UPDATE: Not only has NASA produced an excellent video, but they also released a free “Mars Rover Landing” Xbox game…
Ten seconds into the average online video, 20% of your viewers have already abandoned you. At 20 seconds, better than a third are gone.
As a copywriter, this means you had better open your video with some drama or a powerful hook, or you just said good-bye to a sizable chunk of your audience.
Which is why this powerful NASA video caught my eye. Titled “7 Minutes of Terror: Curiosity Rover’s Risky Mars Landing” it opens with dramatic music and quickly hustles its way into a compelling voice-over: “When people look at it, it looks crazy.”
And it just gets better from there:
Notice how the tension builds throughout the first minute (analogous to the first act of a TV show or movie). Then the music climaxes, and I thought we’d take a breather.
Instead, the writer dialed it back just a little, launching into a concise explanation of the “Seven Minutes of Terror,” and detailing the problems facing the Mars Rover in a way that kept me wondering until the last minute how they planned to pull it off.
By then, you’re probably on board for the duration.
It’s a classic video formula, and if you’re writing a video script, you could do a lot worse than to follow the old TV plan:
- In Act 1, you put a kitten up a tree.
- In Act 2, you put him farther up the tree.
- In Act 3 — after a lot of drama — you get him down.
If you don’t think this formula works for informational videos, re-watch the NASA video. You’ll notice it’s an almost perfect fit.
Keep writing (with drama), Tom Chandler.
Wow. That 5 minutes of video went by in the blink of an eye. Beautifully done from the pacing to the simulations to the graphics. Thanks!
Mike(Quote) (Reply)
Now I can’t wait for the August 5 premier (uhh, landing…).
TC(Quote) (Reply)
That’s just sexy. It sure beats the old NASA narrative style, which was exciting as community access TV. The slogan “Dare Mighty Things” harks back to the glory days of Mercury. I hope we see a lot more of this from NASA, it could fire up a new generation of enthusiastic young engineers.
Paul Lagasse(Quote) (Reply)
You mentioned that and I was reminded of the filmstrips we used to watch in elementary school, where the teacher would play a record and advance the film one frame every time the record beeped. I’m sure that seemed cutting edge at the time, but…
As for a whole new generation, I don’t know. Hard to deny the war being waged on science in this country, though it would probably help recruit more to engineering schools if you and I started spreading unfounded rumors about the legions of engineering groupies beleaguering universities.
TC(Quote) (Reply)
Missed this the first time around: NASA has also released a free Mars Rover Landing Xbox game…
TC(Quote) (Reply)
Is is an official NASA video though? I can’t see any direct reference to NASA — the video was supposedly uploaded by Space.com, a brand of Tech Media Network.
Unless I’m missing something…? (It’s been known to happen.)
Incidentally, there are several other videos that look decent on the Space.com site…
In any case, yes, very well done. Definitely written by a storyteller. What I found interesting in that whole video, we don’t see the rover ever move. The rocket moves, the “crane” moves, the heat shield moves, but the rover stands still like those high-end car commercials when the red roadster burns to a complete stop.
Shuffle this one away to the samples file folder.
~Graham
Graham Strong(Quote) (Reply)
I checked around, and the video is credited to NASA in several places.
It gets better. Apparently NASA released a free Mars Rover Landing Xbox game.
Brilliant.
TC(Quote) (Reply)
TC,
Well there you go. Good to see NASA stepping up their marketing game!
~Graham
PS – I saw a screenshot of the Mars Rover Landing game — looks just like the video. Going to have to get the boys to download it for me. (Because, apparently, I can install an operating system and hand-code a website, but I have no idea how to use the XBOX download thingamajiggy…)
Graham Strong(Quote) (Reply)
Embrace it. The true upside to slowly become obsolete (at least on the computer front) is you’re better positioned to simply shake your head and walk away.
I’m all Linux, Android and Google these days, so when my wife’s Windows machine or her nonprofit’s hideous MS Exchange system act up (and they do on a weekly basis) — or even if she has an iPhone question — I no longer invest valuable hours trying to figure it out.
I just nod sadly and go read a book.
Join the archaic hordes, Graham. You won’t regret it.
TC(Quote) (Reply)