After over a year of labor and high expectations, the new RWC student orientation video has finally been completed. The video became “a much broader scope than we could have possibly imagined,” says project coordinator, Sharon Mooney. The thirty-minute production was put into the hands of the Media Department in October of 1999 and was undertaken by a handful of e-media video students and Director of Media Services, Mike Sanders.
“It was a shanty, that turned into a house,” commented Mr. Sanders on the project’s development.
With video pre-production underway it quickly became a product of student innovation. But the project hit a bump in the road, as the video class working on the project design with Mr. Sanders ended before the video could really get into any major production.
From there Sharon Mooney entered the picture and, along with Mr. Sanders, began the long process of re-writing the script preliminaries and piecing together the segments designed by the video students. After six months of fine tuning the pre-production material, major production finally got underway in June 2000, as the primary videography began.
Production on the video had become a huge collaboration of workers and talent, with heavy contribution coming from the Media department, the student body, RWC employees, and college faculty.
With the major video work coming to a close in September 2000, post-production editing began. With Sharon Mooney handling the bulk of the editing, the revisions and re-edits were completed in December, just in time for a trial run at the Winter Student Orientation. The completed video received impressive nods from the body of students that attended, claiming it to be the highlight of the orientation. The actual premier to the students and faculty was on January 9 in Muntz Room 202.
The video is mainly a parody of television shows and commercials, which is a huge switch from the usual boring orientation videos I’ve seen in the past. It begins as a new RWC student returns home from the school orientation. He sets his paperwork on top of the television, an electric charge follows, and it magically transforms the TV into a guide to the RWC College experience.
As the student flips through the channels of information, television shows such as “The Home Shopping Network” are transformed into a tour of the Student Bookstore; the Language Lab becomes a Kung Fu parody, and the Library tour is led by a rendition of the Crocodile Hunter.
Even better, the Student advising segment is an injury lawyer commercial and the Business Affairs segment is made up like a stock report. Frankly, I’ve only hit the tip of the iceberg.
Personally, I found the video to be creative, funny and extremely innovative. It was a huge bundle of information that conveys its message with technical simplicity. The best part is that it kept my attention through the entire program, and as we know, that is the most important part of any orientation.
I highly recommend that you check it out in the Library. The new orientation video is available to be viewed by both students and faculty anytime during Library hours. Just go up and ask for it at the checkout counter. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.