Copywriting, Storyboard and Others

Recently been reading a book about copywriting. The book aimed at helping readers to know how to write good promotional pieces in a week. The first day's content is 'Focusing your message'. Here are notes I jotted down referring to the book and previous knowledge:

1. Focus on the result (know--> think--> do: research)
2. Structure to succeed (to persuade= all are sales copies)
3. Apply useful terms (usage of Stylistics: Metaphor, Simile, Alliteration, Enjambment, Oxymoron, Homophones)
4. Hook your reader ('you-strategy', POV, AIDA...)

A successful persuasive copy should have the following nature:

1. Getting attention
2. Making it personal
3. Reasons to stay reading
4. Overcoming likely objections
5. Being believable (with facts/ at least testimonial)

In the Illustration lesson last night, our teacher introduced us a funny word-- storyboard. What is a storyboard? According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storyboard, 'storyboards are graphic organisers such as a series of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of previsualising a motion graphic or interactive media sequence, including website interactivity.'

What a clumsy explanation! Our teacher just showed us his previous animation works and previous designed storyboard for those animations: On the left hand side of what he called a 'graph paper', there were small boxes with a few inches lengths and widths for drawing the beginning of each scene; on the right of the boxes, there left places for written explanation of what was to be coming up, including sound effect, zoom in, zoom out and so on. (POV= 'seeing' with a character's point of view)

Storyboards are essential to a good movie's production. Even an advertisement for several seconds requires clear planning of flowing and staging, film transition... Prospectives required to intensify audience's interests are the same as what photographers should learn. Visual elements are of course very important to visual productions, but context in written words is also inevitable for inter-communication within the production team.

The teacher gave us a piece of homework-- to investigate the structure of a TV advertistment and finish a storyboard for it. Besides, he also told us that we will have a written assignment! That is a 'brief', possibly something like what public relations companies have to think of as the teacher mentioned when receiving a job from a client to make advertistment for it-- possibly like a homework I and some previous classmates worked for in a lesson about public relations. Copywriting? In September, I am really a student studying coporate communications... A good chance to prepare for my study as a 'final year university student', since I got a place in a one-year top-up degree! So happy!!!

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