College Video Project Guidelines (Marketing & Communications)
The following are some preliminary guidelines for college video projects.
- The Marketing and Communications department needs to be made aware of all proposed video projects, in their initial planning stages to ensure that appropriate college branding standards are followed and to provide assistance/guidance where needed.
NOTE: There is much more to producing a professional quality promotional video than most people would realize. Missing important details can cause significant delays, stifle creativity, waste much time and effort, and greatly increase costs of production ... which are already significant for professional video productions.
- A Storyboard for each video production must be produced and reviewed and signed off on by the requesting department and the Advancement and Communications Department, before production is to begin.
- Overall Treatment must be reasonably well thought out and specifically defined in a project statement, with a complete break down of costs of production well defined.
About Student Projects
Students in our various Media Arts programs, routinely produce “Client Projects” where sometimes “the client” is a program or a department in our college. Many of these student projects turn out very well and ideally it would be great for the college (and the students involved) if the end project was completed such that it could potentially be used to promote that aspect of our college. Being able to claim this notoriety is a great thing for the student/alumnus to be able to put on their resume, however for this option to be available at the end, directors and producers need to be aware of and follow a few specific guidelines. The purpose of this page is to layout these basic guidelines, particularly around the appropriate use of official college branding elements.
NOTE: Obviously, not all subject content of student productions is appropriate, or suitable for further promotional use by the college, but where the potential exists, these guidelines should be followed to create the greatest opportunities for both the college and the students involved.
College Branding Requirements
- Each college video project must start and end with an appropriate screen credit that includes the College logo (or Academic School logo) prominently and centrally displayed
(likely to be more specific details around this coming) - The beginning and ending credit screen should include a college website URL where appropriate.
- Our college logo cannot be altered in any way, and the treatment of our logo must adhere to our College Branding Guide
- A watermark (40% transparency) (the top portion of the College Logo, known as the Animakig) should appear throughout the finished video product in the bottom right corner.
- Student video projects are to end with a final credits screen that includes the “Student Enterprise” logo.
Pitfalls to Avoid in Shooting & Producing College Promotional Videos
- As a government-funded community college, we cannot be seen to be endorsing a particular business, product or service.
Example: if talking about the many dine-out options around Thunder Bay, don't show the outside of a particular business, or any part of their business name.
Solution: instead show close-up shots of different foods, where the eating establishment cannot be easily identified.
- We must not purposely or accidentally misrepresent anything in the video (either blatantly, or suggestively).
Example: if talking about the various accommodation options for students living off campus, we can't be showing exterior views of some of the finest homes in Thunder Bay.
Solution: instead show some “inside views” of some actual student accommodations that would be considered “typical” and representative.