Case Study

CREATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR UNUSED CENTENNIAL FOOTAGE

Harvesting the cutting room floor.

IDEATION | STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS | VIDEO PRODUCTION

After the Centennial documentary was released, we were left with hours of incredible footage on the cutting room floor. I collaborated with the production team to repurpose this footage, creating one video per month for a year. There was no budget for new filming or voiceover work, so the videos had to be crafted entirely from existing footage. We produced several outstanding short videos, including leadership pieces and those highlighting women in STEM.

UNUSED CENTENNIAL FOOTAGE + COVID

While researching the history of the petroleum engineering program, I discovered that in 1919, the year the program began, the first 70 pages of the University of Oklahoma yearbook were dedicated to those who had died during the Spanish Flu Pandemic and World War I. This discovery became particularly poignant in 2020, as we faced the COVID-19 pandemic. Coordinating from home during the lockdown, I instructed the production crew to scrap the video in progress and create this instead.

UNUSED CENTENNIAL FOOTAGE + LABS

With a video coming out every month from the leftover Centennial footage, college faculty began to see exciting possibilities. The college’s lab equipment is a key recruiting tool at Mewbourne College, where undergraduates use equipment typically reserved for graduate students at other institutions.

The Constraints:
Again, the challenge was to do this without filming new content. In this instance, we did have to film several pieces of geology equipment not previously recorded. I also reviewed hours of footage to find every instance of equipment usage. I then consulted with each researcher to learn the equipment’s name and purpose, translating the technical details into something engaging for a 17-year-old prospective student.

The resulting video is a hit with researchers and future engineers alike.

UNUSED CENTENNIAL FOOTAGE + GEOLOGY

While producing these videos from the petroleum engineering centennial documentary, the School of Geology and Geophysics started feeling left out. I worked with our production company to create a similar video for them.

The Constraints:
Create a geology and geophysics recruitment video without filming anything new or recording voiceovers.

The inspiration came from my time in the field with geologists and geophysicists. I would often ask them to “tell me what you see with your geology goggles,” and they’d share insights about the landscape that were invisible to the untrained eye. We identified relevant stock videos, and I worked with researchers, asking them to “put on their geology goggles” to interpret these scenes.