Listen Here
By Andrea Hoffman
On Wednesday, Oct. 15, a production crew from Summit Studios visited the University of Findlay. Directors of Photography Andy Carrasco and Sean Tredway traveled from Fort Collins, Colorado, to produce a program promoting the university through digital marketing efforts.
“We’re filming for a program that is basically just a piece about the university, and just a general documentary, talking about all the different programs here,” Carrasco said. “And then there’s an additional component that is an educational piece that gets shown on public television.”
The educational component of the project will be featured in Empowered with Meg Ryan, a program broadcast on public television networks, such as PBS. Empowered’s goal is to highlight critical stories through unique messaging that showcase how organizations shape the future of society.
Empowered’s creative development team reached out to UF President Katherine Fell in late July with interest in highlighting UF in its series. After a series of interviews and discussions, the university was chosen for the program.
“They had heard about our institution,” Christine Denecker, UF interim vice president for academic affairs, said. “They wanted to do some focused work on faith-based institutions in the Midwest, and we seemed to fit that profile.”
The segment’s goal is to promote the University and its mission to equip students for meaningful lives and productive careers. Although the University’s affiliation with the Church of God played a significant role in the decision to highlight the institution, it is not the primary focus of the program.
“While there definitely will be mention of our religious affiliation, that’s not the focus or the main purpose of the piece,” Denecker said. “The focus of the message really is, this is a small place where you can do big things, and we are a university that works to be transformational, not transactional.”
The production crew facilitated interviews with staff, alumni, and President Fell on Wednesday morning. They also captured video on campus to be used in the final project.
“In around six weeks, (UF) gets the actual first edit, and that edit is what we call the demo,” said Carrasco. “The demo is what would be the marketing piece.”
The University is given the opportunity to propose edits for the final piece after receiving the demo video. Once edited to their liking, the university will receive three products: the Empowered segment intended to air on PBS, another piece to share out to local TV markets, and professionally filmed footage for the University website.
“The educational portion essentially gets condensed from that video, and that’s what gets put on the Meg Ryan show,” Carrasco said.
