Proposal

Lakota Local Schools

2020-2021

INTRODUCTION

After speaking on the phone, it sounds like the final video package is still somewhat flexible.  Therefore, I’ve shown the adjustments we made to the original package below as well as a couple of the alternative options we briefly discussed.

VIDEO PACKAGE

Here are the adjustments we made to the original plan outlined in your RFP.

Branding Video

Video Type:  Overview

Length:  2.5 Minutes

Interviews:  7

Story:  Show how Lakota Local Schools prepare students for the “4 E’s” after graduation:

  1. Enrolling in college
  2. Enlisting in the military
  3. Becoming Employed
  4. Pursuing Entrepreneurship

Diversity & Inclusion

Video Type:  Vignette

Length:  2 Minutes

Interviews:  5

Story:  This spot will be more emotional and tug at the heartstrings, expressing that no matter who you are, what your background is or what you look like – you are welcome here!

School Finance

Video Type:  Vignette

Length:  1.5 Minutes

Interviews:  3

Story:  Quickly explain school spending, millage and how the district is fiscally responsible to the general public, which tends to be more conservative and not have any ties to the Lakota Local Schools.

VIDEO STYLE

We decided that all the videos will be produced in more of an interview-based, documentary style like this overview video I made for Cold Spring School, an Indianapolis Public School.  The only difference could be your school finance video, where one of the three “interviews” might be a narrator reading off of a teleprompter.

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS

I don’t suspect we’ll pursue any of these, but they could be worth considering.

90-second Intro Video

One big advantage of making professional videos is that you should be able to use them for 3-5 years.  However, no one is going to want to see face-masks and social distancing measures once this pandemic is over.  So if we aim to make a shorter, scripted “philosophy statement” like this Intro Video I made for the Diocese of Kalamazoo Schools instead of a longer-form branding piece:

1) We could probably fill more time with general establishing shots (and less pandemic stuff) since it’d be a broader message.

2) It’ll be much shorter and cheaper to replace any shots you don’t like next year.

Flip the Narrative

“Never let a severe crisis go to waste.”~ Rahm Emanuel

We will (hopefully) never see something like this again in our lives.  Which means you’ll never have inspiring stories again about how your district innovated to keep everyone connected and engaged.  There will also never be a better time to celebrate essential workers or any special volunteer efforts in your community.  So instead of a normal “Diversity & Inclusion” piece this year, perhaps there are some other COVID stories that show how much you embrace and support your minority members.

Ultimately, if we make a powerful, uplifting video about how your district “Overcame COVID-19”, you’re not going to care how many face-masks and social-distancing measures we see.  And I bet you’ll be proud to share it for years to come.

Here’s an opening commencement video that a Wisconsin public school made.  It’s not what I’d recommend for Lakota, but it’s a good example of time-sensitive content.

WHY ELEVATION POINT

School videos are what we do!  If we’re not the best education content creator in the Midwest,  then we’re not going to stop until we are!  :)  Check back in five years and I’m sure that map will be full.

Here is our Portfolio as well as all of our Client Testimonials to see the difference we’ve made so far.

CA - O

BCHS - O

BCHS - M

CSS - O

CSPA - O

DOKS - I

LFCDS - M

LFCDS - I

SLS - O

FTHS - O

PRSD - M

SLDM - O

IJPS - M

STS - M

ICGS - O

LFCDS - V - Resp.Cit.

LFCDS - V - Faculty & Staff

LFCDS - V - Tech

DOKS - V - Faith

DOKS - E - All Schools Mass

CSPA - A - 1:00

SLDM - A

FTHS - A

Years Serving Education

Schools & Districts Served

School Videos Made

PRE-PRODUCTION

“Failing to plan is planning to fail.” ~ Ben Franklin

One of the hardest parts of video production is just setting yourself up for success.  Luckily, we’re OCD here and have a weird passion for building beautiful spreadsheets!  :)  We SYSTEMize everything to Save Yourself Stress Time Energy & Money as well as ensure great results!

 1) Consultation Sheet – We filled out your sheet already and started organizing & quantifying all the interviews, footage & production days that we’ll need.

2) Interview Coverage – More than just who & how many, what story topics should each person speak to?  How long will each interview take?  And do we have at least two people speaking to each topic to ensure a great response?  Those are the types of questions this sheet answers, which most people overlook.

3) Production Schedule – Scheduling is highly collaborative and clients often need to book most of it themselves, so there has to be some kind of a clean and simple interface for us to schedule each day.  It took us a while, but I think we’ve built the perfect solution!  :)

PRODUCTION

We show up and record like everyone else, but there are a few things that might set us apart.

Highly Physical

There’s a time and a place for still, controlled tripod shots, but we love adding life and energy to the camera a lot more.  Watch any of our videos and you’ll get a feel for how many steps we put in each day.  ;)

Small Crews

We often work alone as a one-man band, which will save you a lot of money in extra travel and crew costs.

Long Days

When you hire us for a full production day, you’ll get us for up to 12 hours (and you’re welcome to hand us off to other colleagues over that time).  The point is, the more we pack in, the less we’ll have to travel out, and the more money you’ll save.

Wireless Monitor

Our cameras can connect to a smartphone app via WiFi so you can sit around the corner and watch everything we record.

