Great Social Media Idea: Aerials and Hyperlapses and Research, Oh My!

Alright, alright, alright! I'm back and (maybe?) better than ever with a cornucopia of great videos from my fantastically talented and dearly missed former coworker and creative partner Jeff Kennel, who now works for Humboldt State University. I've been meaning to post some of his latest work for a while now, and I figured why not just share a whole bunch of them at once?

First up, this video that features newly accepted students talking about why they are choosing to go to HSU:

We asked some of our newly admitted students what they are most excited about. Here's what they said! Find out how you can get admitted @ humboldt.edu/admissions This annual event is a chance for propsective students and their guests to come explore Humboldt State University.

Not only is this a fun video, but it's really smart as an admissions piece. Prospective students trust the real, authentic opinions of peers WAY more than any marketing material institutions create, so providing them with a wide variety of students giving a diverse range of reasons for why they are choosing to attend Humboldt State is basically like showing off a bunch of rapid-fire 5 star Yelp reviews. I also love the inversion of the #HSUsaidYes campaign with asking students why they said yes to HSU.

Next, this fun hyperlapse of HSU's athletics facilities:

Uploaded by HumboldtOnline on 2014-10-09.

Super fun and fresh way to show off the campus, and again a great thing for admissions. Campus tour videos are tricky, because they can veer into mind-numbingly boring so very, very easily. HSU has actually posted created several hyperlapses of campus, all of which are pretty darn cool and offer a neat way for people to check out the campus in video.

Next, this video feature on some cool research being done by faculty and students:

U.S. Forest Service researcher and Humboldt graduate Ted Weller (Masters in Wildlife '00) has discovered a special place in the Redwoods State Park where various species of bats are migrating through and living year round. HSU undergraduate and graduate students are gaining experience helping Ted with his research as well as conducting their own research with Prof.

Be sure to check out this website for the full effect of this video in conjunction with a photo gallery and a feature story. This is pretty much the dream scenario when you can make it happen - video, photo, and text all together in one place, and easily usable on the website, on social media, as a press release, and in a variety of print publications. Beautiful. And, the video showcases hands-on research in a really cool way, which again is great for prospective students and their parents.

Finally, check out this super cool football hype video that was sent to me via the suggestion box. (Thanks Jeff!) :)

Get a feel for what HSU Football game day is like!

Really great stuff, but more interesting is that he said this was the last video he was able to make using the quadcopter/drone shots due to lawyers putting the brakes on using such footage until questions about its legality can be resolved. (I'm guessing due to release forms/consent, though of course I don't know a lot of the details of such rules.) Anyway, here's what Jeff wrote:

I'd be interested to see what other universities (public or private) have decided on the matter. I imagine our lawyers won't have it figured out for well, years? Anyway, we got some good (and safe) shots before it was grounded.

Faithful readers - have any of you dealt with the issue of using photos/video from drones? If so, what has your experience been?

Anyway, many props to Jeff and Humboldt State - if you're not following them on all social media outlets, you really should do so now!