![\"Video](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/pbblogassets\/uploads\/2013\/12\/video-editing-and-post-2.jpg\")
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Think back to high school English class, and having to write essay after essay. I don\u2019t know about you, but my english teachers drilled a very specific structure into my head for writing these essays and reports. This structure proved incredibly useful when I aced my college writing class, but I also realized over time that I was subconsciously using the basic fundamentals of essay organization in my videos – specifically non-fiction<\/strong> ones.<\/p>\n Some of this came through in the initial planning stages, but a lot of the time I was handed several reels worth of interviews in the editing phase with no clear plan besides \u201cthis is what they want the video for.” The basic essay structure<\/strong> was incredibly useful in taking all of that content and forming it into a coherent piece<\/strong> that was easily followed by the audience. So, indulge me for a second while I recap \u201cEssay Writing 101\u201d for you and you\u2019ll see how applying these concepts to an \u201cessay structure\u201d of editing can make things easier for you to edit together a cohesive story<\/strong>\u00a0and easier for your audience to get the point<\/strong>.<\/p>\n There are three important characteristics of a well-structured essay that can easily apply to editing a video: An \u201chourglass shape<\/strong>\u201d, a thesis<\/strong> statement<\/strong>\u00a0and a \u201croadmap<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n The idea behind the hourglass shape is to start broad<\/strong>: general background on your topic to introduce it to your audience. As the intro goes along, you quickly get more specific<\/strong>, ending with your thesis statement<\/strong>\/main idea, which sets the tone for the main body of your content.<\/p>\n Your main content stays specific to your subject and is meant to backup your thesis – it\u2019s your evidence for your main point. Then at the end, you reach your summary. Your summary\u00a0reiterates your thesis<\/strong> in a new way to sum everything up, then you start to get broader in topic, explaining why your main idea matters in the big picture<\/strong> of things.<\/p>\n So: start with a broad background, get more specific until you reach your thesis (main idea), stay specific and support your thesis, sum it all up, then get more general and explain why it matters to your audience in the big picture.<\/strong><\/p>\n One advantage of structuring your video like this is that your audience doesn\u2019t get thrown into the story \u201cin medias res<\/strong>\u201d (latin for \u201cin the middle of things\u201d). Starting \u201cin medias res\u201d is a great technique for narrative and fiction pieces, but it can often be a hindrance to non-fiction work, especially short form where you need to get the audience up to speed quickly.<\/p>\n Another advantage is that you have a clear understanding when organizing the story of what will support your main idea and what won\u2019t<\/strong>, so you can cut your content down to what really matters.<\/p>\n A third advantage to structuring your video this way is that by finishing with how this relates to the big picture, you give a global\/grand scale of importance to your message and leave this as the final lasting thought for the audience.<\/p>\n The thesis is the point you are trying to make. Every good essay and every good video try to make a point – a reason why the audience should pay attention. A good thesis has a number of components, but the main two that apply here are:<\/p>\n There are actually three types of thesis statements<\/a>: analytical<\/strong>, expository<\/strong> (explanatory), and argumentative<\/strong> ; these just so happen to fit well with common reasons someone would want a video!<\/p>\n Knowing what type of piece you are editing informs what supporting content you need to find and how best to order that content. You need to know what you\u2019re saying and you need to know how to back it up!<\/p>\n One of the things I was taught in school is that your essay thesis should contain the topics of your supporting evidence<\/strong>, and these topics should be arranged to match the order of your body paragraphs, basically creating a roadmap for your essay.<\/p>\n For example: \u201cPeople should do [thing] because of [evidence x], [evidence y], and [evidence z]\u201d. The supporting body paragraphs would cover the topics of x, y, and z in that order. This gives the audience an understanding of what\u2019s to come.<\/p>\n In video, you don\u2019t always have the luxury of having your talent or interviewee say that perfect statement that summarizes all of the evidence in the right order. What you do have is the ability to either create your roadmap ahead of time and make sure you get those topics covered, or you can group all of the content you have into the different topics and decide on what best supports your message and how best to arrange it for flow.<\/p>\n This is the basic function of an editor, but you\u2019d be surprised how many go right into laying things in the timeline without an actual plan in place! Having this \u201croadmap\u201d lets you quickly sift through content to find what fits, have an idea of what transitional content you\u2019ll need, and lay it all in the timeline without having to guess what order works best.<\/p>\n Earlier this year I did a project for KIPP Academy<\/a> in Nashville, TN, to be shown at a fundraising event for the expansion of the program from one middle school to K\u201312 and 6+ schools. I\u2019ve written about<\/a> this project before from a post-production perspective, but one thing I haven\u2019t talked about is the planning. We sat down with some of the staff from KIPP, listened to their vision and reason for wanting this piece, and we asked them questions about the school, what the ultimate outcome they were trying to accomplish, etc. As we went through this meeting, I started forming a thesis and roadmap for the project.<\/p>\n Their ultimate goal for the video was to \u201cdevelop a case for why KIPP needs to grow\u201d and based on that, why people should donate and invest in KIPP:<\/p>\nThe Hourglass Shape<\/h2>\n
![\"fixed-Hourglass\"](\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/fixed-Hourglass.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe Thesis Statement<\/h2>\n
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The Roadmap<\/h2>\n
A Practical Example<\/h2>\n