38 Questions with University President at DVinfo.net

Brock Burwell · April 19th, 2023, 09:58 AM

I just started a new job at Marshall University and, in an effort to help our community get to know our president a little better, I put this little video together. It took a lot of effort and some help from others to make it happen, but I'm happy with the way it turned out. Thoughts and constructive criticism welcomed

Oren Arieli · April 19th, 2023, 03:19 PM

That was very cute and creative. Nicely done overall. I'm guessing he had all the questions in advance, but I'm still surprised he was able to reach out to Jennifer Garner on a lark.

Pete Cofrancesco · April 19th, 2023, 07:38 PM

You did a fantastic job. I can only imagine how many hours it took to make only 6 minutes. My only criticism is the asking so many questions begins to wear on you. Feels a little too scripted. That being said trying to have someone who's not an actor act natural is no small feat. I liked the humor of him meeting with the mascot and the call to Jennifer Garner.

Brock Burwell · April 20th, 2023, 06:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oren Arieli

That was very cute and creative. Nicely done overall. I'm guessing he had all the questions in advance, but I'm still surprised he was able to reach out to Jennifer Garner on a lark.

Thanks! Yeah, we came up with probably 50-60 questions, told him which ones we really wanted to include and then asked him to pick from the others the ones he would like to answer or had interesting answers for.

One of the questions we really liked was, "Who is the most famous contact in your phone" and we joked that right after we should ask "Can you call them?" The more we talked about it the more we thought it could be a really good idea. My boss pitched it and the president loved it. He reached out to her ahead of time and she was totally on board. I was disappointed that the visual of the FaceTime didn't work out as she didn't have great reception, but I think it worked regardless.

Brock Burwell · April 20th, 2023, 06:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete Cofrancesco

You did a fantastic job. I can only imagine how many hours it took to make only 6 minutes. My only criticism is the asking so many questions begins to wear on you. Feels a little too scripted. That being said trying to have someone who's not an actor act natural is no small feat. I liked the humor of him meeting with the mascot and the call to Jennifer Garner.

Thanks Pete! It took quite a while to set all this up, but we thought it was important for our community to get to know him and we thought this was a pretty unique and fun way to do that. Because of circumstances out of my control, this video took 3 days to shoot - one day to get with Jennifer Garner, one day to schedule with his wife and one and one day for the first/second scene.

I totally agree about non-actors acting natural. That was a big fear of mine as well. I don't think it's ever going to be perfect in that way, but it is what it is. I think he did a good job regardless of the circumstances.

Pete Cofrancesco · April 20th, 2023, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brock Burwell

Thanks Pete! It took quite a while to set all this up, but we thought it was important for our community to get to know him and we thought this was a pretty unique and fun way to do that. Because of circumstances out of my control, this video took 3 days to shoot - one day to get with Jennifer Garner, one day to schedule with his wife and one and one day for the first/second scene.

I totally agree about non-actors acting natural. That was a big fear of mine as well. I don't think it's ever going to be perfect in that way, but it is what it is. I think he did a good job regardless of the circumstances.

That was a difficult project and the result was great considering the circumstances.

Paul R Johnson · April 22nd, 2023, 01:34 PM

The video production is fine - to a Brit, the subject matter is really weird though. I cannot imagine any Principal of a UK university doing this. I've known quite a few and they're a totally different type of leader. The closest to this are stiffer, far, far more private and It would be "Call me Mr Robinson", not, call me Gerald. You'd never see a Brit in a suit talking about tea or coffee. It make me think that I could never create anything for an American organisation, and probably why my dealings with the UK arms of US institutions was never very successful - no wonder my style went down badly.

Nice video.

Ours would be more like this

W. Bill Magac · April 22nd, 2023, 04:55 PM

It is obvious the British Vice Chancellor was reading his statement from a teleprompter to his right. There was no eye contact between the Vice Chancellor and the viewer. Did not feel like he was speaking to me. The Marshall President was the opposite.

Paul R Johnson · April 23rd, 2023, 08:41 AM

Understand totally - but to us Brits, the US President comes across as the thing that's staged, while ours is just real but deadly dull. Our university senior officials are all like this guy. Grey. This is often overlooked when US viewers watch us Brits and when us Brits watch your style of presentation. Google for Oxford Union and you'll see our old fashioned-ness at full tilt.

Our educational leaders would cringe at doing Q&As like the US fella did. Nice I thought that he was willing to try to engage. We just couldn't do that!

Pete Cofrancesco · April 23rd, 2023, 02:18 PM

Beyond Americans being more relax, its a marketing thing. The big schools everyone knows they'll give you a good education and their name recognition will help get a job. Then the differenciating factor (beyond financial aid) is which is the most fun to attend, partying socializing, etc (the fun stuff you do after studying).

Paul R Johnson · April 24th, 2023, 12:18 AM

Ha! If you exclude here the old expensive and traditional universities, our system here is not that good, educationally, and since covid, there is a feeling growing that what they provide vs what they charge is now poor value. Even worse, so many have become political, many becoming unacceptably left wing. We have the ludicrous circumstance where one uni had an election for the student union leader, and accidentally picked the one candidate who was obviously left wing by race, ethnicity and even name. The trouble was he turned out to be a conservative right winger, who wanted to stand for our parliament in his area of the country. They’re trying to find a way to nullify the election. Quite funny.

Pete Cofrancesco · April 24th, 2023, 09:39 AM

The cost of higher education is exorbitant here too. There was a complaint during the pandemic they were charging the same for remote classes as in person which used to be a differentiator between inexpensive online universities. The unspoken truth is if you want a decent wage you need a degree. Whether it properly educates you or prepares you for the job doesn’t matter. You paying for wage benefits the degree provides.

