As part of an overarching brand strategy to develop and share relevant content that serves to inspire higher learning and drive higher education enrollment, the Grand Canyon Education organization is seeking an organized and efficient campaign director, possibly inclusive of a team, to join our creative production efforts. The person or team in this role will be tasked with developing, overseeing, and editing a live-action docu-style campaign to bring to life the compelling stories of 5 (five) distinct Grand Canyon University students and/or graduates. If chosen, you will be required to supervise multiple filmmakers, all of whom are working with their own production budgets and documenting the stories of GCU students and graduates. It is important to recognize that GCU and its students work toward earning their degrees within the parameters of a Christian worldview and possess a sacred vocation mindset. These faith-based values will be reflected in all aspects of production. Your responsibilities, should you be chosen, will span pre-production, production, post-production, and content delivery for each campaign. You may also have the opportunity to film one story yourself.
Grand Canyon University (GCU) is a private Christian university located in Phoenix, Arizona that is dedicated to helping students change their lives for the better through education. They offer a wide range of degree programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels that students can earn on campus or online. With a focus on integrating faith and learning, GCU provides a supportive community for students seeking a values-based education with a Christian worldview.
Now, Grand Canyon University wants to spotlight the experiences of five of its top students and/or alumni, showcasing GCU’s pivotal role in their higher education journey while helping them discover and pursue their sacred vocations. Multimedia content will be created to share these journeys and explore how GCU and their individual degree paths have equipped them with the educational credentials, confidence, and skills to achieve their leadership potential and positively impact their communities. Alumni, as well as online students, are located throughout the United States, and each will be filmed within the same production window. Multiple, remote production teams will be needed along with a campaign director who can ensure that all content feels coherent and consistent with larger campaign objectives.
Both the campaign director and production team must be dedicated and extremely organized in order to oversee all creative development while supervising a number of remote productions, and managing post-production for all of the content generated for the various students and graduates. As noted, the team will work with multiple filmmakers across the United States and direct the campaign from a high level, as a centralized hub, ultimately creating a different suite of content for each of the individual students or alumni, with the possibility that more students and graduates might be added to the scope at a later date.
It is important to note that the campaign director will not be responsible for any physical production, and is not expected to be physically present on set for any of the shoots. That said, we will be running a separate project (with a separate budget) to source the satellite directors. If the campaign director is able and willing, he or she will certainly be welcome to participate in and pitch that project. In most cases, campaign director teams do actually film at least one video.
Creatively, the content will be docu-style / testimonial videos focused on how GCU's specific programs have provided the students and graduates with the skills and experiences they needed to successfully pursue their sacred vocation and positively impact their communities. The videos should ultimately be used to motivate viewers to request more information about GCU, incorporating three key messages, found in the Background. Although there are established campaign guidelines, the campaign direction team will need to develop a more specific executional approach and curate it for each individual's story, creating storyboards and shot lists to ensure we are capturing key elements. We expect that each student or graduate's story will ultimately be filmed with a small docu-style crew, using a limited number of locations (or perhaps even a studio). There is the possibility that the campaign director and/or team will be able to include some archival footage or photography, but we can neither guarantee those assets at this stage nor determine how they will vary from individual to individual.
In addition to the longer hero videos, you will also be required to create a series of cutdowns, as well as bespoke social cuts. It is important that the social cuts feel social-first, as opposed to just shorter cutdowns. GCU may have its own photographer on set; the campaign director and/or team will need to keep this in mind for the shot list, as well as the shoot schedules.
Beyond that, the campaign director will be responsible for:
In your pitch, please tell us more about how you or your team would approach this project from the campaign director level, in terms of pre-interviewing talent, staying organized and overseeing satellite directors, and managing a large number of assets in post-production. For any questions or other project updates, check out the Project Forum.
DELIVERABLES: There are 55 total video assets.
EXPECTED TIMELINE: HERE
EXPOSURE: We expect content will be used on the platforms below but, if casting talent, be sure they review our required Talent Release before they are cast. Content may NOT be limited to these platforms. You should also review our Music providers in the Project Requirements, as well as the platform best practices.
