Each quarter, ASB’s video committee produces a 10-20 minute video highlighting the major events in the upcoming months. However, there’s more to the “Eagle Update” than what meets the eye—the filming, production and editing stages are all integral to creating the polished end product.
“We have everything planned out even before the year starts. We have every single date for the video announcements and all our events set on the calendar. We have a bunch of docs for brainstorming and our scripts,” junior video commissioner Arvin Nejad said. “We list down the events and stuff, and then we decide if something is worthy of making a skit or not, or should we just talk about it while at the desk. For some of those events, we do end up making skits, and some of them not as much. That sort of changes every year, which makes it so different.”
After compiling clips, the meticulous editing process begins, taking up to 20-25 hours.
“People really underestimate how long the announcements take,” Nejad continued. “Editing, especially filming, color grading and a lot of other stuff that goes on behind the scenes that people don’t know about. But, I really enjoy the end result, the announcements playing in class, and getting recognition and stuff is nice.”
In the future, Nejad hopes to make the announcements even more refined and intentional.
“For the most part, our chief complaint is that it’s not as entertaining, and that’s because we have a lot of stuff that we need to talk about. Something I really want to improve on is making everything that we talk about entertaining, not just the stuff we make our skits on.”
If any part of the video announcements process interests you, ASB is always looking for people who want to get involved.
“I’ve sort of always had a passion for filming,” Nejad said. “I really got into editing while I was still in middle school. I used to edit all the time, and then, I think in my freshman year, when I saw a bunch of people going through with photography and videography, that got me really interested in that kind of stuff too. I hope soon, I can sort of incorporate some of that cinematography aspect into the announcements rather than just keeping the same thing going at the desk. I want to make it more visually appealing and professional.”
