Promotional video: How to… Carlo Santoro International Mobility and Education Office University of Ferrara IV EDITION 8-12 JUNE 2015 INTERNATIONAL STAFF TRAINING WEEK

PROMOTIONAL VIDEO: HOW TO… Why choosing a promotional video to attract new international students? Fundamentals for a video Development and Pre-production: Writing the project, script and dialogues, choosing settings, background music and actors and putting down a business plan Production: Video shooting Post-production: Video/audio editing, addition of texts, video effects and subtitles Distribution of the video Our result

WHY CHOOSING A PROMOTIONAL VIDEO TO ATTRACT NEW INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS? Limited number of information Can’t be updated Not too attractive for students Unlimited information Can be updated at anytime Much more attractive

WHY CHOOSING A PROMOTIONAL VIDEO TO ATTRACT NEW INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS?

YouTube has over 1 bilion users, Facebook more than 1,4 bilion (1,25 mobile users). Every day people watch hundreds of millions of hours on YouTube and generate billions of views The number of hours people are watching on YouTube each month is up 50% year over year outside their home country ~60% of a creator’s views comes from outside their home country Half of YouTube views are on mobile devices Percentage of Facebook video views that take place on a mobile device : 75%

WHY CHOOSING A PROMOTIONAL VIDEO TO ATTRACT NEW INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS? We think a video is nowadays the best way to inform people on almost anything. For the main target group of a University (young people), it is one of the best solutions because it is easily accessible and attractive. It is immediately reachable from anyone all around the world. Once it is created you don’t need to make “new copies”, it is just necessary from time to time to highlight it. Universities have just an initial cost for the video, afterwards it is possible to upload it on free access platforms (i.e. Youtube or Facebook). Watching a video gives a major perception of reality compared to other types of communication.

FUNDAMENTALS FOR A VIDEO PROJECT Creating a video is like writing a project, for this reason it’s important to identify immediately the purpose and the results you want to obtain, the users that will have access to the video, the type of video you want to realize (short movie, spot, documentary, photostream) and of course the costs. MESSAGE Before starting a video it is important to know exactly what type of information you want to put in evidence, the language used, the complexity of the text according to the target group, whether using written or spoken language. Be careful, giving priority to secondary aspects may lead the viewer to forget the message. TARGET GROUP Universities mainly focus on the following target groups: - Prospective students - Students - Other Universities - Companies According to the type of “viewer” it will be necessary to evaluate if the Project and the Message are suitable.

DEVELOPMENT AND PRE-PRODUCTION: WRITING THE PROJECT, SCRIPT AND DIALOGUES, CHOOSING SETTINGS, BACKGROUND MUSIC AND ACTORS AND PUTTING DOWN A BUSINESS PLAN put down in words your idea First of all write what you want to do, it doesn’t matter how you do it, just put down in words your idea. Share your project Share your project with your colleagues and with the producer/expert: it is important to have different points of view (it helps to find out if you forgot something), the producer/expert will be able to point out advantages and disadvantages. understand how other universities have realized their own projects Search around for some examples of other institutions, you don’t need to COPY a video but just to understand how other universities have realized their own projects (duration, settings, quality, information included in the video). share your know how with the producer/expert In cooperation with the producer/expert create the script, including dialogues, settings, music background and number of actors that must be involved, share your know how with the producer/expert (this person doesn’t necessarily work for a university) Try to understand first of all if the university is able to realize or partially cooperate in the production of the video. students to be used as actors, communication department may have a video editing sector. Preparing the business plan is crucial. Try to understand first of all if the university is able to realize or partially cooperate in the production of the video. Some useful examples: students to be used as actors, communication department may have a video editing sector. Try to use as many internal resources possible, it will allow you to spend less money and have more decisional power on the choices to be taken during the production. If you decide to work with a private agency be sure that they will allow you to participate during the production and moreover that they will accept your corrections.

DEVELOPMENT AND PRE-PRODUCTION: WRITING THE PROJECT, SCRIPT AND DIALOGUES, CHOOSING SETTINGS, BACKGROUND MUSIC AND ACTORS AND PUTTING DOWN A BUSINESS PLAN

PRODUCTION: VIDEO SHOOTING Step 1: video shooting – schedule everything, both internal and external shootings, consider weather conditions and be always in contact both with the actors and with the producer. If possible try to participate during the filming. DON’T FORGET THAT ALL STUDENT MUST SIGN A DISCLAIMER!!!

PRODUCTION: VIDEO SHOOTING Step 2: video check Before proceeding with the post-production phase, schedule a meeting with the cameraman and ask him to see together all the videos filmed. Weather, light and many other external factors may not allow you to film again the same scenes, for this reason you must be sure that you don’t need extra-filming. Check also the audio files concerning the dialogues, it may happen that some “noises” have ruined the quality of the file, in this case it would be fundamental to possibly film again the scene. Dubbing IS NOT a solution, if you have involved non professional-actors it will be impossible to exactly reproduce the dialogues simultaneously with the movement of the mouth in the video. Try to understand together if the filming duration is more or less similar to the one desired. If not you can either consider to cut parts of the video or just accept the fact that it will be longer.

POST-PRODUCTION: VIDEO/AUDIO EDITING, ADDITION OF TEXTS, VIDEO EFFECTS AND SUBTITLES During the very first part the editor will work on it’s own, discharging or keeping the parts of the video needed for the final production. In a second moment it could be interesting to take part to the editing process in order to better understand what is done and why. Your involvement is extremely useful because you are the only one knowing exactly how the product must look like. TAKE YOUR TIME… this part of the project is surely LONG Creative Common Licensed music Choosing a good music background can make the difference, it has to be suitable with the type of video you are realizing. One more hint: if you want to spare some money look on internet for Creative Common Licensed music (mainly free if you credit the composer at the end of the video). Only at this stage you can add texts and other additional information/effects in the video. Watch the video as many times as possible Watch the video as many times as possible … mistakes are everywhere. Watch the video one last time and than allow the editor to include the subtitles (if needed), never do this before because it must be synchronized with the spoken parts.

VIDEO DISTRIBUTION Inform all the staff of the University, not only those who are involved in student recruitment. Inform all students by about this new video in order to let them watch the video, it doesn’t matter if they like it, it may be a chance for you to reach other people. In particular if you have involved students in the video they will be surely enthusiastic to show it around. Contact local and national institutions. Send an to all your partner universities. Send and to the diplomatic representatives of your country abroad. During the first year you will need to check often if the video is been viewed or not and if possible you will need to collect feedbacks in order to understand if it is well appreciated.

OUR RESULT (for emergencies)

THANK YOU Carlo Santoro