TARGET AUDIENCE:
TONE: Positive and energetic; modern; confident and welcoming
EXECUTIONAL MANDATORIES:
By participating in this project, creators acknowledge that the Sponsor is under no obligation to greenlight a submission. Though most projects on our platform do move forward, we will notify you in the event the Sponsor decides not to fund any submissions via the project forum. Regardless of the result, all submissions will be reviewed and evaluated by the Sponsor and the project team.
GCU’s PURPOSE-DRIVEN, CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW
KEY MESSAGES:
HELPFUL REFERENCE VIDEOS: Please check out the following two playlists to get a sense of Grand Canyon University’s look, tone, and feel.
In order to be considered, include the below materials in your submission. For examples of effective pitches, check out this gallery. All Pitches remain private, even after a Pitch is selected, and Tongal strives to have Pitch selections made by the end of the Evaluation period. Additional time may be required by the Sponsor, depending on any number of factors.
The most compelling pitch will be greenlit by the Sponsor, and the responsible creator will then receive an email from Tongal producers detailing next steps. All submitters will also receive an automated email notification that a selection has been announced. To ensure you’re receiving project updates, review your email settings to check that you haven’t unsubscribed.
Creators who’ve been selected will receive funding upon completing the Winner Affidavit and the IP Assignment. Payment of the pitch funds is subject to a payment schedule determined by Tongal, typically included with the project timeline.
PRE-PRODUCTION REQUIREMENTS: Prior to the commencement of actual production, creators MUST receive final approval from the Sponsor on the elements below. There may be multiple rounds of feedback until an element is approved.
If you begin production before you have received final approval, you may need to reshoot or reanimate at your own expense.
PRE-PRODUCTION REQUIREMENTS: Prior to shooting, filmmakers must receive the below approvals from the Sponsor. You will also be required to develop physical production guidelines and technical directives for the satellite production teams, but that will not fall under the purview of Grand Canyon University.
For convenience, we've provided some helpful templates that you can consider using for pre-production materials, and they can all be accessed here.
BUILDING YOUR TEAM: Looking for help? Post crew and production opportunities connected to Tongal projects on Backlot. Backlot includes search tools to help you find collaborators and crew by role, skill set, location, and more, for productions of any size and type. Tongal also supports inclusivity in all productions, and strongly encourages you to hire diverse talent for your team. To find additional options for staff & crew in your area, check out these resources and partners.
REVISION REQUIREMENTS & RESOURCES: Once Content has been submitted and the initial Production Phase completed, greenlit creators will enter into Revisions. Creators will perform reasonable edits on their videos according to the Sponsor's feedback. Check out our Filmmaker Resource Portal to access helpful post-production resources like Text-Safe Guides for different platforms, Project File Organization Tutorial, Export Presets, and Captioning services.
MUSIC: If you use music from a library for your content, you MUST use one of Tongal's three music providers: Jingle Punks, Universal Production Music and Epidemic Sound. Music from these providers is available to registered Tongal members at no charge solely for their incorporation into submissions to this project, and will not require a Music Release Form. To learn more, click on any of the providers' names above.
If you choose to use original music, you must fill out and submit our Music Release Form. Please ensure your composer reviews and signs this form BEFORE beginning their work.
STOCK FOOTAGE: Tongal has partnered with the stock footage library STORYBLOCKS, which can be used to source video clips, photography, and After Effects templates for your video submission to this project. Video or photo content from Storyblocks is available at no charge, solely for incorporation into submissions on this project, and will not require a separate Release Form. If identifiable people or intellectual property appears in a video clip or photo, you may only utilize assets that are clearly marked “Model released: Yes” or “Property release: Yes” on the clip description pages. You may not use any audio.
If you intend to use Storyblocks, inform your Tongal producer, and an account will be created for you to access the library. Once assets are approved for delivery, you must provide a complete list of all Storyblocks content that you used via our template HERE.
ASSET DELIVERY REQUIREMENTS & RESOURCES: You must also provide all project files, editing sequences and a 1080p .mov master file, using a ProRes, Animation, or Uncompressed Codec in order to submit final payment. You are responsible for any costs associated with the hard drive and shipping. You must also provide all raw files associated with the project.
To ensure a smoother delivery, please review the Export Presets, Specifications, and Project File Organization Tutorial in our Filmmaker Resource Portal.