Tips for video production if you have no idea what you’re doing

Anyone who knows me professionally knows that writing is my passion and one of the few things I’m good at. But sometimes I wonder if anyone is actually reading the press releases, blog posts or features that I put together.

One of my objectives for the coming year is to include more rich content in everything I do. So over the past few months, I’ve been filming and putting together short videos for the staff newsletter, press releases and social media using Adobe Premiere Pro.

Before I go any further, I need to point out that I am a complete novice when it comes to video production. Everything I’ve learnt has been down to trial and error. So I thought I would share a few tips for anyone who wants to produce videos but doesn’t know where to start.

I’d also like to give a shout-out to Michael Hann, who has joined the Communications Team as maternity cover. We have worked as a team – Michael has gathered excellent footage which I have then turned into videos. Without his help, this whole process would have been a lot harder, so thank you Michael!

You don’t need expensive equipment

This is the kit we use - you can buy it here

We don’t use a fancy camera – just an iPad. The tech available on smart devices like iPads and iPhones nowadays means you don’t need to spend a fortune on cameras. We recently purchased some equipment, like a tripod which is designed to hold smart devices and a mic, which all cost about £25 from Amazon. You don’t need to spend a fortune.

You don’t need to produce an Oscar-winner
People don’t except Spielberg standard videos, unless they have paid a company to make it of course! Don’t worry too much if your first videos are a bit rough around the edges – at least you’re trying! Also, you’ll find that the more videos you make, the better they will become. You’ll get the knack for what works (and what doesn’t) and the process will get quicker and slicker.

Less is not more!

When gathering footage for your video, get as many different bits of footage from as many angles as you can. That way when it comes to editing you’ll have lots of footage to choose from. Remember you can’t add what you don’t have, but you can always cut what is already there.

When in doubt, YouTube it!
YouTube is full of short tutorials on how to do anything and everything in Premiere Pro. So take advantage of this free resource if you are not sure how to achieve something with your video, like adding a fade or adjusting the volume of the audio.

Below are some examples of what I’ve produced over the last few months. Like I said, I am no expert, but I am proud of what I’ve made and I’m looking forward to making more!

Unveiling our new strategic plan

Last week began with our buzzing annual staff conference. The first keynote of the day was from our own Vice Chancellor who was there to launch the University’s new strategic plan for the next three years.

This was a particularly satisfying moment for the Internal Communications team who have been busy over the last few weeks finalising all of the launch communications, including coordinating the design and production of the final strategic plan document and all of the supporting content for our staff intranet.

However, the pièce de résistance of the campaign was a video involving a variety of staff to help explain the essence of our plan and encourage them to get on board.

Our new video stars, who kindly agreed to be filmed on two of the hottest days of the year so far no less, can be seen here: https://youtu.be/ToQWUIEjlvU. I was overwhelmed by how many people were willing to be involved (especially considering the humidity!). Personally being in front of the camera is my own worst nightmare, so I expected a lot more resistance (and the need to employ serious persuasion tactics), but everyone seemed such naturals in front of the camera and took it in their stride.

Why a video?

No matter how good the plan is though, it’s never going to be a success unless our staff buy into it and support it. That’s why we wanted to create a video that aimed to bring to life the mission and vision of the University over the next three years in an inspiring and engaging way.  The video wasn’t supposed to explain the plan in its entirety (we might have had a feature-length film on our hands if that was the case) but be a vehicle for generating excitement for what we want to achieve in the next three years.  Plus by getting so many staff involved, we hoped to create that sense of staff being part of a team, or being part of a family (cue emotional music).

 

Staff will be the judge of whether we achieved that, but hopefully they recognised a few familiar faces, that it provided a few chuckles and that perhaps it got them intrigued to read more about the plan.

Why a Z card?

We all know that Strategic Plans are probably not everyone’s idea of a good read, and we are all extremely time poor, however we were keen to ensure that staff were clear on our direction of travel, even if they hadn’t read the entire plan. That’s why we also created a nifty pocket-size z card version of the strategic plan providing a bite-size summary of the key goals and measures. Everyone will get their personal copy, plus staff can read the strategic plan in full here.

