Cardinal Stritch University - College of Education & Leadership » Milwaukee, WI

““Life Productions is a terrific partner. They listen the first time, they are responsive, and they have terrific instincts. It is amazing that their 'first draft' of a DVD is nearly the final! They are that good. We feel they are an extension of our team and treat them as such. I recommend them without any hesitations!” ”

Mike Brauer - Vice President
University Advancement
Cardinal Stritch University

“It was a pleasure to work with the service-centered staff from Life Production. They were able to capture the essences and mission of the college and of each of the schools in the DVD’s that they produced.“

Anthea (Tia) Bojar - Dean
College of Education and Leadership
Cardinal Stritch University

Organization Profile

Cardinal Stritch University was founded in 1937 by the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi, and today serves over 6,900 students of all faiths and ages in four colleges: College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business and Management, College of Education and Leadership, and the Ruth S. Coleman College of Nursing. It is Wisconsin’s second-largest private university and the largest Franciscan university in the country. Cardinal Stritch University has classroom sites throughout Wisconsin and in the state of Minnesota.

Video Purpose

  • Profile and articulate Cardinal Stritch University and its College of Education and Leadership’s mission and unique programs within the College: the School of Education, the School of Leadership and the School of Urban Initiatives.
  • Showcase the College of Education and Leadership’s outreach in the community, partnerships, transformation of its students and the organizations they serve.
  • Create an emotional video appeal to encourage potential donors and prospective board members to support Cardinal Stritch University’s College of Education and Leadership. The video will be used as a development, marketing and recruitment tool.
  • Video formatted to provide viewing flexibility. The finished video needs to be edited so that each of the three schools within the College of Education and Leadership will stand alone. Yet each school must be developed and edited so that it can flow into the next piece if shown together. The video can be viewed in its entirety, or as an individual school presentation with a general introduction of the University.
  • Video to be posted on website.

Pre-Production Process

1. Life Productions, Inc. of Milwaukee, WI met with Tia Bojar, the Dean of the College of Education and Leadership, Peter Holbrook, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and Michael Brauer, the Vice President for University Advancement, to outline the scope of the video project. They articulated their need for a video: to provide an emotional appeal to potential donors. They outlined the general message they wanted to have articulated and the audience(s) they wanted to reach. Life Productions, Inc. helped Cardinal Stritch University create a template and timeline.

2. After this initial meeting, Life Productions, Inc. of Milwaukee, WI met with Linda Steiner, Vice President for Public Relations and Communications and the University’s advertising firm Meyer & Wallis’ Senior Vice President/COO Bob Bourgeois to ensure that our video incorporated key branding elements that Cardinal Stritch University and Meyer & Wallis developed.

3. Life Productions, Inc. of Milwaukee, WI met with the College of Education and Leadership’s Associate Deans to outline key video message points to be communicated in their videos. Life Productions, Inc. also helped them develop criteria for selecting interview candidates to articulate their key message points. Prior to this meeting worksheets were provided for each of the Associate Deans to assist them in the Life Productions, Inc. planning process.

4. Life Productions, Inc. of Milwaukee, WI worked closely with the College of Education and Leadership’s Administrative Assistant Pat Gilroy as she coordinated the schedule for interview candidates. She also coordinated the tape schedule to get video footage of the University grounds and candidates in their school/work settings.

Production Process

Life Productions, Inc. of Milwaukee, WI went onsite to tape faculty, students and board member interviews, supporting footage in their classrooms and the University grounds. Life Productions, Inc. also went offsite to tape key interviews and footage in their work environment. After all video footage was logged and captured, Life Productions, Inc. began the edit process; first building an unscripted narrative from the collective voice of all interviewed. Royalty free music was selected to enhance the production and help evoke a positive response from the viewer. Then video footage was added to support the sound bites. Finally, graphics were layered to give the video its finishing touch.

Post-Production Process

Life Productions, Inc. of Milwaukee, WI presented the draft of the video(s) to the Dean and Associate Deans of the College of Education and Leadership for initial review. After minor modifications were made, the videos were posted on our client website for further review. When endorsed, it was presented to an assembly of over 80 faculty members for final approval. The School of Leadership requested to have two additional offsite video interviews included in their piece. An additional half day of interviewing and videotaping was scheduled and the additional video footage was edited into the video.

Once the video(s) were approved the process of mastering and packaging the final draft of the video DVD set was put into action.