What Does it Really Mean to be an IMC Student?

Wausau Homes Working Script

	The shot is focused on a green board the same color of the Wausau Homes logo.  A woman’s hand and a man’s hand are on screen and they are drawing (white) with their fingers on the green canvas.  She draws a stick figure woman on the left and he draws a stick figure man on the right, and as he speaks he draws a big diamond ring between them.	Woman: The story of our home.  Well, we started out young. Man: We didn’t know what we wanted back then, but we were happy.  So I got that ring.
	The woman draws a veil on her stick figure, and he draws a bow tie on his.  As she talks he draws a ball and chain around his ankle.  She playfully slaps his hand and she erases the ball and chain.	Woman: And that was the biggest commitment either of us had ever made.  It was a really special time in our lives that eventually lead to the next big commitment…..buying a house!
	The man draws a small dumpy college rental with worn window edging.  As he speaks a shutter falls and hangs loosely from one of the windows.	Man: Remember that duplex we rented after college? (Chuckles) I repaired every screen on those windows because you kept breaking in when you’d forget your keys. Woman: (laughs) It was time to get out of there!
	The woman motions with her hand right to left and the house slides out the left side of the screen.  She starts to trace a new home exterior around them.	Woman: Our first thought was to buy, but when we went to Wausau Homes we realized we could build our own dream home instead of buying someone else’s.
	The home fades out, and the woman draws a door that she closes between the two characters, it rotates to form a wall between them.	Man: That’s when the fun began. Woman: I wanted a private work space.
	The man draws an island in front of his character.	Man: I wanted an island in the kitchen.
	The woman’s character pushes the wall to the right and draws a stacked washer/dryer combo.	Woman: I wanted a large entry way with an organized laundry space.
	The man’s character pushes the wall to the left which in turn pushes the washer dryer out the left of the screen.  The stick figure wipes it’s brow in exhaustion and falls into a recliner that he traced.	Man: I wanted an entertainment space the family could use together.
	The recliner pops back and a child stick figure runs onto the screen and plops onto his lap.  As she speaks four more kids run onto the screen, and she walks through the door to the right side of the screen to join them.	Woman: Yea, the family.  We didn’t even have kids at the time, but we wanted a space that could accommodate our growing family.
	The man stands from his chair and it fades out. The man redraws the exterior of the new home.	Man: There was some give and take, but the process was easy with Wausau Homes. We got a firm price, done our way, and it was ready in 3 months, just like they promised.
	The drawing on screen fades as the home becomes real, and the stick figures are a family proudly standing in front of their home.	Woman: But really, building our home wasn’t about the construction.  It was everything we went through together that makes it our home. (optimistically) Sometimes it’s hard to believe, but we did it.  With Wausau Homes we built our dream.

 

As the exploration of shooting scripts continues, here is an example of an interview transcript broken down into a story.  

