PRODUCING HIGHER EDUCATION VIDEO CONTENT FOR UNIVERSITIES & COLLEGES
A Case Study On Unique "Brand Films" for the University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame is molded not just by history, or a pretty campus, or outstanding academics. More than the stories of alumni past and yes, even the traditions which make for great football advertising, the real story of Notre Dame is that of a vibrant, diverse community held together by more than just a spiritual bond, but by the greater, accepting bond of humanity...regardless of color, gender, creed, or religion.
We know this to be true because we shot a Muslim prayer ceremony at the University of Notre Dame years ago. What a welcome surprise.
“What once may have appeared as wallpaper - consisting of obscure collegiate verbage and stats - has now become an opportunity to tell real stories, and engage higher-ed students on an authentic level.”
When planning a higher-ed video project, we would normally start with a meeting or conference call with the advertising agency, but with the University of Notre Dame, we work directly with their internal marketing and brand managers. They know their product and the latest research on how this brand is being perceived, and we strategize on the messaging we need to communicate - the market we are trying to inspire and persuade - and most importantly, the feeling we want to leave our viewers with after they watch the higher-ed brand films.
We collaboratively decided on the creative for "My Notre Dame" based on the idea that we wanted real students to tell their stories, but we didn't want to feature talking heads, or have the students delivering lines written for them. Instead, we held a contest where students submitted their own ideas on how they make Notre Dame 'theirs'. Our three top students got the opportunity to deliver their actual words as narrators cut over footage of a day in their lives. The results? Judge for yourself. What once may have appeared as wallpaper - consisting of obscure collegiate verbage and stats - has now become an opportunity to tell real stories, and engage higher-ed students on an authentic level.
After deciding on the creative for this particular project, we started planning the shoot day. Once our authentic people got in front of the camera, they naturally evolve to become "talent"...and we found all talent could channel their experiences because the stories are true. They are authentic. And they are culled from some of the most impactful moments in our students’ lives. For this project, we were able to shoot 3 students over the course of 2 days. In class, playing music with friends, dancing, practicing meditation, and doing whatever it is they do with their day.
After we captured the raw footage and voiceovers from the students, we brought the footage to a post house to edit the video for the commercials. Because Explore Media is a full-service video production company, we went ahead and did the offline, online, and finishing for these brand films in our studios. The process went a little something like this: after we delivered a rough cut (1st pass) to the advertising agency or in this case, the University's marketing & admissions departments, we made changes based on notes. Then we delivered a 2nd rough cut, and then a 3rd rough cut, each version taking a more defined shape as we honed and narrowed in on maximum storytelling impact. At the point all parties agreed the films had "picture lock", meaning the shots were all approved and would not change, we sent out Music + Voiceover for a mixdown and sound design. At the same time, we send out the 4K video images to be color corrected by our professional colorist partners in New York.
Finally, we assembled all finished pieces into cinematic-looking, rich-sounding visual stories. See the results of this project below in three different videos, "Mylan", "Pete" and "Jackson." You'll also see other tv ads for colleges, including a national TV spot for the University of Notre Dame which aired during the BCS College Football championship game to over 30 million viewers.
We hope you enjoyed this look into how we produced higher-education videos and tv commercials. This particular project was shot in beautiful 4K, 2:1 aspect ratio using Sony Cameras and Angeniuex & Cooke Lens systems.
To read more Case Studies, scroll to the bottom of this page.
"My Notre Dame" video credits
Client - University of Notre Dame
Production Company: Explore Media
Director: Jeremy Pinckert
Cinematographer: Jamieson Mulholland
Assistant Director / Producer: Quinn Wilson
Gaffer: Mark Barry
Assistant Camera: Allen Lee
Wardrobe/Makeup: Bethza Semanario
Grips: Ben Gershman, Ryan Kolegas
Location Audio: Dana Mroczek
Composer: Devin Delaney
Editor: Michael Schmalzried
Sound Design: Stosh Tuszynski
Color Correction: Kelly Armstrong
