Film School: Producing School Promo Videos

Shoot for the Edit

"The funny thing is, when people see our videos, they think we were there for two weeks," laughs Hanlon, who is typically only on site for two days. "I know what I want. And I know the time constraints."

For the Redbirds project, as with others, he and Jimmy Wilderman began by interviewing key players from the baseball team. While interviewing, Hanlon says, you really have to be shooting for the edit, listening what they're saying, and figuring out the edit in your head. You have to be scheduling the b-roll shots as you go.

Before any shooting takes place, though, Hanlon always has one very important element already selected: the song. "Music is extremely important and inspirational. I always have the song in my back pocket." For this piece, he chose "Stranded Tension" by Moonlit Sailor. Hanlon points out that he always uses licensed music purchased from licensing libraries like The Music Bed and Song Freedom. To get his brain into editing mode, "I have it in my head when shooting; I listen to it before shooting, at night, before we start editing." The music, he believes, "is what makes this video very watchable."

Edit for the Client

After shooting, Hanlon sat down with editor Chadwell Ruthsatz, as he often does, to bring him up to speed and ensure that certain elements would come out in the final edit that would be in line with Coach Todd's vision. "My hand was all over this piece. I was on the shoot. I even got behind the camera on this one," he says of his tepid familiarity with DSLRs. "I'd say, ‘Jimmy, hand me the camera! Get the settings ready!' " he laughs.

For example, Ruthsatz wanted to play with colors, to give parts of the video a red hue. But knowing the coach's vision and not wanting to do anything too distracting to take away from the kids, Hanlon decided on a more traditional edit.

As always, he felt "blessed to have the song ahead of time" to guide the edit. That night he and Ruthsatz sat down for 5 hours and edited. "You get excited, but you have to hold back before showing it to the client," so they stepped away for awhile before putting on the finishing touches.

Ryan Hanlon (right) editing in the GEBBS studio with Michael Gebben in the foreground

When it was finally time to show the client, Hanlon describes the moment as "the most wonderful feeling in the world, like a painter showing someone his painting. This is our art." Upon watching it for the first time, Coach Todd texted him the following message: "You outdid yourself. This is a whole new level. We LOVE it!!!" He told Hanlon later over the phone that the piece had made grown men cry. To Hanlon, that's the best thanks he could get, to generate an emotional response.

Beyond the Promo

These videos have led Hanlon into the next phase of helping schools. He plans to go beyond website promos and think more in terms of broader campaigns. "Companies have valuable content," he reasons, but "schools don't have that." Not yet, anyway. "We'll do a promo piece, a sports piece, we'll interview an ex-professor. We have to get schools to see that what they do is so important, and they have to share it."

He plans to offer up himself to schools as a catalyst, to help them find ways to create more content and even teach their own students how to generate content on their own. Hanlon wants to help schools come up with ideas for marketing their content, as well, particularly helping them think beyond traditional newspaper advertising and embrace more novel ideas. For example, he thinks a school could market its video in a movie theater, set to play in place of the static slideshow of ads that many theaters show before a movie starts. "I want schools to think of us as a longterm resource, to rely on us, to call us with questions," he says.

To keep business strong, Hanlon counts on the relationships he forges with schools, as well as putting his work out there. "I always preach, you've got to figure out a way to get your work in front of people."

Judging by the projects he's got lined up for the next few weeks, he's about to outdo himself again. We can't say how now, but stay tuned to find out. Details revealed soon!