter. First she
drills a pilot hole for screw. DISSOLVE TO
seating a repair screw with a drill bit.
DISSOLVE TO smoothing the repair edges with a
sanding drum. DISSOLVE TO buffing the repaired
joint with the sheepskin pad. Daughter is
increasingly impressed and happy throughout.
As we hear the off-screen voice of the husband
say, "Honey, I can't find my Sidewinder
again!" wife and daughter exchange conspiratorial looks. Then daughter takes the
toy and runs out while the wife drops the
drill out of sight into her lap. Husband
enters and registers humorously on wife's
gui
lty expression.
Goodheart-Willcox Publisher
Figure 9-9. A treatment is an outline in narrative form.