Plan Your Time-Based Media Project
If you’ve never created time-based media before, you might be surprised at how long the process takes. Even a one minute video can take several hours to plan, produce, and publish. One thing is for sure, if you don’t plan on accessibility at the beginning of your project, you’re sure to take even more time fixing the issues at the end.
Plan on accessibility at the beginning, at every step of the production process, and again at the end.
On this page learn more about storyboarding and some common accessibility issues in certain genres of video.
Storyboarding
A storyboard is a great tool for outlining your time-based media content. It helps you think through your visuals, sounds, effects, title or lower third cards, and dialogue.
A detailed storyboard will help you as you record and edit, but will also make it easier to generate and edit your captions as well as produce a descriptive transcript.
There’s no one way to create a storyboard. If you’re looking for a template to help get started, consider reviewing one of the templates available from Studiobinder.
Genres of Videos
Certain types, or genres, of videos have similar characteristics. If you know what genre your video belongs to, it may help you during the planning phase. Here are three common genres and some tips for accessibility.
Talking Head Videos
Talking Head Video Example: Finding a Community at Boise State
A talking head videos is an interview-style video that contains one or more people speaking about a specific topic. These can include student testimonials or updates about a program.
A common accessibility blind spot for talking head videos is for the speakers to not introduce themselves.
If you are making a talking head style video, ask each speaker to identify themselves by name and any other relevant information before they start speaking about the topic. If any text appears on the screen to illustrate something the speaker is saying, include that in the narration as well. Then this information will be included in both your caption and transcript.
Instructional Videos
Instructional Video Example: Creating and Submitting a Payroll Correction Request
An instructional video provides directions viewers need to successfully complete a task. A common accessibility blind spot in instructional videos is not fully describing the action a user needs to complete.
If you are making an instructional video, avoid vague language like “go here” or “click here” as not all users will know what you’re talking about. Instead fully describe the action a user needs to take with descriptive and specific terms. For example, “select the home button to access all your available resources.”
Instructional videos should also include a clear introduction, a list of any pre-requisite knowledge or supplies the user needs, and steps that are broken into manageable steps.
Program Tour Videos
Program Tour Video Example: Boise State Campus Tour Highlights
Tour Videos are another genre of video that are helpful to introduce users to a resource or physical location. A common accessibility blind spot in tour videos is not fully describing the scene.
If you are making a tour video don’t rely on visuals alone to convey the information. Provide enough detail in the narration of the video so viewer have enough context to understand what is happening whether they can see it or not.
Avoid generic phrases like, “Look at all the options available….” Instead be more specific and descriptive. Give the viewer enough information to help them form their own impressions whether they are watching , reading along with the captions, listening to the audio, or reading the transcript.