Graduation ceremonies – a footage resource to be tapped!
Summer graduations, Winter graduations and all those that are scheduled in between…Graduation ceremonies signify everything that students have been working tirelessly towards over the course of 3+ years. And it is for this reason that university teams work around the clock to fine tune the planning and ensure that the day itself is one to remember.
But nowadays, universities don’t have to rely on students remembering the day for themselves or having to choose between living the moment in the present as opposed to keeping a record of the day on their smartphone. Universities can offer the assurance of high quality video coverage that cements the event in everyone’s memories with independently filmed, engaging video coverage that remains available to re-visit at any point.
All of the production is practically in place: the logistics have already been coordinated, the stage is set and the ‘talent’ is booked. All that’s left to do is open your day up to a film crew to work with you at this final step and help capture those special moments.
An opportunity to capture a bank of footage that can be used throughout the year
By covering the day’s events on video, you are capturing footage that can then be presented in a variety of ways, (more on that later). It’s a chance to be both economical and creative – the footage in question can be re-purposed for different content throughout the year; do you need to put together a quick social media reel about an upcoming alumni event? Or maybe you are looking for some aspirational b-roll for a ‘Welcome’ video? All you need to do is dip into your footage archive and approach the day’s rushes with a fresh new edit.
You already have your audience, you just need to give them something to watch!
Did we mention that this is not only an opportunity to step in and film when everything is pretty much already set up, a chance to build on your internal video archive bank but that it is also potentially a chance to increase your online views across your social media channels?
If you look at the numbers on graduation content, data would suggest that when you post about the recent ceremony, impressive viewing figures are to be expected. And if you think about it, it totally makes sense. Your starting point is a guaranteed audience of at least all participating new alumni from the ceremony itself, who will be keen to reminisce and see which moments of their day you may have captured. In addition to this, there will also be those who unfortunately couldn’t make it in person, whether that be family and friends or any students who were unable to attend.
Once published, this content may prove to be the easiest way to get traction to your channel. Everyone wants to either watch it back or get a glimpse at the highlights from the day if they weren’t able to experience the ceremony in person.
Your viewers are already emotionally invested in the content…
You will of course want your video to whip up emotion, but the truth is, your viewers are already emotionally invested in what they’re about to watch. So this is a win-win.
Graduation video content can be produced in many guises:
You might be surprised at how much content you can produce from one day’s filming…
From this main edit below of Imperial College Business Schoool‘s 2023 graduation, produced by our team, a whole range of shorter, specific edits were also created from the same bank of footage. That means that with only a team of three people – one camera operator capturing b-roll, and a team of two concentrating on students’ vox pop interviews all day, you can come away with potentially 10+ different edits!
And as you can see, it’s an excellent marketing opportunity for the university as you’re capturing student testimony on the day when they feel most emotionally connected to the university. By simply tapping into that joyous energy, you’ll find that students will be selling your university better then anyone could ever direct them to!
Pubicising your ceremony ahead of the day
Are you keen for students to have a clear understanding of how the day will unfold, so that they can arrive prepared and relaxed for the proceedings on the day in question? Then you might want to consider creating a guide to your upcoming ceremony day:
In this example that the team at h10 agency produced for Imperial College London, starring the Crizards comedy duo, students are taken through a tongue-in-cheek list of dos and don’ts ahead of the big day…
In this much shorter video, the University of the West of Scotland shows how to deliver a lot of important information in a slick and succinct manner, a perfect fit for an Instagram reel.
The more classic ‘highlights’ approach
To cover all angles of the proceedings, it’s likely that you’ll already have a standard, live stream-esque set up to record the whole ceremony, but there’s a wealth of potential from the day’s events to produce some really captivating content…
From ESCP Business School‘s Class of 2023 Specialised MSc Graduation ceremony for example, the team at h10 agency focused in on some memorable visuals from the day, presented against a background of alumni and academic testimony to give a real feel of the atmosphere of the event.
And from the same day’s footage, we focused in on celebrating a selection of some of the key moments from the day, creating 3 x 30 second social media reels, to serve as small soundbites capturing the excitement, joy and festivities from the reception, ceremony and refreshments.
Taking inspiration from the day’s speeches when it comes to constructing your narrative
In the case of this graduation video produced by h10 agency for London South Bank University, the focus was on the honorary speeches delivered to the students. By using a very tight, but simple formula consisting of covering the speech in its entirety, selecting the most meaningful soundbites and combining it with a selection of b-roll footage from the day, you can put together an inspiring but shorter, more socials-friendly version of the speech in question.
You’ll notice that here we were producing a video for a specific university department. This reduced version, containing highlights from the school’s speech acts as an efficient way to specifically encapsulate the achievements from the graduating departmental cohort. As you can see, this formula can be applied to all departmental ceremonies – you could easily put together a suite of brief bursts of emotionally-charged moments from each school. Simple to produce – all you need is the speech in question and a selection of the day’s b-roll!
Another great way to sum up the day is to put together an edit centred around the Valedictorian speeches. This was the brief that ESCP Business School shared with us for their ceremony for example.
If there’s the opportunity to receive the speech in advance, the storyboarding can be taken to the next level, allowing for more informed direction when it comes to the day’s filming. It might also be a consideration to dip into the university archives for example, to enrich the visual accompaniment, or to go wherever the narrative of the speeches takes you! The name of the game is to ensure the most powerful result can be produced…
It’s not always possible to conduct a physical ceremony of course, and that’s when we can use our user-gen video service Recordr! Below, you can find an example of a virtual graduation ceremony, produced by h10 agency during the COVID-19 pandemic for Imperial College Business School.
Lastly, this graduation throwback video, from Bath Spa University shows how graduation footage can then be re-used at any point in the year to raise morale and help keep the video content flowing…
You might say that this one day's filming truly is the gift that keeps on giving!
Conclusion
Viewer stats aside, the moment a student achieves graduation is the culmination of not only their hard work, but of the efforts of the entire university team. This is why you go to work. And so why not celebrate and commemorate the day to the max?
The team at h10 agency have both the experience and passion required to best capture your day and translate your students’ achievements into a video that will be watched and remembered.
If you’re interested in discussing the best ways to deliver video content from your graduation ceremony, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team and click the button below:
Want to create more effective and engaging video for your institution?
At h10 agency, we specialise in creating video content for higher education marketing. This ranges from higher end promo videos, through to user-gen and social.
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If you’d like to chat about producing videos for your institution, we’d be happy to have a call to chat. Drop us a message below.
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