Spring Convocation 2021

As Spring Convocation in 2021 was all online, I was contracted by the Registrar’s Office to create a collection of faculty-specific videos that would be livestreamed to mark the end of graduating students’ academic careers. Each faculty’s video was live-streamed (and then posted) to the McMasterUTV YouTube channel as well as a video streaming service in China.

Each video included speeches from key McMaster stakeholders (President David Farrar, Chancellor Santee Smith, Mary Williams, etc) as well as the respective Dean and Valedictorian for each faculty. We wanted to link all of the speeches together and bring students back to campus as best we could with a strong concept. Drone work was the best way to accomplish that, so I contracted a local drone pilot to capture that footage.

Initial Test Edits

With any project, it is easier to make large changes at the beginning of the process before significant amounts of time and money have been sunk into it. I knew having a style that would be engaging for a digital Convocation would be important, so I provided two design options, before shooting any footage, to give a look and feel of what the final videos would be.

Overall, this was the largest project I’d undertaken as a solo freelancer. Editing multiple videos 20+ minutes in length was an organizational challenge. In the end, I think we brought together a really strong digital convocation experience that exceeded what other institutions were doing at the time.

East Uptown Yoga

East Uptown Yoga was a new yoga studio that opened in Hamilton in 2017. Before they opened, I was contracted to create their marketing materials. This included a promotional video, headshots, and stock photos for social/graphics. Unfortunately, the business did not survive the pandemic, but it was one of my first times creating a unified collection of visual assets for a relatively new brand.

McMaster School of Nursing (Accelerated Program)

I created a video for McMaster University’s Accelerated Nursing Program that provides insights to the student experience. Using student testimonials, we highlighted the teaching environments, research opportunities, and problem-based learning approach taken in the program, all of which were supplemented with relevant b-roll footage. The final deliverable for the project was the video below. I also provided a few screenshot images they could use for their website if needed.

CEO Global Network (via Jan Kelley)

I work with Jan Kelley, a digital marketing agency in Burlington, as their primary freelancer on their CEO Global Network account. I turn interview footage of John (the gentleman below) into social clips for his and his company’s LinkedIn. In pre-COVID times I would film the footage in person, but more recently the recordings have been done over Zoom. Despite the lower camera quality, the overall quality of the clips has increased as I’ve worked with the agency to refine our workflow and form of the content. I’ve outlined some differences below.

Old Process (2019)

The original process for creating these clips allowed me to capture some high quality video and sound, but the editing process was clunky and inefficient. It relied too much on me doing things the agency should have been handling. There was too much back and forth during editing, which didn’t set me up for success.

Convocation 2022: Journey to the Finish Line

One of the many pieces of content produced for Spring Convocation 2022 was this launch video starring president David Farrar and an incredible group of enthusiastic students. I had the chance to direct, shoot, and edit this project alongside the amazing Visual and Content teams who were providing feedback and support throughout the entire process.

The final video was well-received and was a welcome addition to the Convocation season.