News & Corporate Videos

The 'The What/Why/When' Template

Straightforward news is one of the best things to communicate in a video. You can find these items everywhere: product news or updates, planned events, happenings, information – everything can be a video with this format.

Check it out!

About this template

Use this strict and templated format to communicate a straightforward news story quickly. The perks of doing this kind of story are that it's easy to produce and to get buy-in from everyone since the structure is clear, especially for the viewer - a basic workhorse format.

How to get started

This is a step-by-step guide on how you use this template to write your year in review video script.

Find your story

This is a great "reactive" format that you can go to when you need to react on something quickly. So whenever you see news that are related to what your organisation does: go for it.

Find your assets

If you have one or a couple of fitting miages or clips: use them. If not, you can use relevant stock images.

Produce it

This is very much a job made from your desk. Sometimes you might need to get more information from experts within your company, but mostly you should be able to create this from available information.

Create your video script

Summary headline

This format needs a straightforward headline that leads seamlessly into the next section. So you are best off by crafting your headline on the “what” part of the story and using a very traditional headline type. Use something that can be directly addressed in the next part of the video. 

Examples: 

– “[X] is happening now” 

– “The new version of [Y] releases today” 

– “[Organisation] denies involvement in [Issue]”

Summary headline

The What

Latch on to the headline and give a bit more factual information on what this story is about. This is relatively free-form, but since this format is about efficient communication, you should keep a strict and concise line. So do tell precisely what has happened/is happening.

The What

The Why

This is where you address the underlying reasons for why you are communicating the story at all. This can range from customer needs and wants when it’s about a product or a service to a misconception that needs to be addressed. You want to state this clearly -it's an excellent way to own your communication. Please don’t dwell on it, though, try and be concise.

The Why

The When

For product and service news, there is often a clear-cut "when" which is essential information for the viewer. So round this off by letting them know when this change/news/introduction is happening. In more complex issues, a timeline is often communicated. So try and get that in there to make the story complete.

The When

More Information

Include a standard message or let the viewer know where they can get more information if relevant. Otherwise just finish with your logo.

More Information

Looking for something else?

There is a lot more templates here for you. Take a look around and find one that suits you. Or you can find all the templates in Storykit.