Video Services

With today’s technology, your audience and university supporters are only clicks and tweets away. All the traditional means of media we grew up with have combined into a superpower called videography. In fact, snippets of life at PSU are told and retold everyday on our YouTube channel.

Using video to tell a story is an intimate a wonderful way to start a two-way conversation. Thinking about testing the waters? The best way to capture our attention, and your audience’s, is to start with this checklist:

1. Can your compelling and unique story be told in 90 seconds? Our attention span challenged society has to have a really good reason for wanting to listen to what you have to say. This about it this way: would you watch your story?
2. Does your story offer b-roll, the footage shown during voice overs? We may be stating the obvious here, but the visual components of a story are the key to your success. If the choice was between watching scientists combine neon glowing chemicals to knock out cancer or a scientist typing a report at the computer, which would you watch? Location is another aspect of b-roll to consider. Is the location and surroundings well lit and spacious enough to get our guy in?
3. Can you realistically give us two weeks’ notice to make the video? Granted, not every situation requires this allotted time period, but the more time you can give us, the more we can prepare for success. Everyone on campus has stories and, though we’d love to, we can’t tell them all at the same time.
4. Do you have permission to tell someone else’s story? Accessibility to the information is sometimes the biggest hurdle we cross, so ask permission before committing them to our YouTube channel. Double check with that workplace or department to ensure that they’re okay with putting their name to the story. Consider if the research is private or if there are minors who need parental consent.