Saturday, September 6, 2014

The Two Types of Scribing - Video Scribe

Or how to give one of the world's best speakers a helping hand




Sitting at your computer right now, you can scribe to the world. You can go bespoke or home-grown. Commission cutting-edge professionals or build your very own scribe at your desk, today.

Much of this choice is thanks to one man. Ken Robinson. Sir Ken Robinson, the world-
renowned educationalist, who inadvertently set off an avalanche of whiteboard animation.

Author of ten books, winner of prestigious awards, holder of countless honorary degrees, Sir Ken is the spokesperson to our culture about the problems in education.

It's no surprise that when he delivered a talk about schools killing creativity, it became the
most watched TED talk of all time.10

Yet that was just the beginning.

The RSA in the UK took just a portion of his talk and animated it. They played Robinson's
audio over a hand scribing illustrations on a whiteboard. The video, with its recycled narration, spread like wildfire.

It had half a million views in its first week.

At the time of writing, this small, incomplete hand-drawn excerpt of Sir Ken's talk has been watched over 11 million times on YouTube alone. More than twice the number of
views of the original talk on the same site.11

Hand-drawn scribes 


The RSA made a number of scribe videos for their RSA Animate series on philosophy, civilisation, psychology and world economics. Their animators adapted a technique
that emerged in the early nineties, whereby a team of artists draw out a creative story, recording their work as the narrative develops.

We call this whiteboard animation although it is more of a time-lapse technique.

RSA Animate fired people's imagination and shot whiteboard animation to the forefront of creativity.


New companies were quick to realise its potential

Truscribe was one of the first.12 It built a successful business around whiteboard video.
Based in the US, its highly skilled team of writers, artists and video professionals work with Fortune 100 companies to create thousands of hand-drawn whiteboard videos every year.


Automated for everyone 


What about making your own?

Sparkol, a UK company, created VideoScribe - easy-to-use software that allows you to
create your own whiteboard animations.13 Launched in 2012, it produces attractive videos very quickly, and opens up video scribing to those who can't afford professional services.

Scribe videos have been used both to lobby governments, and by governments to explain
policies. They have been made to pitch business ideas, win contracts, teach lessons, campaign for change and - wonderfully! - even propose marriage.

Watch How Scribe Video in action

Their potential is endless. Whether you pay for a professional service, or take matters into your own hands, the accessibility of scribing means that you can share your message loud and clear.

It's the style that made a brilliant speaker even more brilliant. But what is it exactly that
makes scribe videos so compelling?

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