	Video	Audio
	Medium Shot(MS) of a man kissing his wife in an average house, bending down to kiss a six-year-old on the forehead and walking towards the door.  Camera pans around left to watch the soldier step out the front screen door as it shuts behind him.	CPT Z: Well, there’s a stereotype that if you’re in the Army, that you’ve got to be a man, you’ve got to take care of your family. You don’t ask for help. You just drive through that wall and — and crush it.
	Wide shot(WS) of soldiers collectively stacking sandbags on a river bed.	CPT Y: The competitive nature of just the Army in general, every soldier wants to make his mark to either lead the team, be a part of the team.  They want to contribute.
	MS of Captain Y and Captain Z seated next to each other in fatigues against a dark back drop.	CPT Y: You’ve got to keep them both mentally and physically healthy. It’s the mental part — breaking through that barrier of, you know,
	Close up (CU) of soldier’s face as he stands outside in front a crowd of working soldiers.	CPT Y: “I’m a man. I’m in the Army. I don’t need help,” that’s the toughest part of keeping them mentally healthy.
	MS of Captain Y and Captain Z seated next to each other in fatigues against a dark back drop.	CPT Z:  And I think once you get that soldier through that wall, it just opens the floodgates to let — us be able to help him.
	MS of soldiers in fatigues during a time of relaxation, talking casually outdoors.	CPT Y: As we’re willing to help you, a soldier is going to always know more than the Command,
	WS of soldiers eating in a mess hall chatting.	CPT Y: and they’re always going to know who’s going to need help. So if they’re willing to reach out that hand to help each other, it becomes contagious.
	MS of commander interacting casually with a special officer during a work day in an army office.  The superior gestures in a professional manner, but smiles warmly at his officer.	CPT Z: I think that’s part of the Army mentality; that you don’t want to ask for help. And I think, as Commanders, I think it’s important that we recognize those soldiers that need help and try to break that barrier and let them know it’s okay to come forward.
	CU on CPT Y against the black back drop.	CPT Y:  There’s also an essence of vulnerability. Soldiers need to see that you’re human also; that you’re always up to exceed the standard, hold them accountable, and at the same time, you know, ask their advice.
	MS of CPT Y and CPT Z against the black back drop.	CPT Y: As Captains in the U.S. Army, it’s a rank. But you have to know what your charge is, and as you take that charge, you don’t just feed, you don’t just listen; you nurture. You’re going to nurture the philosophy of helping each other. You’re going to nurture the philosophy of teamwork.
	WS of soldier from scene 1 with this wife in a hospital waiting room.	CPT Y: And they have a confidence to understand that the unit will do all that’s possible to give that soldier all the support necessary.
	MS of a soldier in a dark hospital room, the child lies in bed quietly.  His hand is holding hers as he sits.  The shot time lapses through the day as doctors and nurses enter and leave.  He moves around at time progresses and holds his wife crying.  He remains in the room but with a look of exhaustion on his face.	And not only just support, but he’s going to have the time, you know. If a tasking is coming up or a duty coming up, that it’s going to come regardless. We’ll find somebody that can — somebody else that can do it. And it’s not that you’re not healthy enough to do it or that you’re not capable of doing it; it’s the priority that your family and the needs of your family outweigh this simple task.
	CU on CPT Y against black backdrop.	CPT Y: Soldiers are the heartbeat; they’re the pulse and they’re the tempo of that unit. And if that tends to skip a beat or tend to catch asthma, it’s going to show.
	MS of CPT Y and CPT Z against black back drop.	Keeping that team healthy is most important.  If one soldier is hurting, his friends are going to know about it. His friends are going to suffer from it. It’s going to bring down morale.  So as much as possible, you want to open up all avenues to help every soldier possible. I mean, once they receive help that soldier is going to be willing to dedicate himself more to the Army.
	CU on CPT Z in black interview room.	CPT Z: I’ve never seen a unit come together more than when a soldier or a soldier’s family needs help.  And that’s one of the great things about being in the Army.
	WS soldiers in ceremonial uniform seated together.	CPT Y: There’s no science to it; it’s just a culture that once you put this uniform on, that you’re part of a family.
	WS Inside the soldier from the hospital’s living room.  He arrives home, and as he opens the door in his uniform he is greeted excitedly by his child.	And it’s a grand scheme of taking care of each other, leaving no man behind and that your small part of the Army is taking care of your family.
	6 CU shots of soldiers of different race and gender looking proudly and intently at the camera.	CPT Z: And that saying, leave no man behind, it doesn’t just refer to when you’re on the battlefield. It refers to just as much when you’re back here at home station and your soldier needs help. You just don’t leave him out there on his own. You bring him in and you take care of him.
	CU on CPT Y against black back drop.	CPT Y: A soldier is no good without his family.
	MS of CPT Y & Z against the black back drop.  Ending shot fades to black.	CPT Z: And once they get that help, it builds up a pride that “Hey, I like what I’m doing. I’m working for somebody that’s going to take care of me, that’s going to take care of my family, and they’ll take care of my battle buddies if they need help.”

