COLLEGE BROADCAST SPOT

As an extension of the Centennial Celebration of the OU Petroleum Engineering program, our donors wanted a game day commercial.

 

We were tasked with creating a commercial that fit these parameters:

• Had the hype and tone appropriate for a football game commercial

• Showed engineering and science in action

• Represented energy with enthusiasm

• Tied in the college’s theme: What will you explore?

• Not tied to the Centennial anniversary, so it could be played for multiple years

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I worked with a production team and asked them to dream big. They came up with a concept of showing three students on one day, each representing one area of the college – petroleum engineering, geology, and geophysics. You’ll notice that each student’s “story” contains a sunrise. They also suggested filming the dimensions so that it could be played on the OU stadium jumbotron.

This project took us into university labs, a virtual reality simulator, and some of Oklahoma’s most iconic scenery. It also required that I coordinate with faculty to establish an appropriate storyline for each student that was visually appealing, did not include any proprietary or embargoed research, and was technically accurate.

We established three scenes:

• A geophysics student at Oklahoma Geological Survey’s Oklahoma Petroleum Information Center and then at the OU Library’s VR space. I then worked with Schlumberger to get permission to use their software. (If you watch the commercial in slow motion, you’ll see a small acknowledgment to Schlumberger.)

• A petroleum engineering student on the field (which we filmed at the same time as the Centennial documentary) and working on the Drillbotics® rig at the Well Construction Technology Center. Filming at the WCTC took coordinating with researchers to ensure none of the proprietary research was caught on camera. 

• A geology engineering student in the field collecting rock and water samples. The student we filmed on the field was a geology master’s student, so I was sure that he would use all the equipment properly, but still, I met with a professor beforehand to get the details. We walked through all the equipment, including the proper way to collect water.

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This is how I found myself, several days later, standing in a river and arguing with the director about water collection. He wanted to collect it wrong because it would look cooler. I told him that  I was certain he was creative enough to figure out how to film it correctly and still look cool.

 

This is a lot of what I do—straddle the communications and research world, ensuring quality, creativity, and accuracy.

Check out the commercial on game day or right here!