Cal State: promos and student stories
Work with California State University campuses, most extensively at Channel Islands, covering recruitment promos, student journeys and faculty testimonials.
Selected films
Cal State Channel Islands student campus promo
Campus promo featuring students and faculty.
Cal State Channel Islands university promo
University brand film.
Heather's story: art curator to nursing graduate
One student’s route from art curator to nursing graduate.
From Oxnard College to CSU Channel Islands
Transfer student stories, filmed at Oxnard and on campus.
Education Promo Video — Cal State Channel Islands
Campus promo, earlier cut.
The brief
University marketing is competing against every other university, and they all say the same four things. What actually moves a prospective student is another student who sounds like them describing a decision they are about to make themselves.
So most of this work is built around real students rather than a script. A transfer student explaining why they moved. A graduate explaining the career she left to retrain in nursing. Faculty talking about what they teach rather than what the brochure says about it.
Campus production has its own rhythm. The place looks alive in term time and empty in the summer, which sets the shoot window. Students are not actors and will not deliver a line twice the same way, so the interviews are run as conversations and the structure is found in the edit.
The output is used across admissions, programme pages, open days and recruitment campaigns, with each film cut in more than one length so it can work in a feed as well as on a landing page.
How this work gets made
Real students, not scripts
Interviews run as conversations. Prospective students spot a scripted line instantly and stop watching.
Filmed in term time
A campus in July looks like an empty campus. The shoot window follows the academic calendar.
One shoot, several films
A day on campus produces a promo, several student stories and cutdowns rather than a single video.
Cut for admissions and for feeds
Long versions for programme pages, short versions for the channels where prospective students actually are.
Questions about this work
Can you film students and faculty on campus?
Yes. Consent, scheduling around classes and access to buildings are all part of the planning rather than problems on the day.
How many films can you get from one campus visit?
On this work a single visit typically produces a promo plus several individual student stories, because the people are already there.
Do you work with more than one campus?
Yes, across the Cal State system. Channel Islands is where the work has gone deepest.
What does education video cost?
There is a breakdown on the education video cost page.
Tell us what you are trying to make
Send the goal, the audience and roughly when you need it. You get a plan, a range and a date back.
