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An excerpt from motion picture director Tom Marcoux's (America's Communication Coach) new book Communicate to Win: Influence Your Way to Success and Happiness
Create an excellent Digital Film for Your Web Site
As a faculty lecturer at Cogswell Polytechnical College in Sunnyvale, California (Silicon Valley), I teach my students powerful techniques in digital film production. Here are some items that their final exam covers:
For the beginning of your digital film, use one or more of these items: a) a dramatic question, b) a startling image and c) "salting phrases."
A Dramatic Question:
The first image must grab the viewer's interest and create the question: "What's going to happen?" For example, in my film "DimensionMan," the first image is of the hero's face hitting the ground. A first question can be: "What happened - and what's he going to do about it?"
A Startling Image:
Wake up your viewer. She can easily change the channel or surf to another web site.
"Salting Phrases"
This process is based on the phrase: "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink -- unless you salt his oats first." Maintain viewer interest by using strategic phrases like: "Find out how to burn calories while sitting in front of your computer" or (in fictional narration) "If I knew what was going to happen, I would have run the other way . . ."
The Key Component to Your Digital Film
When you want to create a compelling digital film, be sure that you know exactly what you want your viewer to do immediately after seeing your film. Perhaps, you want her to type in her e-mail address for your database. Maybe, you want her to be so intrigued with the short film that she wants to see it again. You may want her to be so delighted with your film that she sends out a global e-mail to her friends saying: "Go to digitalfilmnow.com There is a fantastic short film you must see!" Finally, you may want to end your digital film (on your web site) with a title that reads: "For your Free E-newsletter on [topic] type in your e-mail address in our guestbook. Thank you."
The Fastest Way to Structure Your Digital Film
Use what I call "bookends." Begin your digital film with a startling image, and then end it with the same image but with a significant alteration. For one project, I came up with the image of a young woman reaching for a knife for a suicide attempt, and at the end of the film, she reaches for a knife -- and places grape jelly on a sandwich for her daughter. It is a happy ending because she DID live to care for her baby.
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