We’re not complacent though, and always looking for feedback to ensure that we continue to improve communications to staff. If you have any feedback that you would like to share then please email internalcommunications@beds.ac.uk.

 

Easter treats!

I hope you all enjoyed the Easter break and ate far too much chocolate! I was resisting but my willpower failed me on Sunday night when a friend and I had a go at baking some Creme Egg brownies! (They were delicious even if I do say so myself!)

But now we're back in the office and raring to go! This morning I've been prepping some open day invite emails, in preparation for our Luton and Bedford,  and Milton Keynes events. Attending an open day is a great way to get a feel for the campus you'll be studying at and gives you the opportunity to speak to both academic and support staff.

We've also been busy working on the PG prospectus for 2018. Draft copy has been sent to our design agency, and we're looking forward to seeing the first proof next week. The prospectuses are one of the bigger projects that I'm involved in, from assisting on photo-shoots, to writing copy and liaising with academics, to proof reading, so I enjoy seeing it all come together.

I've also been working on a report, pulling together stats from e-zines that both myself and Kylie have worked on over the last year, and analysing the results. It's great to see that most of our communications are performing above the sector average, and helps us to identify what content is the most relevant to our audiences.

I've also been filming around the campus lately, working on some videos showcasing the facilities available at Beds. It's been a great opportunity for me to nose around campus and see what our students are getting up to! Take a look at some of our sports facilities, and watch this space for more videos soon!

A league of our own?

Hmm. The relevant question here is: Who are our competitors?

The OED defines a business competitor as "an organisation competing with others in business.”

Right, so we might be a business and we might have customers. Or not. We might have partners rather than students who may or may not be entitled to all sorts of associated contractual rights and an ‘experience’. Or, indeed, a right to enjoyment. Or not. All or some of these apply (or don't) depending on any given policy, briefing and/or individuals’ point (or points) of view.

Blogs are supposed to be clear and fun. Admittedly, this one's already a "BIT OF A MESS". However, the element of marketisation I’d strongly suggest can’t be fudged or denied is that we, along with every other HE provider, have competitors.

By competitors, we usually refer to those institutions to whom our UCAS applicants are most likely to apply. Applicants have five choices, remember, so everyone we see and everyone who hopefully and eventually enrols with us may have applied to four other universities. Or more if they’ve come through Clearing. Or deferred. Et cetera.

Our UCAS competitor set is – and for some time has been:

• ·         Anglia Ruskin;
• ·         Bucks New;
• ·         Hertfordshire;
• ·         Middlesex;
• ·         Northampton, and…..
• ·         Coventry.

Coventry?

Yes; Coventry. Shiny, friendly, happy, dynamic, league table bustin’, sector-irritating Coventry. Being sent to Coventry is no longer a bad thing and its once deserted, ghosty streets are now full of deliriously happy students, plaiting each others' hair, being impeccably hip and getting firsts. As a community, Coventry’s council, uni and press have decided to coexist and help each other out. The uni has expanded, both within the city (Coventry University College has a different model delivering a more blended, flexible and less costly offer) as well as setting up campuses in London and Scarborough.

How do they do it?

Today Scarborough…… tomorrow THE WORLD

What is Southampton Solent?

The rest of our UCAS competitors, as anyone worth their salt will have spotted, are local. Easy. Except that this isn’t the full story; our competitors vary by subject. Southampton Solent, anyone? Who? For most subjects, ‘Solent’ are small fry, but some of what they do, they do well enough to lure students away from us and are particular threats to us in Biological Sciences, Law and Mass Communications & Documentation.

Locality is important to our students and we recruit heavily from Bedfordshire and London. And bits of Herts and Bucks. The trouble is, so do Herts, Middlesex, Northampton et al. And the bigger picture presents even bigger problems. Like toxic gas, competitors are all around us, pinching, poaching and getting up to the sort of hijinx the sector didn’t used to tolerate. Nottingham Trent and Lincoln are current ‘outliers’ making an impression at events and (in Trent’s case) in Bedfordshire’s schools. While neither are within commuting distance, they’re not so remote, particularly for students north of Bedford whose sights aren’t set on either Sport or Education.

