From social media videos to detail-oriented documentaries, students in the “Producing for Clients” class have been focusing on the contractual aspect of videography this semester.
The bi-annual class, “Producing for Clients,” has given students a way to learn time and budget constraints while interacting and working directly with a client, Steve Bailey, assistant professor of film and media arts, said.
Bailey began this semester by organizing 11 students into three-person groups and assigning them a client that would be paying a fee for their work on a project. He has planned for each group to produce an average of three to six minutes of content.
“I think a lot of students, they come up with an idea and they get really excited about it, but it might not be what the client needs,” Bailey said. “So, how do you take all that creativity and turn it into something that the client really needs and that they'll be happy with at the end?”
Amongst the current projects are a documentary video about the Main Street Mile Initiative, a series of videos on the five finalists of the Women’s Giving Circle at Taylor and a music video for a Christmas song written by Todd Syswerda, professor of music composition, songwriting and music technology.
Students Elise Masters, Joel Rodgers and Adeline Heuser were given the assignment of documenting the Main Street Mile Initiative.
“It’s kind of looking back on what Upland once was and then seeing an opportunity to restore the best parts while keeping the small-town charm culture,” Masters, a senior majoring in film and media arts, said.
When the five-minute video is completed, it will show how the initiative is changing Upland as the next step in a progressive line of advancements, Rodgers, a senior majoring in film and media arts, said.
While Rodgers has been serving as the director and cinematographer, Masters has taken on the role of producing with Heuser being the editor. Together, they have been working with Andrea Masvero (‘96), executive director of 1846 Enterprises, and Zane Callison (‘24), public affairs coordinator for 1846 Enterprises.
Rodgers said they started the project with a collaborative planning effort. After holding preliminary meetings, they made a treatment that outlined their vision for the Main Street Mile Initiative documentary and pitched their ideas to Masvero.
Masters said the team drafted the first script for the documentary during the week of Sept. 22. She added that it is impossible to predict what people are going to say, but that Rodgers, Heuser and her have planned what perspectives they want to hear from. Some of their sources will include town council members, new business owners and residents of Upland.
The project has been difficult because it covers a relational gap that is being bridged between Taylor University and Upland, Masters said. She added that there are a lot of different opinions about how to go about that process in the best way.
“It's hard to be a Taylor student and try to read the needs and serve the Upland residents well,” she said.
The team has been spending time finding places to film where people rally around the community, Rodgers said. They gathered a large amount of content during Labor Day Weekend in Upland, and on Sept. 20, Rodgers covered the Eastbrook High School Homecoming game.
They have also been focusing on new and continuing businesses in the local area, Masters said. On Sept. 28, Masters shot the grand opening of a new interior design shop, Patent Pending, located on North Main Street.
Bailey stressed the importance of students communicating with their clients often to ensure that the final result fits expectations. Every Friday, Masters said she is in charge of writing a project management report to go over what the team has accomplished for the week.
Rodgers said that he has already recorded at least two hours of footage and that there will be over eight hours by the end, with the bulk of that time coming from interviews.
He said they will stop shooting film during the middle of November so that they have a few versions to edit and give to Masvero before wrapping everything up.
The completed documentary has been planned to be put on the website for 1846 Enterprises, as well as get posted on Taylor’s social media, Rodgers said.
“Being able to know how to transfer a client's vision into a real project and not just deliver them something that's vaguely similar is a hard thing to do,” he said. “The more you do it and the more you do bigger projects like this, you're able to grow a lot.”
