Hillsdale College is looking to update its image and boost its donor base by filming a new promotional video, set to wrap up on-campus filming Thursday, Oct. 25. The film is set to come out in late May or early June of 2013.
Manifold Productions, a D.C.-based film company, is filming the approximately 15-minute video that will primarily be used to appeal to potential donors and the general public online and at off-campus events.
“The video is designed to introduce people to the college and help reflect its mission to the various people interested in the things the college does, so it is my hope that the video will accurately reflect that,” Director of Marketing Bill Gray said.
The crew began filming Sunday. They included scenes from all over campus. Some of their shots included the shooting range, sports teams, a senior staff meeting, the chamber choir at College Baptist Church, and art, sculpture, and ballet classes. They also filmed mock classes with students answering questions for Assistant Professor of History Terrence Moore, Assistant Professor of English Lorraine Eadie, and Professor of History Tom Conner.
Gray says the crew will film in Washington, D.C., in November to include the Kirby Center and well-known figures who can speak to the college’s mission. A narrator for the film has not been chosen, but “Wheel of Fortune” host Pat Sajak, who narrated the last video, is being considered.
Manifold will produce a two-minute trailer and a six-minute version to draw in more viewers or save time at events if necessary.
“The purpose of the video is to help Hillsdale raise money, especially money they don’t get from the federal government,” Manifold film director Michael Pack told The Collegian earlier this month. “It’s designed to reach people that have never heard of Hillsdale. Because of the principles it stands for, and not just the pretty place, Hillsdale is unique. That’s what all three films have in common.”
The film crew used remote-controlled helicopter and airplane for aerial views of campus but ran into trouble with the airplane.
“The plane was trying to get a closer shot and ended up crashing into Central Hall,” Gray said. “Central Hall was fine, but the plane…not so much.”
Pack came with Associate Producer Dan Curl to the college on Sept. 8 to scout out the campus and meet students to help create his vision for the video.
About 150 students will be seen either speaking or in the background in the film. Caroline Green was among the students who spent three-and-a-half hours in a mock class answering questions about the Constitution, the Civil War, Progressives and more in a classroom with Moore .
“I answered one of Dr. Moore’s questions about happiness linked with virtue, and I said that a person who is enslaved by his or her passions cannot be happy, and then I referenced Aristotle’s explanation of how a person becomes virtuous through habit,” Green said. “It kept me on my toes trying to be eloquent and intelligent in answering his questions, and we all had to try to remember information from our previous Constitution, Western, and American heritage classes.”
