Writing for Visual Media

Writing for Visual Media looks at the fundamental problems a writer faces in learning to create content for media that is to be seen rather than read. It takes you from basic concepts to practice through a seven-step method that helps you identify a communications problem, think it through, and find a resolution before beginning to write.Through successive exercises, Writing for Visual Media helps you acquire the basic skills and confidence you need to write effective films, corporate and training videos, documentaries, web sites, PSAs, TV shows, nonlinear media, and other types of visual narratives. You'll explore your visual imagination and try out your powers of invention.The companion web site enriches the content of the printed book with video, audio, and sample scripts. It includes scripts and the video produced from them; visual demonstrations of concepts; and an interactive, illustrated glossary of terms and concepts. Please visit http://booksite.focalpress.com/Friedmann, and follow the registration instructions on the site.

Currently an associate professor in Sam Houston State University's Mass Communications program, Anthony Friedmann has an M.A. from Harvard University and a B.A. and Ph.D. in English from Columbia University and was trained as a filmmaker at the London School of Film Technique. After twenty-one years of writing, producing, and directing film, multi-image, and video, he taught video production, interactive multimedia, and scriptwriting at various colleges. He continues to write scripts for corporate clients and also to develop independent projects. His work ranges from feature film to corporate video for English, American and French clients. Bartleby, which he wrote and directed, won Special Jury Prize at the San Sebastian Film Festival in 1971. He is a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, the Writers' Guild of Great Britain, and the Broadcast Education Association.Currently an associate professor in Sam Houston State University's Mass Communications program, Anthony Friedmann has an M.A. from Harvard University and a B.A. and Ph.D. in English from Columbia University and was trained as a filmmaker at the London School of Film Technique. After twenty-one years of writing, producing, and directing film, multi-image, and video, he taught video production, interactive multimedia, and scriptwriting at various colleges. He continues to write scripts for corporate clients and also to develop independent projects. His work ranges from feature film to corporate video for English, American and French clients. Bartleby, which he wrote and directed, won Special Jury Prize at the San Sebastian Film Festival in 1971. He is a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, the Writers' Guild of Great Britain, and the Broadcast Education Association.

DEFINING THE PROBLEM; Describing One Medium Through Another; Describing Sight and Sound; The Stages of Script Development; A Seven-Step Method for Developing a Creative Concept; SOLVING COMMUNICATION PROBLEMS WITH VISUAL MEDIA; Ads and PSAs: Copywriting for Visual Media; Corporate Communications; Training, Instruction, and Education; Documentary and Nonfiction Narratives; ENTERTAINING WITH VISUAL MEDIA; Dramatic Structure and Form; Techniques for Long-Form Scripts; Writing Techniques for Adaptation; Television Series, Sitcoms, and Soaps; WRITING FOR NONLINEAR AND INTERACTIVE MEDIA; Writing and Interactive Design; Writing for Interactive Communications; Writing for Interactive Entertainment; ANTICIPATING PROFESSIONAL ISSUES; You Can Get Paid to Do This; Appendix: Script Formats