Video
February 2023 - May 2023
Graduating from college is a momentous day for any student—one filled with pride and joy but also anxiety about what comes next. This video, which played at the 2023 commencement ceremonies at Loyola University Chicago, marked the significance of this moment and aimed to inspire students moving into the next phase of their lives.
This Is the Day was created at the request of Loyola’s Office of the Provost, which required a video that could play at the beginning of the dozen commencement ceremonies that take place on campus every May. The video had a tricky task—to honor the formality of the occasion while generating excitement among an audience of students and their families. We needed to create a piece that would showcase what makes a Loyola education, and the students who received it, special.
We had three framings set for each student—wide, medium, and tight. This allowed us to create visual variation throughout the video.
We also used a second camera to capture each student on a 45 degree angle, adding further variation.
In collaboration with another creative director, I concepted a theme and visual approach to this video. I then wrote (and revised, many times) the script, before casting six students who represented different academic programs on campus. With a local production company, we executed a two-day shoot on three campuses, directing each student through multiple takes and helping them find the spoken-word quality we were looking for. After filming wrapped, we reviewed every take and determined a sequence for the video, editing in b-roll from our existing library to complement the script.
We had to battle the elements during filming—particularly when filming on a rooftop downtown with 20 mph winds!
We chose iconic locations on campus, like Madonna Della Strada Chapel, that are meaningful to many students.
This Is the Day was well-received by university faculty, staff, administration, and, most importantly, graduates and their families. Our goal was to create something that felt fresh and authentic—that recognized the significance of commencement day, a moment that a thousand moments led to and a thousand more would emerge from.
