The Media Production staff in UNCW’s Office of University Relations (OUR) provides free video production services to the UNCW community to ensure the university’s branding remains consistent across all platforms. The Media Production staff should create all online marketing videos, television commercials, documentaries, sizzles, and other promotional media for UNCW.
Video services are available for all entities across campus, including:
colleges and schools
departments and programs
majors, minors, and certifications
research and applied learning
athletics
offices and centers
resources and services
buildings and facilities
Minimal expenses may be incurred for stock music, images, and ADA compliance.
Situations in which OUR cannot provide video services are extremely rare.
Such situations would include if the requested video:
features a subject or event entirely unaffiliated with UNCW
is for course content only and not available for public viewing
the deadline is within an unachievable timeframe (to be determined by OUR on a case-by-case basis)
In these situations, OUR will advise outsourcing production or reassigning to a more appropriate department at UNCW. Producers outside of OUR must follow the guidelines for student-project videos.
Need OUR Help?
Need OUR help with marketing materials, photography, a promotional video or your website? Got great news to share? Fill out our project request form, which gives us important information about your project.
If a UNCW student has an assignment to create promotional media for the university, as part of a production class, workshop, internship with the Office of University Relations, applied learning opportunity, portfolio enhancement, or any other scenario, the completed project must be in line with UNCW’s brand identity guidelines. These guidelines must be followed for any publicly displayed or broadcasted video. Failure to follow these guidelines may result in the Office of University Relations denying permission for external use of the video.
All completed videos must be reviewed by Jesse Bradley, UNCW’s Director of Media Production. Please send all videos for review in a private Dropbox link before posting anywhere online.
Guidelines for Student-Produced Videos
Most videos should be 1-3 minutes in length.
OUR can create a script based on the concept provided. If a script or outline has already been created, send it to bradleyj@uncw.edu for feedback. Checking the outline during pre-production can prevent having to schedule a re-shoot later.
Inform all subjects appearing in the video to wear either unlabeled clothing items or UNCW-affiliated clothing. Clothing and accessories featuring logos or names of other colleges and universities are unacceptable.
Subjects should avoid wearing solid red, solid white, or colors well-known for other universities.
Subjects should avoid wearing tightly-patterned clothing, such as gingham or striped designs, to prevent aliasing.
Light the subjects thoroughly and evenly. If one side of a subject’s face is darker than another, adjust lights accordingly. Do not rely on window light or overhead light when conducting indoor shoots.
Provide a small-to-medium amount of headroom within the frame for the subjects. Do not have any part of the subject’s head out of frame.
Avoid having the subject’s hands in frame on the primary camera. Hand movement while speaking can be very distracting to viewers.
When using two or more cameras on the subject, be sure that the angles are far enough apart to avoid jump cuts when cutting between them. Dollies, sliders, or unconventional framing may be used on secondary cameras only.
Make sure none of the subjects wear sunglasses during their interview. When filming outside on a sunny day, place your subjects in a shady area, or position a diffuser above their head.
Use lavalier mics for all audio recording. Hide the wires beneath the subjects’ clothing, as seen in the examples above. Place the clips so the microphones are not touching clothing or hair.
If lavalier mics are not available, use a boom mic, but avoid recording your subject in a spacious room.
Reconsider locations that may present background noise, hum, or wind noise.
Record audio via XLR cable either directly into the camera, or into an external recording device, such as a Zoom or Tascam recorder. Do not rely on built-in camera microphones.
Check audio levels before recording. Adjust the levels so that the subject’s regular speaking voice reaches greater than half but less than three-quarters of the levels (ideally around -12db, which is often depicted as a yellow or orange range). This adjustment will leave room for fluctuation in their speaking. Ensure their loudest speaking voice does not reach the red levels, otherwise overmodulation will occur.
Avoid shooting logos of corporate or academic brands (other than UNCW), including in b-roll shots.
Do not have the logo or name of any university or college other than UNCW in the foreground or background of any shot, including b-roll.
The OUR Media Production staff have an expansive library of campus beauty, event, and academic footage available as stock b-roll. Aerial footage, busy public areas, flowers in-bloom, and many other views of campus are all available. Contact bradleyj@uncw.edu to gain access.
The OUR Media Production staff are happy to assist with any equipment needs. Contact bradleyj@uncw.edu with any questions involving equipment.
Choose upbeat, ambient music for the video. Use only royalty-free music. Do not use any copyrighted or hit music anywhere in the video. The Media Production staff prefer to use Envato Market (Audiojungle) or Pond5 when selecting music.
Remember, most videos should be 1-3 minutes in length. Edit the footage so that only the key messaging points make the final cut. Do not have the subjects repeat themselves.
As often as possible, cut out any “uh,” “um,” “you know,” and any time a sentence or thought begins or ends with “So...”
Use b-roll or graphics to cover every cut in the subjects’ speaking. Do not use any jump cuts, even if the scale or framing has changed. If editing multiple cameras, only cut between the angles with no b-roll if the subject has not changed position and their speaking and movement is natural.
Use very small audio transitions to make audio cuts sound more natural.
Remove any present background noise, hum, or wind noise as much as possible.
Create opening graphics, closing graphics, and lower thirds that are consistent with each other and follow the UNCW’s Brand Identity Guidelines (BIG) for color and typography. The primary typefaces are Palatino, a serif font, and Helvetica, a sans serif font. The RGB values for primary and secondary variations of Seahawk Green (teal), Seahawk Blue, and Seahawk Gold are available on pages 24 and 25 of BIG.
Use title safe guidelines when creating graphics, especially for videos that may broadcast on television.
All graphics must be clearly legible. Contact pearceb@uncw.edu for assistance or feedback with graphics.
The UNCW house logo must appear on the opening and closing title cards of the video. Consult the BIG for proper color and typography use regarding the house logo.
Videos promoting a school, college, department, program, major, minor, concentration, certification, or a research or applied learning opportunity must feature the UNCW house logo as a watermark in the bottom-right title safe corner throughout the duration of the video. The watermark must be either white or Seahawk Green, and must have an opacity of 40% or higher.
Indicate on the ending title card that the video is a UNCW student project. Do not use rolling credits.
Color correct every shot in the video, even if the shot appears fine. Use scopes to measure the necessary adjustments, do not trust your eye alone. Do not rely on built-in color correction presets.
When editing a multi-camera shoot, adjust the color between the angles to match perfectly.
Do not apply the same color correction effects to each shot of the video, unless every shot is in the same location and the lighting, exposure, and white balance has not changed.
For color correction assistance or feedback, contact mckinneyk@uncw.edu.
Dropbox, WeTransfer and OneDrive are the preferable services for reviewing completed videos. If for some reason these or any similar services are unavailable, upload the video to YouTube or Vimeo with password protection (available in the privacy settings). Do not post the video publicly.