Classic 2008 Tide Talking Stain Storyboard

	Video	Audio
	Wide shot (WS) of two men sitting in an office facing each other across a desk.	BOSS: “So tell me about yourself.”
	Medium shot of the interviewee.  He answers the question but it interrupted by a noise.	INTERVIEWEE: “Well, you know, I’m an organized person so…someone who does not leave details…out” The voice is being drowned out by a singer close by in a foreign language.
	MS of the boss looking intently at the man’s face.
	Close up (CU) to the stain on the chest of his shirt, it is moving and becomes apparent that it is making the obtrusive noise.  The interviewee continues seamlessly unaware.	INTERVIEWEE: “I’m actually very good in groups. Group work.” Obnoxious voice over continues only when he speaks as if to cut him off.
	MS of the boss now looking down at the man’s spot on his shirt.	BOSS: “Mm hm.”
	CU back to the interviewee.	INTERVIEWEE: “I surpassed all my goals in my previous position at my prior job, your competitor.” Voice gets louder over the interviewee’s talking.
	CU of boss’s face as he stares hard at the talking stain.
	CU of the interviewee, then back to CU of boss’s face as he becomes slightly startled and shocked by the voice coming from the interviewee’s shirt.	INTERVIEWEE: “My personal team there………surpassed their own goals.” Voice begins to shout over the man and breaks only when he breaks.
	CU on the interviewee as he smiles awkwardly in silence.
	MS of the two men facing each other.  Logo and product appear at the bottom of the screen, “Silence the stain, instantly.”	BOSS: “Oh.”
	Talking spot sits in middle of animated screen with the URL (mytalkingstain.com) listed as pen swoops down and erases it.	Foreign voice from spot shouts until the stain pen erases it. VOICEOVER: “Get famous, at my talking stain (dot) com.”

 

Doritos ‘Time Machine’ – Storyboard in Reverse

 

	Video	Audio
	Wide shot of (WS) of Jimmy in front of a house with a box and dog, pans down to medium shot (MS) of man walking past eating from a bag of Doritos.	JIMMY: “Hey Mister Smith! Wanna try out my time machine?”
	Close up (CU) of Jimmy and dog.	JIMMY: “It runs on Doritos”
	Man has stopped and camera shoots CU of Smith looking at the machine in amazement.	SMITH: “Sure!”
	CU on Smith as he’s in the machine with the chips.	SMITH: “So now what?”
	CU on Jimmy’s face.	JIMMY: “You gotta put the whole bag in”
	CU from inside the box on a slot cut in the box surrounded by instructions “Insert Doritos Here for Time Machine.”
	CU on Smith as he hastily pushes the Doritos through the hole.	SMITH: “Okay.”
	CU on Jimmy and dog as they receive the Doritos outside the box.	JIMMY: “YES!”
	CU on Smith’s amazement as the box shakes around him and a noise escalates from outside.	SMITH: “It’s really working Jimmy!”
	CU on Jimmy as he shouts through a megaphone to produce the unknown noise.	JIMMY: (making siren noise)
	MS of Jimmy continuing the noise and kicking the large time machine box with his foot, causing it to shake.  Dog is in shot eating Smith’s bag of Doritos.
	CU on Smith’s face.	SMITH:”This is the greatest moment of my life!!!”
	MS of Jimmy kicking the box shows a man coming out of the house and at him from behind.  Jimmy runs from the scene.	HOMEOWNER: “Get out of my yard!”
	CU back shot of Smith shows him staring at holes in the machine wondering why the noise and shaking have stopped.
	MS of front of house, Smith kicks open the door to the time machine while the homeowner watches.
	MS of Smith turning to the homeowner.	SMITH: “Jimmy?”
	CU of Homeowner looking confused.
	MS of Smith turned toward homeowner.	SMITH: “You’re so old.”
	Doritos Logo: For the Bold	Crunch sound effect.
	Smith clutches the homeowner and speaks in disbelief.	SMITH: “It’s the future!”

