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Education Sector

Produce great video for schools – How to schedule your shoot day

By Education Sector

Video for Schools – What we shoot and how we structure it

Every brief we get from a school wanting a promotional video made is slightly different – the messages they want to communicate will vary, and they may have their own ideas about the style and tone of the video. That being said, the goal of every school is the same: to provide a quality, varied education for pupils that feel happy and safe.

Therefore, the key messages will often be a variation on these:

“Pupils excel academically”

“There are plenty of extra-curricular activities on offer”

“Pupils are happy here and have a great relationship with staff”

As this is usually the kind of brief that we get, we’ve learned what the best shots to facilitate these messages are, and how and where to shoot them. As a result, we’ve developed an efficient way of structuring the shoot requirements around the school day to maximise our time and make the best film possible. Below is a rough guide to how we would plan our day around the timetable when producing video for schools.

Before School 07:00 – 09:00

You can use this time to get in and set up your equipment before the school becomes too busy. It’s always helpful to have an empty room we can use as our base for the day, as not all your equipment may be needed for the whole shoot.

If the video is going to be interview-led, consider scheduling your interviews for this time so you don’t have to ask teachers and students to interrupt their lessons. Any interviews that can’t be completed in this time can be pushed back to after school.

Morning Lessons

The key to school promotional video production is to only stay in one location for a few minutes in order to get the shots you need before moving on, so we recommend that you dip in and out of as many different classes as possible. A good rule of thumb we’ve come to adopt is to assume that you’ll only have 3-4 seconds of great footage from one class/location. This way you can tot up the total for a 2 minute film and you’ll will know if you have enough to cut a great promotional video.

Morning Break

You may want to shoot some of the students on their break time outside if it’s a nice day. Smiling students outside in the sun is the perfect way to show that the pupils are happy, and may be an opportunity to show off the exterior of the building if it’s particularly pretty.

More Morning Lessons

You may want to shoot an even mix of academic and practical lessons, as you can only get so much excitement from a maths lesson. P.E, drama and dance lessons convey a sense of dynamism and vibrancy that shows off the school’s diverse subject range.

Lunch

It could be a good idea to go to the canteen during lunch times to get some footage of students eating – this gives you the option to show the pupils in a casual setting and shows off the community atmosphere as well as the meals the school provides.

Afternoon Lessons

At this point you can review the footage to determine if there’s anything you’re missing – whether that’s something in particular from the brief or just a type of lesson or activity you haven’t visited yet.

After School 15:00 – 17:00

Most people assume that the school day just ends at half past three every day, but when many schools have a promotional video made, they want to emphasise the number of after school clubs they have available. This will also allow you to capture a greater variety of activities than the normal school curriculum allows for.

Don’t forget that this is a great time to finish off any interviews you have to complete as well. Due to it being the end of the school day you may have fewer time restrictions.

Of course, this is only a rough guide for shooting video for schools and is almost always subject to change on the day, as shooting on a school day is always somewhat unpredictable!

To find out more about us and our services, please click here.

How to produce promotional video for Schools, Colleges and Universities

By Education Sector

Promotional Video for Schools, Colleges and Universities

Promotional Video for Schools, Colleges and Universities is becoming very popular and institutions  are all too aware of the power of video marketing when it comes to promoting admissions and appealing to prospective students and parents.

But all too often the video marketing output can look a little familiar. Promotional Video for Schools, Colleges and Universities tends to follow a familiar format and run the risk of becoming slightly bland. Because part of their target audience are the young people potentially going to the school, presenting original and engaging video marketing is vital.

So here are a few ideas on how schools, colleges and universities can produce promotional videos that will help them stand out from the competition.

(You can also click here to see some great examples of our work for schools and colleges)

Meet our students – current and past

Rather than using a scripted voiceover to tell viewers all about the school or college, why not let the Students do it in their own words?

Peer-to-peer recommendation is one of the strongest forms of video marketing (or any marketing for that matter) so presenting prospective students with first hand testimony from existing students is a powerful way to connect with your audience.

Promotional Video for Schools, Colleges and Universities

You could even use a mix of current and past students, and ask those who have gone on to successful careers how their time at the establishment benefited them.

As we’ve described before you should use a planned approach to your interview filming (you can’t just turn the camera on and hope that people will give you amazing quotes). Plan your interviews in reverse and start by thinking about what the ideal set of answers will be. Then base your questions around getting the students to give you these answers. Students being students, you’re guaranteed to get great additional quotes that you didn’t plan on using.

Meet our tutors – NOT in the classroom

Similar to the example above, an alternative to the ‘meet the students’ idea could be to meet the tutors. However, there’s a golden rule here. DO NOT fall into the predictable trap of shooting the tutor interviews in a classroom or staff office. They will look boring and unappealing. Students want a little more from tutors who are going to be key in shaping their futures, so show a little creativity with your locations. You could for example interview each tutor in a social location to reveal a little more about them and add some personality to your film. A maths tutor could be interviewed in the university bar, or a science tutor interviewed at the gym.

