"OLES CAN, OLES WILL" (ST. OLAF COLLEGE)
Our company has had a solid working relationship with St. Olaf College for years now. We've filmed and produced hundreds of projects for the college, from admissions videos to athletics campaigns to overseas band / choir tour documentaries.
Recently, St. Olaf asked us to create a video to unveil their newly updated brand image. Given the significance of such a rebrand, we wanted to make sure that this video would highlight their new marketing approach, while preserving the core identity of St. Olaf College.
First we met with the college's Marketing and Communications team to help refine the script they'd already commissioned from local writer Jan Pettit. Sometimes even small changes during the scripting phase can significantly improve the time and cost-effectiveness of a video shoot. We then developed a storyboard and shooting plan to make the vision come to life. We feel that the resulting video represents a prime example of what we can accomplish when working at our full potential, in close collaboration with our clients.
When entering the editing room, too much usable footage is a good thing. It gives the project more versatility, so we can change it as it takes shape, if needed. The real challenge is often deciding which content to include, and this video was a prime example.
The videos we produce for St. Olaf often focus on a single subject – a field of study, a student organization, an event, etc. – whereas this one is meant to showcase the college's identity as a whole. This meant representing the broad spectrum of programs, settings, cultures, and individuals under St. Olaf's umbrella ... no easy task for a 2-minute video. And given the sheer size of the college, the diversity within, and the surplus of gorgeous shooting locations we had access to on campus, our editing computers were bursting at the seams with too much of a good thing.
In addition to three full on-site shooting days with our production team, we pulled the very best clips we could find from our vast archives of campus footage, accumulated over many years of successful collaborations with St. Olaf. Our aerial services also helped to bring visual scale and grandeur to the campus – a striking cluster of castle-like buildings on a hill. And to cap off this truly collaborative project, we worked with award-winning Egg Music of Minneapolis to compose a unique musical score.
By keeping the video's pace as streamlined and tight as possible, and by employing skillful color grading, we blended together the many vignettes of campus life into one cohesive picture of St. Olaf – rebranded for a new era, but staying true to their core identity. With two "Oles" on the Flight Creative Media team, we felt an especially strong connection to this production, and after a long road of ideation, planning, execution and revision, we're proud to finally share it with the world. In just under 2 minutes, the project broadly illustrates the meaning and significance of being an Ole, solidifying the institution's promise that Oles Can, and Oles Will.
CLIENT: St. Olaf College
SERVICES: directing, cinematography, editing, aerial
YEAR: 2017