Guu’s On Main Storytelling Concepts

 

Guu’s On Main

Guu’s On Main needs a branding video that sets its atmosphere apart from the other local restaurants.  The focus of the piece should be around times shared and experiences had with friends and loved ones throughout the years of the restaurant.  It should also touch on the history of the location and its significance to the city and college experience over time.  The video will be posted on the Guu’s On Main homepage to give potential visitors a look into the atmosphere of the bar, as well as the Facebook page to share publicly.

Guu’s On Main is a mid-tier bar and restaurant in downtown Stevens Point in a long thin historical building.  The location has been a bar for as long as anyone can remember, but had three major owner since the 1960’s to the present.  In the mid-twentieth century it was known as The Unique Bar, until it switched owners in the 1980’s and became The Nitty Gritty, well known at the time as a staple location for free drinks on your birthday with a souvenir cup.  Around 2001 it passed ownership to become Guu’s On Main.  The owner, Scott Gulan, was nicknamed “Guu” throughout his younger years and considered it an interesting name for the establishment.

Scott updated the menu and the bar’s most popular dishes include the homemade spinach and artichoke dip, lightly fried Wisconsin cheese curds, the turkey and artichoke sandwich, and their juicy burgers.  They draw an older established crowd in the daytime, and a younger college crowd in the nighttime.   Though it lacks the mainstream draw many of the nightclubs have for the younger crowd it draws a unique crowd of locals and students from the liberal arts college.  Because of the diversity in age amongst the patrons it is important to focus the experience on welcoming more than just one demographic.

Content Points

•          Guu’s offers a warm and relaxed atmosphere to catch up with friends and loved ones.
•          Guu’s has history with its patrons.  It’s the first place you kissed your girlfriend, the place you meet old friends you haven’t seen in years, the place you can go when you just need to unwind and think.
•          The building and history of the restaurant is part of the history of being in/from Stevens Point.
•          Guu’s offers great beer selection and good food.

Brand Statement

Being here brings comfort.

 

Wausau Homes Storytelling Concepts

Wausau Homes

Wausau Homes needs a branding video to introduce their homes to the Northwoods vacation homes market.  The Wausau Homes brand is well known in this market, but many vacationers travel to the area from Illinois and Southern and Central Wisconsin.  It will be launched with the annual promotion for free furniture with the purchase of a home and will be posted on the website, YouTube, and all the individual builder pages.

Wausau Homes has always put a large emphasis on families.  It was built by three brothers in the 1960’s and developed into one of the leading prefab homebuilding companies on the East coast.  It’s faced a number of struggles.  The company came to the verge of bankruptcy in the 1980’s, and again had to rescale their business in 2008 with the housing collapse.  It is now owned by the sons of one of the original owners, and hopes to continue the legacy for their children and the families of their builders.

Because of the scale of the business in the past people have construed ideas of the company’s current size and pricing model.  There are also misconceptions about the type of product Wausau Homes offers, as it is different from most builders by focusing around creating a home with a firm price before building.  The target audience may not realize the efficient and easy system Wausau Homes has developed for building.  Additionally, as the flux in housing prices passes, many of the ‘bargain’ homes that were foreclosed upon have been scooped up, and many homes for sale were built prior to the housing collapse.

The target audience would be financially established couples with children, and even older couples close to retirement that may be considering a move.  When building a vacation home people are looking for a place that brings them relaxation, that is generally quiet and peaceful, and sometimes a place they can later retire to.

Content Points

•          Warm, wholesome, comfort for the family.
•          Wausau Homes has hundreds of floor plans and home layouts to choose from.
•          The company can build their vacation home within 3-6 months
•          Even in the Wisconsin winter people can build, so their vacation home is ready for the summer months.

Brand Songbird

Wausau homes will create your dream, hassle free.

