Scripted or improv?

tweek

tweek

Wannabie Member
I'm curious to know what more experienced vloggers are doing. Do you guys plan things out ahead of time or do you jsut do it seat of the pants?
I'm starting to think that I'd do better if I scripted it out first and then did it. I'm not wild about the idea though b/c it makes it too...produced and impersonal.

Also - do you guys do multiple takes? Even if you're just improvising as you go, do you find yourself saying 'that sucked, do it again' and then starting the topic over?

My goal is to produce a video worth telling people about. Most of the crap I've produced is...crap. I'd like to do better.
 
tweek said:
I'm curious to know what more experienced vloggers are doing. Do you guys plan things out ahead of time or do you jsut do it seat of the pants?
I'm starting to think that I'd do better if I scripted it out first and then did it. I'm not wild about the idea though b/c it makes it too...produced and impersonal.

Also - do you guys do multiple takes? Even if you're just improvising as you go, do you find yourself saying 'that sucked, do it again' and then starting the topic over?

My goal is to produce a video worth telling people about. Most of the crap I've produced is...crap. I'd like to do better.
Click to expand...

+1

I reckon sometimes having an idea what you initially wanna talk about is the idea but then sometimes something might happen or you may see summat that will spark a totally new topic. Such as the prick in front doing a u-turn in front of you.
 
Swings and roundabouts I guess. Usually I have an idea of what I want to talk about and I often do retakes because I get cheesed off with how many times I say 'errrrrr'. Usually when I feel like making a vlog up on the spot, I never have my damn cam with me anyway, sods law :P
 
mine's allways improv, just riding along and I decide to start talking haha sometimes I think "oh I'll talk about that" and I do for about 30 seconds and go on to a random thought
 
Recently I'll think of a topic before hand and write a bunch of notes about what I'm going to say. I'll start to think up a few lines, but I'll more than likely forget before I'm riding.

Some people flow better with a script. Some people flow better without. Try it and see if it's any easier for you.

I don't do multiple takes, but if I say a line and it didn't come out all that great and I'll say it again. That's one of the reasons why there's always so many cuts in my videos.
 
I slap my note book on my tank and read from that, if you watch carefully you can spot me turning the pages ;)

Other than that a topic of sorts in my head then ramble like mad and hope it works, as for mistakes if they are minor leave em in else your be there all day wasting time and petrol. You can always edit at home :)

And some mistakes just add to the atmosphere of the vlog
 
My Riderscan doubles as a teleprompter. Unfortunately, I write my own material.


Seriously though, ad lib, multiple takes, multiple cuts. It's not in my nature to form continuous coherent sentences, unless I am writing.
 
OoxTruExoO said:
My Riderscan doubles as a teleprompter. Unfortunately, I write my own material.


Seriously though, ad lib, multiple takes, multiple cuts. It's not in my nature to form continuous coherent sentences, unless I am writing.
Click to expand...

This ^^ - one of the things I really like about True's vids is because of the breaks in the conversation it's like listening to a Stewart Francis stand-up - lots of one liners joined together to make it entertaining.
 
I've decided that I am splitting my egos from eachother... MY current channel will be for my weird strange imagination (mostly vlogs about stuff off the top of my head). And a new channel which will be for serious topics. I am finding that I am drawing subs in with a video of one style... and then pushing them back out again when I post my next video of a different mentality.... This way people get to choose what they sub to. And I do upload quite alot of vids so it will save peoples feeds a bit if they only want one of my egos.


But generally I will just go with the flow but I am having a really difficult task at the moment with a vlog regarding my thoughts on religion... its such a complex subject.
 
Interesting.

What I've done so far is always improv'd but I'll generally know at least one topic I'll talk about before I leave the house. Occasionally it is something from somebody else's video that I'm riffing on.

The thing that I'm noticing is that as I keep doing this it actually gets easier and becomes more conversational. The biggest challenge remains bringing it to a clean conclusion. I realize this isnt an essay for school, but I'm all OCD and shit and like to tie things off at the end.

On the otherhand it might be funny to just cut the videos off mid-sentence just as you are about to make a really great
 
Improv all the way, although, as in life, I often find myself starting the story again if it comes out wrong, obviously in post, you can re-tell the story with clever editing. :D
 
With all of my vlogs there is an element of preparation, in as far as I go out with the intention of vlogging. Apart from that it's all improvised, I don't work well with scripts! :lol:

It's just a case of personal preference.
 
OoxTruExoO said:
My Riderscan doubles as a teleprompter. Unfortunately, I write my own material.


Seriously though, ad lib, multiple takes, multiple cuts. It's not in my nature to form continuous coherent sentences, unless I am writing.
Click to expand...

I'm like True, except that he's good at it. ;)
 
In my mind, the best vlogs are a mix of both.

At minimum, have a topic planned and a few points on that topic to elaborate on.
Then, turn the camera on and let it flow. The randomness that is the road and everyone else on it usually make for some memorable moments.
 
I don't tend to properly plan my videos, which would probably explain the umm's and the arrrrr's. Sometimes, I'll make a note of a topic, have a think about it and then go out to record it; however, most of the time, it's a case of pressing record and seeing what comes out my mouth.

Interestingly, I've found that some of the best stuff is spoken when I don't have the camera with me :?
 
Improv. I do keep topic idea notes in my cellphone, so if I am struggling to come up with anything I will scroll through my notes and hope one of them works for that day, but mostly all my vlogs are spur of the moment ideas, or a thought I had during the ride. Some days I can have many topics and make several vlogs in 1 day, other times I just do a lot of riding and I can't talk very well about anything.

I would like to get a small laptop to review my videos while I am out, because after shooting a vlog that I think came out good, I can't wait to get back home and watch it, so that usually ends my riding for the day and I just head back home to watch/edit/upload.

I have attempted re-takes for vlogs where I did not have my microphone on, but they never seem to be as interesting as the original and don't get uploaded anyway. Having the mic turned off is about the most frustrating thing to me, especially if I am somewhere far from home and the video content is really good.
 
Improv all day everyday :P But I am going to start doing some specialized videos like series... so for those, I will have planned out a few things which I would like to cover during the ride.
 
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