Penn Studios

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are among the best career and technical education institutions in PA and strives to meet the highest standards of quality instruction. We offer over fifty adult and high school programs at degree, diploma and certificate level, covering dozens of highly-skilled, in-demand trades and professions.

We offer these programs at four separate campus locations and one extension center, with each campus offering specialty centers. My role as Communications Coordinator includes management of all vendors for traditional marketing, digital marketing, advertising, public relations, and more.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Penn Studios?

Our project in the 19-20 school year was to create a series of about 18 videos for high school and adult education that profiled "program centers", groups of individual classes within an overall industry, like "Advanced Manufacturing", "Visual Communications", or "Medical/Dental".

These videos featured interviews with current students on location, having the students explain what they love about their class and why the LCCTC is a great place to learn.

What were your goals for this project?

To develop a new library of videos that we could place on our website and link to our digital marketing efforts.

SOLUTION

How did you select Penn Studios?

Penn Studios is affiliated with PA Media Group that handles our digital media efforts. We interviewed them along with other candidates and felt most comfortable with Penn Studios and their shown history of work in education.

Describe the video(s) and the process in detail.

The videos are bright, lively, and engaging. The students tell our story well.

What was your vendors' project management or feedback process?

Penn Studios put a director and videographer at our disposal. I worked with them to develop plans and schedules for the video shoots. I assisted a bit during interviews. Penn Studios edited the videos promptly and responded in timely fashion to my requests for edits.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The best evidence of the outcome of the project is the slate of videos themselves. They are excellent representations of our programming and of our institution. They are well received and have garnered positive comments from fellow LCCTC administration, our school board, and the general public.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I worked with the director and videographer (edit note - feel free to change director and videographer to whatever titles should be applied to Salim and Martin) very well, I thought. They were always available to talk over an issue or suggest alternatives to a problem.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Persistence and customer service stood out regarding this particular project. It should have been completed in a few months but we only got a first wave of principal videography before Covid struck. We were able to finalize a handful of videos with what we had shot but we were forced to postpone further footage for half a year until we had students back in classrooms.

Penn Studios pick up where we left off and have been dedicated to completing the project. We have since started a second large 360-degree video project with them.

Are there any areas for improvement?

For the life of me, I'm sitting here and I can't think of anything egregious that I can point to.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a nonprofit ballet school.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Penn Studios?

We needed to create an engaging video for our five-week summer ballet program. Because of the pandemic, we needed to go all virtual. This year, we wanted something bright and festive. We also wanted to offer a tour of what the kids would be able to come and see in person this year.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

One of our students choreographed, directed, and came up with the concept for our four-minute video. Penn Studios listened to our ideas and came back with a storyboard. From there, we filmed and kept returning to the storyboard. If there was a change, we agreed on the change and we made adjustments from there.

They shot the video outdoors to start through the dorms and outside on campus. It covered the arrival from their dorm, getting to the studios, and dancing in the studios. Penn Studios also did all of the editing as well.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three people from their team.

How did you come to work with Penn Studios?

We learned about them through our media buying partner. We had an initial conversation about what we wanted to do with Salim (Director) and he understood the essence and the spirit of our summer program.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $3,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2020 and we started shooting in October 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

The essence of ballet is hard to film. What Penn Studios delivered as a final product exceeded my expectations. They got the joy in classical ballet and captured all of the physical movements and storyline. We couldn’t be more pleased with the quality of customer care and filming. Their level of respect for the kids and the art form went beyond my expectations.

How did Penn Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated through Microsoft Teams or Zoom calls. They were wonderful at managing the project. We had one day to film the entire video and it got done.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They took time to understand us and who we really were while bringing a high level of excellence and professionalism to the table.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not at all.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to dream big. They can accomplish a lot. The clearer you are with the vision of what you’re trying to accomplish, the better they’ll be able to rise to the occasion.