The best thing about commissioning video for your independent school is that you probably already have a great story to tell and a lot of amazing assets to film. That’s the hardest part over. Now it’s just about creating videos that tell your unique story in the best way, connect with your audience and help you drive admissions. Coming up with those film ideas can sometimes be a tricky task, especially when you have specific objectives like changing the perception of your school, reaching a wider audience, or letting people know about a unique aspect of what your school offers. To help you get started, here are 5 types of video that can be used to tell the story of your school.
1. Website Video
The first place to start is with a video that sits on your website and tells the story of your school in a nutshell (2 – 3 minutes). It is the first thing that prospective parents will engage with when they search for your school, so it has to be broad and cover all the relevant information. It can be a lovely mix of interviews with teachers and pupils, footage of the grounds and the facilities, footage of the students and teachers in action and everything that the school has to offer like extra-curricular activities, boarding and your school’s achievements. It’s an extremely effective way of building a personal connection to your prospective parents and can be empowering, heartfelt and even humorous.
Here is a website video we made for St Margarets.
2. Departmental Films
These are videos that can be about the schools different departments such as the arts, sports and science, or particular aspects of the school like boarding, prep-curriculum or extra-curricular activities. It’s great to highlight particular aspects of your school that you really want to shout about, or to let people know about a side of your school that they didn’t know about. If you want your customers to know of your fantastic theatre facilities then create a video interviewing the teachers and students, then combine that with footage of the theatre rehearsals and plays. If sport is your forté, then create a short film looking at all the different sports you offer. Or, if you’ve traditionally been seen as a sporty school but have made huge headway in academic league tables, then create a short video about academia and teaching to show a different side to your school. Departmental videos are also extremely good at giving your customers a more detailed and personal look at your school. These videos can be hosted on your website, your YouTube channel and can also be turned into great online advertisements for Facebook and Instagram.
3. Pupil Stories
Another effective way of telling your school story is from the perspective of the pupils themselves. A video of your pupils (with their parents consent) put up onto your Facebook or YouTube channel can be a great way to build an instant connection with prospective students. These videos can be highly creative and can also be a really good way at getting your existing pupils involved with some media, filming and acting activities. It can also be a great way to show the pastoral side of school life. Themes for these videos could include “A day in the life of a student”, “Boarder’s Story” or “Leaver’s Story”. Your pupils are perhaps the best ambassadors you have for the school so make sure to feature them in your videos.
Here’s a video we made for Moulsford Boy School to sit on their website which followed a pupil throughout his day.
4. Message from the Head
Many schools have a “Head’s Welcome” message on their website so why not turn this into a video? Parents will always be keen to know who the Head of the school is and to get a feeling for what outlook they have. This would be an interview with the Head giving their personal story and connection with the school, outlining their experience, capabilities and everything they hope to achieve for your child. It’s a personal way for the Head teacher to tell their story and connect with parents directly.
We made this video for The Oratory Prep school to house on their website which has an interview from the headmaster. We filmed the interview and created a separate, longer film for other marketing activity.
5. Short form stories
These are videos that tell a story of your school in under 20 seconds that can be very easily marketed across the internet through your social media channels. They are a great way of regularly getting your school message out there to your potential audience. These videos could feature quick vignettes of school life like boarding, extra-curricular activities or after-school clubs. They could also focus on individual aspects of the school and its facilities like the sports hall, theatre or grounds. Or they could highlight a different side to learning at the school like using smart boards in classes, school trips and outdoor learning. The great thing about short story videos is that you can easily create a large volume of videos from a single shoot and each video can tell a different story about your school.
We made this video for Priory Academy LSST for their digital advertising campaign to increase boarding admissions and international student intake. We made short form videos that looked into each international students life boarding at LSST.
These are just 5 ideas for videos to tell the story of your school but this really is just the tip of the iceberg. When you start to get creative with your videos, there’s no end to what you can create from mini-documentaries filmed by the students themselves to ex-alumni films and even 360 videos of the school grounds and facilities.
