SENIOR CLASS VIDEO YEARBOOK PACKAGE - -

"We will produce a powerful and exciting music video-type program that over the years will become one of your most prized possessions. Your Senior Class will supply most of the video footage and pick the music to be used during key points in the program. We professionally edit it all together using the very latest computer digital video effects available ."

Here's all you do:

At a class meeting, select several favorite songs of the Senior Class. Make sure at least one of them is a slow song. Instruct each senior classmate to submit no more than two photographs or senior portraits. School pictures of clubs, events and special activity groups should be considered.

We will also need the MASTER tapes of all video footage relating to the senior class. Private home videos may be included. None of your videotapes or photos will be harmed or altered. Make sure all materials are labeled for proper personal identification. If a particular videotape has a "must use" scene, please instruct the tape's owner to cue the tape up to a point just before the scene that is to be included.

Finally, select and confirm a date for our videographer to visit your school and shoot class comments as individuals, groups, or cliques of their choosing. Comments will be limited to about 15-30 seconds each, and subject to the approval of a faculty advisor. One to two hours will be needed for this project, and a good location (cafeteria, large classroom, shaded park area, gym, etc.) should be chosen and arranged for ahead of time. Students are encouraged to create a backdrop approximately 12' X 12' and in a position for the camera to be situated about 12 feet away. Location sound is also important here so an area that is relatively quiet is preferred.

On that same day we will also videotape the school grounds, walk the halls, get a few comments from teachers and take additional footage of senior classmates on campus. Special situations and shooting assignments may also be arranged as the schedule permits.

YOUR VIDEO WILL BE IN FOUR SECTIONS:

SECTION 1:
The video program starts with a music video of exciting and humorous video clips edited over a selected fast song. Various digital video effects and scene transitions will be used to make it more fast-paced and exciting.

SECTION 2:
This will be the "class comments" section taken by our videographer and edited with more digital video transitions created especially for your senior class.

SECTION 3:
This is the "photo scrapbook" section, using your still photos and senior portraits and tastefully edited over the selected slow song.

SECTION 4:
More exciting video clips, this time blending in the actual sound from each clip with more selected musical backgrounds. This is a good section for sports clips and video segments of special events taken throughout the year like homecoming parades, powder puff football games, senior trips, talent shows, scholastic competitions, band concerts and the like.

Also included on each videotape at the end of section 4 will be the Commencement Exercises and Graduation Ceremony at no extra charge.

Length of sections and techniques of production on your video will be subject to the quality and quantity of videotapes furnished, as well as the size of your particular senior class. We can use tapes furnished on the following video formats: 3/4", VHS, VHS-C, MiniDV, Beta, regular and Hi8mm video. We also accept regular and super 8 film plus 35mm slides and prints. All size photos are acceptable, but remember that print quality is very important.

A school-appointed student/faculty group will be responsible for acquiring all essential materials for the project. They will also be responsible for registering and collecting fees for the individual tape sales, as well as distributing the delivered VHS copies of the finished video production. Individual purchases will be collected and paid to us 30 days before delivery of VHS copies. The $250 production fee balance will be paid upon delivery of the students' VHS copies of the Senior Class Video Yearbook to your school."

Since I live in a small community in Arkansas, our senior class is pretty small. I ask for a production charge on the video of only $500, with a guaranteed minimum first order of 50 copies to be sold at $35.00 each. Additional copies may be ordered at a later date provided the minimum quantity to be reordered exceeds 25 copies. A $250 deposit will be made to us on the date selected for the videographer to visit the school location.

Why do I charge so little for a production fee? Because it looks like such a good deal (and indeed, it IS). However, with a minimum order of 50 copies I am also grossing $1,750. After my expenses for duplicating the copies and getting custom labels made and having individual tapes placed in a colored shelf box and shrink-wrapped, I am still making enough to make it worth doing the project. Plus, it's good PR for other special events video projects produced in conjunction with the school (more on that in another article). Those of you with many schools and in larger cities can do the math.

Why do I include the graduation? Because I wind up recording it anyway and adding it to the package makes for a super extra value. There are many seniors who are not a part of the yearly activities, and there are many parents who still do not own a camcorder, but ALL seniors will participate in graduation exercises, so it really increases my odds of selling a maximum amount of tapes per year.

The brilliance of this scheme is that, by using video clips supplied by home movie videos, I can almost guarantee that everything will be covered without actually having to go to every school function. In addition, all of my footage will look so much more professional than the home video footage by comparison (making me look better). The only drawback is that you will spend a large amount of your production time scanning home videos, looking for usable footage. Most people do not shoot very well, but that is to be expected. Sometimes the shaky home video footage actually adds to the MTV-style approach.

Sports events are even easier to acquire footage of, since both the football and basketball coaches have a student videotaping every game. All I have to do is scan through all the footage until I get the winning touchdown or exciting slam/dunk. In the past two years a senior class representative has been appointed by the administration to attend all of the major events and, using the schools new digital camcorder, they shoot footage of each activity, thus ensuring that no one gets left out. The appointee gets extra school credits in multimedia class for their efforts.

To help increase orders, we edit out the "photo scrapbook" section (set to slow music) and play it on a big screen TV during Baccalaureate. When the screen fades to black at the end of the program there is hardly a dry eye in the house, and more orders pour in at the last minute. And, since I am now the "official" videographer at graduation, I am allowed to set up wherever I want to (I use two cameras and OzWare's MultiCam editor) while virtually everyone else must stay behind the security line. In the past couple of years I have noticed less and less camcorders present for graduation as more and more parents are relying on us to provide a professionally edited production.

In just a few years at Homecoming events I expect I will see teary-eyed young adults pulling out their Senior Class Video Yearbooks and recalling old times in front of the television with fellow alumni. What priceless memories! Maybe I should start attending and videotaping those gatherings��.