Over the last few weeks, I worked on a set of small commercials for Plymouth State University’s #PanthersGiveBack alumni giving challenge with my valued colleague, Kaleb Hart, PSU’s advancement’s videographer. The videos were used to encourage alumni to make a donation on November 14th or 15th – coincidentally November 15th is also national philanthropy day. The premise of the challenge was this: If 240 Plymouth State alumni donated at least $5 each, a generous alumni couple would give $10,000 for undergraduate student scholarships.

The work included the development of a concept, production planning, on-location shooting with Kaleb, postproduction, animation work, voiceover recordings and a lot more.

The first video was emailed and shared via social media a couple of days before the start of the challenge and included a special Instagram version. This first post had more than 41,000 impressions and  6,227 video views. One day before the challenge started, a slightly altered version was shared, again accompanied by an Instagram version. This push kicked off the challenge.

And to put it simply: The challenge was a huge success. In less than 24 hours, more than 275 alumni donors already had stepped forward. To keep the momentum going, three alumni pledged an additional incentive: $5,000 for The Fund for Plymouth State if we reached 360 alumni donors. By the middle of the second day, that goal was exceed as well. At the end of the 48 hours, an astonishing 431 alumni donated during the challenge, giving more than $79,000! 142 alumni were first-time donors.

To honor that success and thank all the generous donors, a third and final “thank you” video was e-mailed and shared via social media.

But see it yourself! Here are all three videos, the Instagram videos and a gallery of behind the scenes looks:

http://instagram.com/p/vPCkknuVOw/?modal=true

http://instagram.com/p/vWwT5DuVBF/?modal=true

First drafts of a storyboard…

…and the final storyboard.

Filming in the library…

…on campus…

…in classes…

…and on the top of dormitories.

For the final video audio was crucial

The planning and post-pro office

Recording voiceovers at a radio station with Shayleah,…

…an RE20 and a Rode XXXX….

…into my MacBook Pro with Ableton, iZotope and FabFilter plugins.