Introduction to the A/V Script & Examples

WHAT IS AN A/V SCRIPT?

Remembering that any script must give information about what a viewer will SEE and HEAR in a movie, we can easily remember that an A/V script gives instructions about the audio and visuals that will occur when and where in the script.

An audio/visual or A/V script is a two-column script used in media from documentary filmmaking, to TV news and advertising. As its name suggests, it provides a rundown of the audio and video components that will be edited together to create the finished video.

A/V scripts are also known as two-column scripts because all the video cues appear in a single column on the left with the audio cues appearing in a column on the right.

As in all storytelling, the mix of sound and visuals should create a story with a beginning, middle and end with lots of conflict in between.

One thing to keep in mind about documentary filmmaking is that most of the filming and audio recording occurs BEFORE writing a script. So when we start to pen the script, we know what we have to do so.

And generally, unlike fictional scripts, we start with the audio “bites” from the interviews the filmmaker conducts. We go through transcripts of the interviews and find the choice bits of what they say to craft a story around.

We use narrative techniques from storytelling to to find the beats that make up narrative structure — character introduction, character objective, obstacles, rising action, twists, turns, reversals, surprise moments, the story’s climax and deneoument.

Once the specific audio pieces are arranged in order, it’s time for the documentary scriptwriter to determine which video goes well with what. The choices here will range from b-roll that the documentary filmmaking team shot for the film to archival footage from a news report or major event to stock video footage and personal family footage. Other visuals include photographs, stills of documents or historical records, graphics and animations.

See below for more on A/V scripts and two examples.