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Video Rich Media

by Mark Patterson

The internet has grown into a multi-media rich tool since schools first developed their websites.

In those days, the internet was a static environment, composed of text and still images assembled across a handful of web pages.

Many of these websites can still be found online today. Most serve a purpose as best they can, while others are obviously just a perfunctory gesture in the general direction of the information superhighway.

We now have greater bandwidth giving faster speeds at which data transfers and it has transformed the internet into an interactive, video rich environment that allows organisations and schools to be much more engaging and persuasive with their online communications.

The internet is becoming more like tv online and it is now very easy to add video to a website, which has the potential to provide the readers with a richer experience and at the same time be much more effective.

The improvement in bandwidth has led to an equally stunning evolution in video production techniques. No longer are large production crews needed to produce professional video content. The Internet has spawned a new generation of video production companies who specialise in the production of low cost streaming video.

For schools, these changes present a unique opportunity to include video rich media on their websites, and the ability to attach to links in their outbound emails, to project the virtues, core values, and academic achievements that make the school attractive to parents of potential new students.

Tips to assist new participants in this medium

• Start with a clear message
  Like all communication, video needs planning and discipline to achieve a clear expression of the key messages that compose the school’s communication strategy. Make sure these messages are clearly expressed in the script, and the supporting footage is scheduled in the Shot List before filming commences.
• Don't use actors. Use real people
  In my opinion the best scriptwriters, actors and directors in Hollywood will struggle to produce a video message as persuasive and credible as one that comes from the heart of a real person expressing what they believe. The best presenters for your video will not be professional actors, but, real people, drawn from the teaching and admin staff, who can speak with knowledge and passion about the elements that compose the key message points. What they lack in ‘on camera’ skill, will be clearly offset by their honesty and conviction.
• Testimonials make all the difference
  Self-praise is no recommendation. Talk is cheap, so it is very important that each of the key messages in the video are supported by a testimonial from a parent or student whose experience confirms the claim made in the video. Often, these testimonials will produce some surprising and eloquent expressions in favour of the school, and contribute substantially to the overall effectiveness of the video.
• Plan to update the video regularly
  Videos can become constantly improving and evolving messages. Unlike a printed prospectus, which needs to be completely reprinted with each update, it is a simple and inexpensive process to add new elements to a video. Updates can be made annually, to include the latest academic achievements, or more regularly as events dictate. Achievements in sport, for example, can be added as they occur.
  It’s a good idea to have a digital camera at the school and to engage the students in a little video journalism, for an e-newsletter or similar internal communication. This way, there will usually be a live camera at hand to capture precious moments in the school’s history. Footage from this camera can be sent to your production company to incorporate in updates for your video.
  It's not a good idea to entrust your school’s brand with your students' video production skills,
  It's best not to let your students produce the school’s video.
   
• Use the production company's website
  Some school websites are built upon very old technology that is not well suited to video streaming. A hyperlink from your production company’s website will facilitate your video. It is a simple and cost effective alternative to upgrading IT structure underpinning your school’s website. These hyperlinks will provide an almost invisible connection to the school’s website, and in some cases, the host website will have a SNIFFER, which will quickly ‘sniff’ the receivers’ download speed and deliver a video file that best matches their ability to receive it.

• Store all masters and wide reel footage on your own hard drive
  You may want to appoint a new production company in the future. It is prudent to require every production company to save all footage and masters to an external hard drive, which you keep at hand to maintain complete autonomy in the future.

Here are a few examples of video productions for schools

Orange Christian School, Orange, NSW

The management at OCS had three key messages in mind when they commissioned this video. Above all, they wanted to project the school’s good academic record, and its success in preparing their students for further education, and indeed, for all the other challenges in the lives ahead of them. They knew it was also important to project the school as a Christ-centric environment, that sought collaboration with parents in an holistic approach to their children’s development. They also wanted to overcome a pre-conception within the community that OCS was associated with a specific Christian denomination that required parents to become members of a particular congregation. This pre-conception was obviously detrimental to enrolments, so an effort was made during the planning and production of the video to ensure this notion was dispelled.

Orange Christian School

St Mary and St Mina Coptic Orthodox College. Bexley in Sydney
This school is very successful within the Coptic community in Sydney. Their video was conceived to attract students of Christian parents from a broader ethnic base. The key messages were clearly articulated in this video, which leave the viewer in no doubt about the Christian focus of the school, its strong academic record, and its enthusiastic embrace for parents and students from all backgrounds.

St Mary and St Mina Coptic College

Bloxham School, Oxfordshire, UK
This school has embraced video, and the use of online technology to create an eProspectus. It is a combination of many videos, in an interactive brochure-like environment. The format and interactive nature of this format certainly engages the viewer, and allows them to navigate through the information, selecting the elements they are most interested in. This is the high-water mark for digital marketing.

Bloxham eProspectus

About the author
Mark Patterson has had many years experience is in the Australian Home Entertainment industry. He has held numerous senior management roles as marketing director for Video Ezy, Village Roadshow and Universal Studios. Mark is now producer/director of Lazerfish, his online video production company. He can be contacted via www.lazerfish.net

Schools have a unique opportunity to include video rich media on their websites

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