Turn on the Tubes
Last week, Admissions released MVNUTube, a student-generated YouTube channel to “showcase the life-changing qualities the University has to offer.”
After creating the “Casey Cougar 007” video for the Rezzies in the fall of 2017, the residents of Oakwood 2nd North were eager to continue making videos. “Casey Cougar 007” came up big at the 2017 Rezzies, winning Best Film, Best Cinematography and the People’s Choice awards.
Now, students of MVNU can expect to see more of the same. The first video on MVNUTube debuted last week. Videos are expected to release weekly, with each one running two to five minutes. Oakwood 2nd North resident Richie Johns, a journalism and media production major, came up with the idea of creating weekly videos and pitched it to Director of Admissions Tracy Waal. Johns says the mission of MVNUTube is “to effectively create content with a dual purpose of entertaining current MVNU students and showcasing the life-changing qualities the University has to offer in an attempt to inform and persuade prospective students.”
The videos posted will vary in content, not just being marketing videos for the school. Johns said they are “upbeat, edgy, and funny shorts that will be professional and contemporary.”
Examples are "5 Phrases You Need to Know at MVNU" and the “24 Hour Library Challenge.”
“The nice thing is that the videos are not simply marketing ‘campus tour’ videos, but they are fun, creative videos that really show what MVNU is all about,” Johns said.
Waal said he doesn’t know of any other colleges that have a YouTube channel exclusively dedicated to student-generated content. The channel will be student-run with Waal acting as an adviser to the group.
When an idea arises, “I use my network of campus contacts as needed to get permissions and remove barriers so they can get the footage they need,” Waal said.
The team behind the video meets on a weekly basis to discuss ideas for new content. Oakwood residents Johns, Nathan Parker and Seth Brenton are the main masterminds of the channel. Additionally, there are about 30 actors in the videos.
The YouTube account name will simply be ‘MVNUTube’ and it will also have an official Instagram page that students can follow for behind the scenes footage from the videos. Students can also direct message the Instagram account with video suggestions or if they would like to be a part of a future video.