Final Video Story

My video story is a basic advertisement for visiting Washington State University. My goal was to have uplifting and energetic music in the background of short, diverse shots from around the WSU campus. I shot all of my videos over the last few weeks, except for the end shot. My shots were chosen based on settings that the campus is known for or proud of.

 

I wrote out a pretty loose timeline for the video that starts with a medium shot of a WSU logo, which I chose to film overlooking Stadium Way on the sky bridge. I filmed one of the Cougar logo banners with the street and cars in the background. I placed the opening text over this shot. Originally, I included simple text that just said “Washington State University,” but in my final draft, I included more phrasing regarding visiting the campus. I figured this would help with the mission of the video-to get prospective students to visit WSU. I then input a wide clip of the Bryan Clock Tower, which is a staple of the WSU-Pullman campus experience, followed by a medium shot of the top of the library. I wanted some diversity in the next shot that still showed the spirit of WSU. For this, I filmed a Butch T. Cougar bobble head that I received from a football game last year. I ended up using the close-up shot in my film.

 

My next shot was very different from what I’ve done before. I included a moving shot of the patio near the Murrow building that ends in an overlooking view of Pullman. My next shot is a medium shot of the Cougar logo attached to the new Chinook building, followed by a wide shot of the Mall on campus. I replaced the Mall footage with a sunnier video from golden hour in the final edit. My third to last shot is a panning shot of the Martin Stadium directory.  In my final edit, I also included new footage of the practice field with a panning view of campus. My final shot is from the Oregon versus WSU football game this year when the fans rushed the field. I included ending text that says “Visit us at visit.wsu.edu, which is the web address for visitation programs held by Recruitment.

 

I faded music out at the end of my video, and I faded in and out the ending text. I received feedback from peers regarding adding voiceover, but I chose to include subtitles instead. Other edits, I won’t be able to accomplish without a high-quality camera and access to people who would be willing to be shown in a video. I filmed way more raw footage than I needed, but the quality of some of the video still wasn’t up to par, so I included more footage from a sunnier day with better lighting.  I also would have loved to film these shots in Summer or early Fall, so that the setting was prettier. All of the leaves have fallen from the trees, and it has been rainy, which don’t make for inspiring and fun shots. For videotaping something else, this might not matter, but since I am using this video to recruit students, quality and perceived weather are both very important to the goal of the video.