Proposal
Oelwein Community School District
Fall 2020
INTRODUCTION
After speaking on the phone, it sounds like we’d start by making a short overview-style video about the Vision of Happy Healthy Awesome there in Oelwein.Â
Then in the Spring of 2021, we might explore recycling a lot of the footage into a short series of vignettes on various topics tied to the first video (e.g. The Special Ed Coffee Shop, Construction Class, Music Department, etc.)Â Here’s the Long Term Video Strategy Page we started filling out on your Consultation Sheet Document for more details.
YOUR CONTENT
Here are some examples of how your project could look in the end.
Video Structure
This is a short overview/vignette-style video I made for Chesterbrook Academy in Naperville, IL. The music may not be what you have in mind, but it’s 2:52 in length, it covers a small range of topics, and it interviews 4 people. (We said your first video would be around 2-minutes long and have 4 interviews.)
Music Style
This will be totally up to you and we’ll pick a direction later on. For now though, since the video above started more fun and upbeat, here’s a longer overview video I made for Cold Spring (an Indianapolis Public School) which has a broader range of musical styles.
0:00 – More captivating / interesting
1:25 – More inspiring / emotional
3:18 – More of an exciting folk vibe to match the environmental theme.
Ultimately, here is my Music Styles webpage with more of a complete sense of the bold paths we could pursue.
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.
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 yours 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 stiff, static tripod shots, but we love adding life and energy to the camera a lot more. Watch any of our videos and you’ll see how much we move!
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 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 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 :)
Marketing GuideÂ
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 pull 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 is if we did one and a half days of production and recorded all the interviews in one day. And both projections here came out to cost more than a $5,000, 90-second vignette, b/c this will likely be a little longer and broader, which will require more production time.
High-End
This is if we recorded and spread the interviews out over two whole days. The good news here is that we should be able to get a lot of great coverage over that time, which you could reuse in the spring to really cut costs there.
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 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