Documentaries and other informational videos, such as the college reunion memorial, consist of scenes that may or may not include actors. Such shows usually have little or no dialog and often have a voice-over narration. The camcorder documentarian frequently performs double duty as the narrator. The two-column video format script serves the informational video production. The left (video) column contains descriptions of the shots and the right (audio) column contains the words spoken by actors or narrator as well as descriptions of music and sound effects.

While you can use it for dramatic material, this format is especially well adapted for videos and television shows that consist of a variety of shots with narration overlaid. It's easy to see the relationship of words and pictures; the words come at the same time that you see the pictures that are immediately to their left. Create this format as follows:

• Place video descriptions in the left column, single-spaced.
• Place accompanying audio descriptions in the right column, double-spaced.
• Type video descriptions and spoken lines in upper- and lower-case.
• Type the following in all-caps:
• Location descriptions.
• Transitions.
• Camera directions (i.e., PAN, ZOOM).
• Music and sound effects.
• Type the speaker identification in all-caps and underline. Place directions for delivery in parentheses.

There is one other script format that you may want to consider. The corporate teleplay format combines elements of the two preceding formats. Most of the script is written in film format, but any off-screen narration goes into a narrow column on the right side of the p…