Target VNRs Carefully

Video workshop features in the industry's leading trade publications stress that because VNRs are expensive to make and distribute, they cannot just be run off and scattered like print press releases.

Television is a highly specialized medium, and messages for showing on television must meet the highest technical and content standards. Many of the largest corporations maintain their own production de­partments because they have enough work to justify the expense.

Johnson & Johnson, for example, uses outside producers to pre­pare commercials for its products. But messages aimed at employees, stockholders, and managers of subsidiary companies are prepared in-house, as are training films and cassettes that sales personnel take to hospitals and doctors to "demonstrate" the use of sutures and other products during operations.

Organizations that do not have the resources of a large corporation use the services of specialized television production and distribution firms. They're listed in the Yellow Pages in most large cities, and they advertise their services in trade magazines. Some specialize in VNRs; others can produce anything from a 30-second PSA to a half-hour docu­mentary for closed-circuit use in video conferences aimed at invest­ment counsellors.

The Story Conference

Whether the television message will be produced in-house or contracted out, the planning process begins with a story conference—a meeting where the public relations managers and their clients decide what kind of message they want. (Even in-house operations refer to the depart­ments for which they prepare television messages as their "clients," be­cause their working relationship is much the same as if they were an outside agency.)

Here are some of the considerations that must be worked out in the story conference process:

Objectives for the Television Message Why is television the medium to use to reach the target publics for this program? What behavioral out-comes are desired, and are they likely to happen as the result of receiv­ing a television message? Will there be print support for the television campaign? Is it cost-effective?

Budget Even within a corporation, the client department must pay for the cost of the television message, which means the production depart­ment must be prepared to figure out its costs and present a budget.

Style and Format Will the message be short or long, serious or hu­morous, in documentary style or entertainment format? Will there be an on-screen host or only the voice of a narrator? Will we use dramatic storytelling devices, or model the message after a broadcast news story? Will all footage be original for this production, or will file footage, historical material, or clips from other sources be used? Will we need special graphics and titles?

Writing Can we produce the script, including visuals and audio, our­selves, or should we hire a specialized freelancer to translate our ideas into a workable concept?

Preparing the Script and Storyboard

Because television has both visual and sound components, the script for a television production, whether a short PSA or a long documentary, must be prepared in a split format. This accounts for all visual elements on the left side of the page and everything audible on the right side.

After script conferences have been held to determine that the mes­sage is meeting PR objectives, the producer will prepare a storyboard for the client and the supervising public relations people to approve. Now the script has been translated into actual drawings or photographs that give an idea of what the eye will see as the words are spoken.

Throughout the conference process, the public relations people must keep the client's aims in mind and assure that the technical peo­ple achieve the desired results. Screenings of the "rough cut" are the final part of that process, with the public relations people telling if everything is right.