Paul R Johnson · April 25th, 2023, 10:10 AM

Oh? I thought that was a British problem. The question always comes up "why haven't you got a degree?"
It's probably because you are dim/lazy/unacademic = but the reality is many who go to uni are like that - too many. I've been taking people who went from school/college at 18 rather than then waste 3 yrs at uni. Some have done really well - out on tiour with some very big acts and no degree. One said that he'd probably do a degree part time when he was older and more likely to breeze it.

I do think they mean very little now.

April 19th, 2023, 09:58 AM	#1
Brock Burwell Major Player Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Charleston, WV Posts: 385	38 Questions with University President I just started a new job at Marshall University and, in an effort to help our community get to know our president a little better, I put this little video together. It took a lot of effort and some help from others to make it happen, but I'm happy with the way it turned out. Thoughts and constructive criticism welcomed 38 Questions with President Brad Smith - YouTube

April 19th, 2023, 03:19 PM	#2
Oren Arieli Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: San Jose, California Posts: 918	Re: 38 Questions with University President That was very cute and creative. Nicely done overall. I'm guessing he had all the questions in advance, but I'm still surprised he was able to reach out to Jennifer Garner on a lark.

April 19th, 2023, 07:38 PM	#3
Pete Cofrancesco Inner Circle Join Date: May 2004 Location: USA Posts: 2,995	Re: 38 Questions with University President You did a fantastic job. I can only imagine how many hours it took to make only 6 minutes. My only criticism is the asking so many questions begins to wear on you. Feels a little too scripted. That being said trying to have someone who's not an actor act natural is no small feat. I liked the humor of him meeting with the mascot and the call to Jennifer Garner.

April 22nd, 2023, 01:34 PM	#7
Paul R Johnson Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Lowestoft - UK Posts: 4,015	Re: 38 Questions with University President The video production is fine - to a Brit, the subject matter is really weird though. I cannot imagine any Principal of a UK university doing this. I've known quite a few and they're a totally different type of leader. The closest to this are stiffer, far, far more private and It would be "Call me Mr Robinson", not, call me Gerald. You'd never see a Brit in a suit talking about tea or coffee. It make me think that I could never create anything for an American organisation, and probably why my dealings with the UK arms of US institutions was never very successful - no wonder my style went down badly. Nice video. Ours would be more like this YouTube (Short URL)

April 22nd, 2023, 04:55 PM	#8
W. Bill Magac Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2017 Location: New England USA Posts: 79	Re: 38 Questions with University President It is obvious the British Vice Chancellor was reading his statement from a teleprompter to his right. There was no eye contact between the Vice Chancellor and the viewer. Did not feel like he was speaking to me. The Marshall President was the opposite.

April 23rd, 2023, 08:41 AM	#9
Paul R Johnson Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Lowestoft - UK Posts: 4,015	Re: 38 Questions with University President Understand totally - but to us Brits, the US President comes across as the thing that's staged, while ours is just real but deadly dull. Our university senior officials are all like this guy. Grey. This is often overlooked when US viewers watch us Brits and when us Brits watch your style of presentation. Google for Oxford Union and you'll see our old fashioned-ness at full tilt. Our educational leaders would cringe at doing Q&As like the US fella did. Nice I thought that he was willing to try to engage. We just couldn't do that!

April 23rd, 2023, 02:18 PM	#10
Pete Cofrancesco Inner Circle Join Date: May 2004 Location: USA Posts: 2,995	Re: 38 Questions with University President Beyond Americans being more relax, its a marketing thing. The big schools everyone knows they'll give you a good education and their name recognition will help get a job. Then the differenciating factor (beyond financial aid) is which is the most fun to attend, partying socializing, etc (the fun stuff you do after studying).

April 24th, 2023, 12:18 AM	#11
Paul R Johnson Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Lowestoft - UK Posts: 4,015	Re: 38 Questions with University President Ha! If you exclude here the old expensive and traditional universities, our system here is not that good, educationally, and since covid, there is a feeling growing that what they provide vs what they charge is now poor value. Even worse, so many have become political, many becoming unacceptably left wing. We have the ludicrous circumstance where one uni had an election for the student union leader, and accidentally picked the one candidate who was obviously left wing by race, ethnicity and even name. The trouble was he turned out to be a conservative right winger, who wanted to stand for our parliament in his area of the country. They’re trying to find a way to nullify the election. Quite funny.

April 24th, 2023, 09:39 AM	#12
Pete Cofrancesco Inner Circle Join Date: May 2004 Location: USA Posts: 2,995	Re: 38 Questions with University President The cost of higher education is exorbitant here too. There was a complaint during the pandemic they were charging the same for remote classes as in person which used to be a differentiator between inexpensive online universities. The unspoken truth is if you want a decent wage you need a degree. Whether it properly educates you or prepares you for the job doesn’t matter. You paying for wage benefits the degree provides.

April 25th, 2023, 10:10 AM	#13
Paul R Johnson Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Lowestoft - UK Posts: 4,015	Re: 38 Questions with University President Oh? I thought that was a British problem. The question always comes up "why haven't you got a degree?" It's probably because you are dim/lazy/unacademic = but the reality is many who go to uni are like that - too many. I've been taking people who went from school/college at 18 rather than then waste 3 yrs at uni. Some have done really well - out on tiour with some very big acts and no degree. One said that he'd probably do a degree part time when he was older and more likely to breeze it. I do think they mean very little now.