It’s always fun when we get to do stuff that is outside the normal routine!
Today was one of those days. A new video was called for, for the launch page of the website. Luckily, we have our own, highly talented, video and graphics creator who was more than up to the task of creating a bit of stop-motion footage. But how would his models fare? None of them has the word model on their CV (unless one of them lists model railways as a hobby – that’s not me, I’d better check the CV’s of the other two!). Nope, their day jobs focus far more on making life brilliant for our students.
So we all duly trooped to our second floor, to be greeted with a sturdily mounted camera, and a whole host of props. The pressure mounted. Be natural said the videographer, dishing out the first set of props. That’s easy for him to say – he’s behind the camera.
It was a gentle start, with familiar props: laptop, academic diary, clipboard. We ran through a series of poses.
Right. Now you’re on holiday, he said. A change of props was required (relax, no speedos were used in the taking of the images 😎); now we are told: make out like you’re on holiday, sip cocktails. Comfort factor notched down somewhat.
Suddenly, we are presented with a guitar and musical props – comfort factor down two more notches… …
I’m proud to report that the team more than rose to the occasion. Now the computer magic is being weaved to stitch a set of static images together into an animated clip. Follow this link: VIDEO and you can judge:
- How good is the clip as a piece of media?
- How relaxed do the ‘models’ look?
- Does it get the sense of fun, mingled with professionalism, across? (Should those two nouns be reversed?)
- Should we give up the day job?
Bruce A J McLauchlan
Manager: Knowledge Exchange Centre