Radios

Additionally, we can both have  earpieces so you can speak up in real time if you have any thoughts or suggestions.

POST PRODUCTION

Them

Most editors cut the whole video together, offer 2-3 rounds of revisions, and then charge for any more.  But…

1) Why should you pay extra if the editor is way off?

2) Reworking the whole video can easily blow past deadlines.

3) No editor will ever know your community as well as you do.  And the more decisions they make on their own and the more bold and artistic they get, the greater the chance you’ll have more notes for them in the end.  So it’s as if this whole workflow encourages safe, bland & generic editing.

vs. Us

Every editor goes through a process, so why not include the client along the way?  That’s what we do.  We edit “Cut 1.0” and then send it over for feedback.  If there are any notes, then we edit “Cut 1.1″… “1.2”… done – and we move on.  Each round takes about a week and we’re usually done in a month.  No surprises and no added costs.

And that way you’re involved and can help us make far more unique & specific decisions that reflect your community.  That’s what our clients always tell us – “Oh my gosh, this feels so much like our school!” – and it’s because we collaborated the whole way through.

Cut 1.0 - Story

To start off, we just cut the interview sound-bites together and make everyone say what we want them to say.  :)

Cut 2.0 - Music

We think music is one of the most important parts and that’s why we’ve searched through over 15,000 songs.  We’ll then whittle the very best down to the top 3-7 for you to pick.

To hear our broad range of musical styles, check out our Music Types webpage.

Cut 3.0 - Footage

Here we insert all the visuals.  Up until this point, we’ve just been listening to audio so this is where you’ll really start to see it all come together.

Cut 4.0 - Graphics & Sound

We’ll add sound effects, do a custom opening and closing animation of your name & logo, and then add other lower-third (nameplate) graphics for all the interview subjects.

Cut 5.0 - Color Correction

This is where we white-balance all the footage, remove any color casts, and boost the overall contrast and saturation.  We rarely receive any notes at this point so after the first cut here, we’re usually done!

DELIVERABLES

(included)

Videos

We record in 4K (3840 x 2160) and deliver all final videos in Full HD (1920 x 1080).  That way we can zoom in and reframe shots in post production, which always looks a lot better!

It’s also estimated that less than 5% of YouTube videos are watched in 4K and that you need at least a 42-inch monitor to even see the difference.  (…so I’m just saying… there’s a lot of hype around it  :)

Marketing Guide 

We also give each of our clients a free video marketing guide with 24 ways to share their content each year.  It’s like a checklist to help you develop your own marketing strategy and maximize your exposure.

& ADD-ONS

(extra cost)

Closed Captions

85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound, so if you don’t have captions, you’re missing a lot of viewers.  You can always make these yourself or we can create captions files for you to upload in 15-seconds or less!  ($100 per final minute of video)

Pictures Pack

We can 100-400 of the best stills from all of your original footage and then line them up in a Google Sheet for you to check off which ones you want processed.  That way, you’re also getting a professional photographer here at a fraction of the cost!  (starts at $400 for 40 pictures and then it’s $10/ea. after that)

Ad Campaign

We can set up and manage Facebook & YouTube ad campaigns.  We’ll write the ads, select the audiences, create a landing page sales funnel, and then launch, track & optimize your campaign.  (usually starts around $4,500)

INVESTMENT

Based on our discussion and some of our possible options, here is a two-column quote with the differences highlighted in yellow.

Let me know if you’d like to adjust the line-items any further.

Low-End

This could be taken lower.  For example, if we took out the pictures and if you created the captions on your own, that’d save $1,000.  And if we took the main branding video from 2.5 down to 2-minutes, that’d save $600 and then we could probably make one song work for that piece instead of two, which would save another $400.  So all of that would take $2,000 off.

High-End

I feel like we’ll probably need a third recording day, unless we can pack two of them completely full and schedule most, if not all of the interviews after the school day.  That way we could go around to the schools and get coverage all day and then record all of the interviews at night.  Otherwise, I feel like we won’t get enough great shots.

OUR FOCUS

More than a video, let’s make a difference.

We know professional videos can be expensive and we know what it’s like when budgets are tight, but more than the cheapest option here, we’re trying to be the best.

Because with all the content online today, it takes something pretty powerful to actually make a difference.  We can speak from our own experience on this.  We scroll past average-to-bad videos all the time.  It’s the ones that really resonate or blow us away that make us want to share it or reach out to learn more.

Those are the kinds of videos that truly move people.  They’re the ones that inspire real change.  And while they take more time and effort and money to make, our clients always tell us they’re worth it in the end.

– Kevin Domer

Partner & Producer

Elevation Point

OUR FOCUS

More than a video, let’s make a difference.

We know professional videos can be expensive and we know what it’s like when budgets are tight, but more than the cheapest option here, we’re trying to be the best.

Because with all the content online today, it takes something pretty powerful to actually make a difference.  We can speak from our own experience on this.  We scroll past average-to-bad videos all the time.  It’s the ones that truly resonate or blow us away that make us want to share it or reach out to learn more.

Those are the kinds of videos that actually move people.  They’re the ones that inspire real change.  And while they take more time and effort and money to make, our clients always tell us they’re worth it in the end.

– Kevin Domer

Partner & Producer

Elevation Point