Video Guidelines and Policies

Please Note

  • All videos must be approved by the Assistant Vice President of GCU Marketing. 
  • Film, video, and photography activities should not negatively impact students or the learning environment. Permission is required for commercial filming or photography on the GCU campus. GCE Marketing and Brand Strategy is responsible for contracting all commercial filming and photography activities that occur on campus.
  • As a requirement for permission to film commercial activities on the GCU campus, the content of the film script and any revisions must be submitted for approval to the Assistant Vice President of GCU Marketing and may be reviewed by our GCU General Counsel. If for any reason GCU determines any aspect of the production is not in the best interest of GCU, or that it is defamatory in any way, an agreement may be terminated. If you have a news agency wanting to film on campus, please work with the GCU Public Relations team.

Video production is often complex and time-consuming, but a great video can elevate and articulate the distinctive qualities of the GCU brand. Consider these guidelines when creating video:

Filming Interviews

  • Film your interview in a relevant location, considering in advance possible distractions such as background noise, harsh or mixed lighting, and people in the filming area.
     
  • Prepare your questions but be spontaneous.
     
  • Keep the interviewee comfortable.
     
  • Don’t interrupt them. Just smile and nod.
     
  • Ask the interviewee to add anything important that wasn’t discussed.

Situational Filming

  • Have all subjects sign a media release. Explain how the video will be used.
     
  • Find an uncommon angle viewers don’t normally see. Position the camera up high or down low. Get close to your subject.
     
  • Be purposeful in your camera movements—or lack thereof. Should the camera be handheld or on a tripod?
     
  • Avoid excessive panning and tilting.
     
  • Hold on shots even after the action ends. Longer clips are helpful during editing.
     
  • When filming outdoors, schedule shoots for early morning or late evening for favorable light.

Video Technical Specifications

Codec and FPS

  • When uploading to Vimeo, MP4 H.264 with AAC 128k (mono) / 384k (stereo) is the best format. Videos should at least be 1920 x 1080 – 4k is preferred.
     
  • When exporting 4k, the target bitrate should be between 48 Mbps and 60 Mbps.
     
  • When exporting a 1080p video, the target bitrate should be between 16 Mbps and 20 Mbps.
     
  • 23.976/24fps is preferred over 30fps.
     
  • Shooting 60 fps is acceptable but do so only with the intent of slowing down the footage to 24 fps. Never upload a 60-fps video to a GCU channel.
     
  • The exported video should match the dimensions of the video clips. Do not export a 16:9 video if the clips are square (1:1). Do not export a 16:9 video if the clips are wide aspect ratio (2.35:1). Videos should not have black bars on the top, bottom, or sides of the frame.

Don’t forget to brand!

This one seems obvious, but it’s one of the easiest to overlook. It is critically important that you let viewers know that you represent GCU—and not just your program. We always have to be thinking of the view from 30,000 feet and ensuring that each piece of content we publish is not its own silo but rather a piece of the broader GCU family of scholarship and research.

Filming Policies

Commercial Filming and Photography

Film, video, and photography activities should not negatively impact students or the learning environment. Permission is required for commercial filming or photography on the GCU campus. GCU Marketing and Brand Strategy is responsible for contracting all commercial filming and photography activities that occur on campus.

Consideration will be given to requests for weekend filming as long as there are no major events taking place on campus. No major set construction or alteration of existing buildings or structures are permitted. Any decoration must be clearly specified in writing and all affected areas must be returned to their previous state following filming.

As a requirement for permission to film commercial activities on the GCU campus, the content of the film script and any revisions must be submitted for approval to GCU Marketing and Brand Management and may be reviewed by our GCU General Counsel. If for any reason GCU determines any aspect of the production is not in the best interest of GCU, or that it is defamatory in any way, an agreement may be terminated. If you have a news agency wanting to film on campus, please work with the GCU Marketing team.

Campus Drone Policy

The operation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), or drones, is increasingly popular for a growing number of educational, commercial, and safety purposes.

Operation of a UAS or model aircraft on GCU property or at a GCU-sponsored event must be approved in advance by Safety and Risk Services. Submit a completed UAS request form to [email protected] at least fourteen days prior to the requested flight date.

Video Creation Guidelines

  • Promoting something? Keep it brief. Videos less than 90 seconds perform best. 
  • Use university branding (See brand guidelines.):
    • Include the primary (stacked) university logo in your video intro or outro. Note that the secondary (horizontal) logo and university seal are reserved for special circumstances and may be used only with permission of the Office of Communications.
    • Use official or alternative university fonts in video titles, credits, lower thirds, etc. 
    • We encourage the use of maroon as one of the university’s primary colors—as long as it’s our Logger maroon. 
    • Follow the university style guide for text in the video. In particular, refer to the standards on professional and courtesy titles, including alumni class years and parent years, building names, and using “Puget Sound” instead of “UPS.”
  • Caption your video as recommended/required (see below). Note that captions will appear at the top of the screen any time text appears at the bottom of the screen, so it is advised NOT to leave speaker titles on the screen for more than five seconds.
  • Videos must be uploaded to the university’s institutional GCU Vimeo account. The best option for transferring videos and other recommended files (SRT caption file, JPG/PNG still image for video thumbnail, any requested chapter times and titles or video descriptions) to the College’s office for posting is via your university One Drive account. Put all the required files into a folder on your One Drive.
  • Do not use copyrighted material (including music, images, or video clips) that we don’t have written permission to use in any video clip on the university website. Only educational clips to be used in a class and stored in the protected classroom resource tool (currently Halo) meet the requirements for educational fair use. Anything used on the website is considered promotional, even though we are an educational nonprofit and even if it is for a free event. Some resources for copyright-free images and music are listed below:
  • You also need appropriate permissions from any persons in your video. Follow the university Photograph and Video/Audio Recording Permission Policy. This policy includes links to the photo and recording release form that all persons in the video would need to review and sign. 

Caption Guidelines

Video captioning is required. Vimeo will auto-caption your videos if you select to have closed captions created when uploading the video.

  • Remember to proofread your captions before making the video public! Check to make sure they are accurate, in addition to double checking the spelling of names and other proper nouns. Follow the university style guide.