When Words Aren't Enough
Video Program Documented the Life of a University
How do you fully share immersive experiences that makeup the life of a diverse community? For the University of the Incarnate Word, the answer was videos.
During UIW’s unprecedented growth period in the ‘90s, it was busily creating new traditions, renovating and expanding campus facilities, raising record donations, and gaining national attention as the fastest growing Catholic University in the nation.
Things were moving so fast that it became difficult to keep everyone informed, internally and externally. They tried to get the word out with printed media, but that had limited reach. Then, finally, they realized that the best way to explain things to people is to show them. And that’s when they began a long relationship with the Bauhaus Media Group.
Capital campaigns for building programs, “sales” pieces to gain support for special events, great stories about educational initiatives… Through video, UIW made their case, showed the plans, shared testimonials, and gave vivid animation to their people in action.
For example, a fun and lively video was produced to tell the story of the Run for Brainpower. Not just another running event, this annual affair brought people together around an educational program that spanned kindergarten through graduate school. That was called the Brainpower Connection.
A key part of the Brainpower Connection was the all-girl Incarnate Word High School. A video that featured many of the students, parents, teachers and administrators showed a day-in-the-life and made the case for private, faith-based education for young women.
Other videos made the case for expanding and updating the library, converting an old gym into a modern Wellness Center, and sharing the experience of UIW’s signature Christmas event, Light the Way. It might be hard to find the words to describe half a million glimmering Christmas lights, but with video they could show it. In another fundraising video, 3-D animation was used to show how the interior of a new science building would look with state-of-the-art labs and equipment.
Imagination is the only limit for storytelling with video. A high-quality production becomes a consistent, always-available spokesperson for grand ideas. It isn’t dependent on weather, who’s available to talk. distributing print materials, or other variables. It can be ever-present when linked to a website, sent via email, or easily searched in a YouTube library. After all, video can communicate not only ideas, but emotions. When you use video, you make it personal.