In this context, DeMontfort are also in the mix and will pose a significant threat in the forthcoming years, what with their slick, almost constant advertising and a prediction of a fabulously rosy TEF score.

Serious stuff; serious money, by the look of it.
Without the sound on, it made me chuckle

So there you have it. In summary, defining our competitors is, I’d suggest, an art rather than a science. I’ve looked at institutions in the East Midlands; add the complexities of all sorts of institutions in London and your head will start to whirl.

Then the International Office have their own competitor set, and in my own work and analysis, I look further than the same old trusty and faithful six listed at the head of this blog; when a task suggests it, I might peek at aspirational competitors (e.g. City, Brunel, Oxford Brookes) or other institutions, nationwide, who have a similar reputational standing, but who may do things differently and – potentially – give us some ideas we may want to ‘adapt’ for our own institution.

This look at competitors highlights some of the challenge we’re increasingly facing in MARC (and elsewhere in the Uni), even as internal resources are "challenged" and the amount of work we're asked to do increases. We're always happy to help, but please, try and help us plan, bring your own insight to play and, as far as possible, ensure that outcomes are clearly anticipated and realised.

For more information about MARC’s work with competitors, including a breakdown of subject specific competitors, please see our intranet page.

If a picture tells a thousand words, what does a video do?

Sarah De Guzman, Marketing Manager

Keeping on top of the latest
information and content trends

My last blog post was focused on the importance of imagery in marketing work. This post follows a similar theme, but this time highlights the value of video content. With online communities on the rise, as well as a real appetite for quick information, marketers have to evolve their content strategies to make sure they are getting their messages out in the most effective way. Video content is fast becoming the future of content marketing. That is, if it already isn't an expectation of many students.

Here in the Marketing team, we've been working on producing a series of location videos to support our 2017 Conversion campaign which launches next week, following on from the January UCAS deadline. As part of our conversion strategy we send out a series of communications to applicants to help them make an informed choice. But this year, we wanted to build on our work further, by telling stories, and through adopting a 'show don't tell' approach to our communications.

On location in MK

Our work has culminated in the production of two new location videos - one for Milton Keynes, and one for Bedford, as well as some social media teaser edits. It's been a big team effort to bring these videos to fruition in quite a tight time frame. There may be more of a desire for video content, but it definitely requires a lot of planning to make sure the creative output is both of a good quality and most importantly, relevant to our audience: from appointing a video production company, setting the briefs, working with the local town Councils, agreeing the film schedules and timings, all the way through to accompanying the film crew on location, and working on the edits, there's a lot of elements to fit into our working day.

Happy Birthday Milton Keynes!

But why the tight time frame, you may say? Good question! And for that, there are two answers. Firstly, our conversion campaign kicks off from next week - it's a key time in the recruitment cycle to deliver key information to encourage applicants to pick up as one of their top two choices (firm or insurance). Secondly, in order to get the best engagement from our location videos, and specifically our Milton Keynes video, we wanted to release the video to coincide with #MK50 - Milton Keynes' 50th birthday anniversary which is taking place on 23 January. And so being able to seed out the content at the optimum time is almost as important as the content itself.

Multi-channel marketing - the recipe
for success

A key part of producing any new content is considering how to get the content out and seen by the right people, and so a seeding strategy is needed. For anyone who is a regular reader of this blog, or indeed an avid social media user you couldn't help but notice our location campaign last year. It was a great success and even landed us in the top 100 University social media league table for the first time – securing a top 50 position. Social Media forms a key part of our seeding strategy, but in order to be successful, a multi-channel approach is needed. In order to realise the video's full potential and to maximise on engagements, we need to make it as easy as possible for our audience to find it and share it..

Taking inspiration from Sean Bean

For many marketers original video content is starting to dominate their strategies, and it's really not difficult to see why. Videos have the potential to go viral, or if done well, can demonstrate their share-ability, meaning our potential students will spend longer viewing our content, visiting our website and interacting with our brand - all important aspects of building up brand advocacy. Keep your eyes posted on our social media channels: Twitter and Facebook over the coming week's to see our big reveal of video content and the first pieces of what we hope to develop into a longer video content strategy.