Position Description:
SNHU’s director of campus communication has given me the task of creating three different 15-second advertisements to highlight the Southern New Hampshire University Campus experience. The ads were shown at the Bank Of New Hampshire Pavilion, one of the biggest concert venues in the northeast, throughout the Summer.
Skills:
Ideation/Video Development
Shotlisting/storyboarding
Directing
Editing/Coloring/Sound Design
Gimbal Work
Production Overview
Pre-Production Tasks:
Ideating 3 videos under 15 second runtime
presenting storyboards/shotlists to stakeholders
creating a shooting schedule
Production Tasks:
Compose frames, light scenes, and direct talent
Shoot scenes in 3 day time period
Post-Production Tasks:
Cut together three ads in accordance with storyboards
Add music, color, and 2.35:1 aspect ratio with name graphic
Development/Pre-Production:
With immense amount of creative freedom, my first task was to generate a few ideas and pitch them to SNHU’s director of campus communications and a representative from the pavilion. Upon getting green lights on the ideas, I moved into creating shot lists and storyboards for each idea, following that up with strip boards and scheduling.
Scheduling the shoot was the most challenging aspect as there were several student actors and production was during the last few weeks of the term. Organizing all the shots by location, gear, and time of day in a detailed strip board made it fairly simple going into production.
Production/Shooting:
The immense amount of development on the project made production very smooth and streamlined. The schedule allotted a fair amount of prep time for each location/set up so each shot had adequate attention to it. In order to get some of the more unique shots, I used my FX30 atop a Ronin and a monopod. Some shots required lighting set ups operated by me or a student assistant.
Being the sole videographer and project lead, I had to manage equipment, direct actors, not interrupt student day-to-day activities, rig up and operate camera.
Post-Production/Editing:
Due to the detail in the pre-production, editing was fairly simple as far as assembling the edit. We had the pieces, and all I had to do was put it all together following the development documents. The most challenging part was to find and add music, and diving through archival footage when applicable provided by the University as well as my own.
Once the videos were approved by all parties and stakeholders, I changed the aspect ratio, added a name graphic, and SNHU’s closing graphics for final delivery. The reels are now playing on SNHU’s campus Instagram with great reception.