The Big Leap

Lastly, the recent Lacoste campaign takes a similar approach as the Jagermeister commercial by utilizing musical variation to set the mood and intensity of a situation.  The video entitled, Lacoste, “The Big Leap” illustrates the emotional leap a man takes by kissing a girl in a café.  The scenes cut between the man’s alter-self topless at the top of a building and his real experience with a girl across from him.  As he places his hand on hers and approaches her the scenes alternate between his ‘big move’ and the feeling of intensity that seems comparable to making a leap off the building.  The acts occur simultaneously but seem to diverge in experience on a third dimensional plane within the café.  The man and woman are lifted and suspended in the moment of passion.  As they pull away from each other the Lacoste logo appears with the tagline, “Life is a beautiful sport.”

The brand position illustrates to the audience that taking the leap pays off.  Whatever it is that you’ve been thinking of doing, yearning for, or obsessing over just make the jump because it is worth the risk.  The visual intensity and moments leading up to the kiss culminate into an out-of-body experience that is beyond what anyone else in the café sees or feels.  Lacoste wants to transfer the associations of that special moment over to their brand.

Jager At Heart

 

Switching gears from cause marketing to a consumer product, Jagermeister has done a lot in the past to create brand associations and loyalty among men 18-35 years of age.

Here we experience another emotional bond.  The video is dubbed over by quiet piano music that crescendos as a group of men, which appear to be old friends, gather and embark on a road trip.  There seems to be a bond between the men that the audience can identify, and they struggle to endure harsh elements of wind and snow only to arrive at an incredible destination.  By withstanding the rough journey the men are rewarded with the experience of surfing a frigid arctic sea.  They seem alive and fortunate to spend this memorable experience with each other, patting one another on the back in camaraderie.  The spot closes with the men in a warm winter cabin celebrating their victory with shots of Jagermeister, the bottle appears and a man announces that Jagermeister, “Runs deep.”

The message is that the consumer’s connection with Jagermeister runs deep like an old friendship, and feels as good as the passion you experience when doing something you love.  It portrays the drinker as a confident male who knows what he likes.  The tagline is that Jager runs deep, but the brand position is that Jagermeister isn’t just a drink, it’s part of who you are.

Digital Storytelling

Storytelling through video doesn’t need to incorporate heavy dialog or brand elements to relay a brand’s position.  The Save the Children Fund is an international non-governmental organization that has managed to grip the realities of war for families in countries across the world.  In their recent campaign to raise awareness about the strife families face in Syria, they recently released a compelling video called “Most Shocking Second a Day Video.”

The video highlights the year of a young girl from birthday to birthday in an area seemingly transitioning into a warzone.  Without ever learning who the girl is, her name, or anything about her family we see the transition war has on families trying to live what we consider a ‘normal’ and happy life.  The child is seen blowing out her birthday candles at the beginning, then playing at school, and spending time with friends and family.  As time passes we hear reports of turmoil and distress on the news, the parents are heard fighting about what they should do, and soon there is an explosion and tear gas is rolling around the young child and her mother.  The family is seen fleeing in a car and the child is frightened.  Her faces changes as it becomes smudged with dirt, the family is homeless, and soon they are separated.  The girl’s hair falls out due to malnourishment, and she is picked up by a soldier and taken to an army hospital where she then is presented with a lone candle to celebrate her birthday.

The spot is about a minute and a half, without any indication of the organization or even much dialog between characters.  In fact, the piece moves incredibly quickly to tell the girl’s story but also to give the viewer a sense of how swiftly things change, and how helpless the parents and children in these situations can be.  It also puts the entire situation into perspective, causing the viewer to think of their own family in that situation.  The last line of the film states, “Just because it isn’t happening here, doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.”  This is where the key to the brand’s position lies.  The message isn’t a plea for assistance in the traditional sense.  There is a different focus that says, “You should care,” because what if it was their family.  It isn’t until the end that logo, tagline, hashtag, and donation button appear.  The purpose of the spot is to evoke emotion from the viewer in an effort to sway them to support the cause of the Save the Children Fund.