This not only generates interesting shots but it also gives the viewer a subtle tour of the best looking facilities at the same time.

Promotional Video for Schools, Colleges and Universities

A guided tour

While we’re on the subject of tours, another option would be to have a student or students give the viewer a guided video tour of the establishment. This can be positioned as a great promotional video for the college or university and has the all important ‘soft sell’ factor. You can really get creative with this option and meet various people along the tour who could contribute a line to the video.

Drone tour

Giving the viewer a birds eye view of the campus, facilities and local area is a great and dramatic way of showcasing its appeal. This kind of option wouldn’t have been imaginable just five years ago, but drone video cameras are now very affordable to hire and produce some truly stunning images. Obviously you will need a scripted voiceover with this approach, but don’t be afraid to drop the vocal now and again. If the footage is very dramatic then let the image and music do the talking for small sections of the film.

Promotional Video for Schools, Colleges and Universities

A day in the life

Finally, there’s an approach that produces a really engaging promotion video and is something that could position the school, college or university as original and innovative. Why not produce a ‘day in the life’ type film? Again this is an especially effective option for universities. The film can be narrated straight to camera by the subject and will take the viewer through their typical university day, including waking up in the comfy halls of residence, seeing friends on their way to class, enjoying a great lesson, chatting to a friendly tutor, taking part in a sporting activity and having fun and enjoying the university social and nightlife scene.

The film can be edited down to snapshots of the day and can be presented in a snappy and contemporary way. If done well, it will be engaging and fun and more importantly, very shareable on social media.

So there you have it: a few different ideas of how to make the best possible Promotional Video for Schools, Colleges and Universities. The key is to focus on your audience. Young people don’t want to sit through 10 minutes of scripted nonsense or boring pieces to camera from the principal. Keep it fun, original and reflective of your audience and you will produce video marketing that is infinitely more powerful.

School promotional video & video prospectus

By Education Sector

Effective marketing for eduction – school promotional video & video prospectus production

The dawn of digital marketing signalled a sea change in the way that companies and organisations communicated with their customers. Initially the early pioneers were larger forward thinking brands who had the financial muscle to harness the skills needed to capitalise on the changing way in which people were willing to engage with corporations.

Today though, digital marketing and video marketing in particular has become accessible and useful for even the smallest organisation and is being used in a wide range of sectors. Notably the education sector has especially embraced the opportunity and effectiveness of video marketing in order to provide user friendly and contemporary lines of communication.

School Promotional Video & Video Prospectus for schools, colleges and universities are now an important way that they welcome new pupils, encourage admissions and communicate with pupils, parents and the wider world.

School Promotional Video & Video Prospectus

Digital Marketing

Marketing for schools and colleges is relatively new. But there are many interesting parallels for other sectors who may be eyeing the potential of what digital marketing can do for them. Traditionally schools didn’t require much in terms of comms and marketing – many state schools were located in areas where admissions came from feeder schools and the local catchment area, while private schools and universities relied upon reputation and results to form the main part of their appeal.

Fast forward to today. Parents now have a world of information at their fingertips and it takes seconds to Google potential schools when filling in admissions forms for their children. Schools, colleges and universities need to ensure that not only are they top of the search results, but also that the links shown are useful, interesting and relevant.  Parents can easily make assumptions about the school’s quality of education by the quality of the material available online.

Schools can potentially lose funding and slip down league tables if they do not reach their admissions targets, so ensuring that they cultivate a positive and engaging online presence to prospective parents is key to strengthening their overall appeal and maximising their admission capacity.

School Promotional Video & Video Prospectus

Likewise, private schools, colleges and universities are all too aware that the parents, and more importantly students, who may be viewing them online will desire a location that provides excellent education and opportunity. For colleges and universities, the potential student may also require that the establishment offer an exciting lifestyle and social appeal as well as great potential for learning.

For prospective parents and students alike, promotional video offers an insight into the environment offered by schools and colleges. It’s a chance to confirm the lifestyle and social appeal you offer is right for them, whilst encouraging them to look into your other marketing material to find out more.

School Promotional Video & Video Prospectus

School Promotional Video & Video Prospectus have become key to ticking these kinds of boxes. The younger digital user is especially drawn to video marketing and will click on it in preference to text or photo gallery options. It’s very much their chosen way to engage with brands or organisations, and universities especially have seen increased admissions based upon successful video marketing campaigns.

School Promotional Video & Video Prospectus

Search engines favour web pages with video content, so organisations publishing promotional videos find more users reaching their website. That’s more people continuing through the application processes, and ultimately more admissions. As many schools and universities have found, staying on top of the latest marketing techniques is the key to standing out.

The success of a School Promotional Video & Video Prospectus rests on its ability to answer the questions the viewers are asking. Thinking about what parents and students want to know about your school, college or university before they enrol is a great place to start. Incorporating simple messages about your ethos and showing footage that represents your curriculum and teaching style will ensure a powerful video. The next steps are to consider the practicalities of filming and deciding how you will deliver the final video to prospective parents/students, then watch the admissions grow.

 

To find out more about us and our services, please click here.