A conversation with Bob Thomas, The Churchill School and Center, New York City

Interviews often drive the storytelling behind many videos I make for independent schools. With a good interview, just a few sentences from a student, teacher, parent, school leadership and alumni can effectively and powerfully communicate how their school has brought a great level of purpose to their lives.

How do we get to a deep level of substance in these 1- to 4-minute movies?  And how do I make the process creative, enriching, and beneficial to everyone involved? I’ll answer these questions and illustrate how I collaborated with an outstanding independent school leader to shoot interviews that reach a level of substance that keeps the audience informed, interested, and convey a school’s uniqueness. In particular, this admissions piece illustrates how powerful student storytellers can be.

VOICES FROM THE HEART OF YOUR SCHOOL

When Bob Thomas, Director of Enrollment Management and Communications at The Churchill School and Center in New York City, called me in the summer of 2018 he sounded a bit uneasy about what he was seeing in independent school videos. Bob said,

“Having watched so many other independent school videos and seeing just a parade of parents, administrators, and board members who were simply telling the viewer what the school did or does.”

Bob continued by saying, “very infrequently did I see the voices of teachers and students who are at the heart of the institution. What I wanted in our video was only the voices of students and teachers telling their personal stories...This I feel is more authentic and really what prospective parents want to hear.”

It was clear right away that Bob was going to be an outstanding co-producer with me on this project.  He had already started his homework by watching what other schools were doing, and he knew what he wanted to say. Furthermore, we were already on the same page when we discussed the messaging. He knew it wasn’t for him or me to determine. We wanted the students to handle this.

STUDENTS TAKE THE LEAD 

Bob explains well why interviewing individual students was the best method to convey what Churchill, a K-12 coeducational college preparatory day school for students with language-based learning differences, means to the outside world.

“We have about 400 students at Churchill. That means there are 400 different personalities and 400 different ways of learning. It’s, therefore, incumbent upon the school to determine how best to serve each individual student. I think showing the different types of students we have at Churchill allows parents to see that there is no one way to approach learning. There is diversity amongst our students which automatically means there is diversity in how they learn. Each student comes with their unique story. It’s our responsibility as a school to listen to and understand, as best we can, all those stories. Showing some of those stories on video by interviewing actual students is more effective in getting the idea across to prospective parents.”

STORIES STICK

A quick Google search reveals the power of storytelling. Stories stick and are much easier to remember than facts. I’ve never seen independent school videos as a place for facts. It’s a place for stories and the interview is a wonderful way to get there. My role in making these films is to make it possible for the school to get across their values in an interesting way that the audience will remember and hopefully make their next call to action, whether it’s a visit to the school or a contribution for a campaign. 

Establishing a few main things were central to get the video project off the ground. A school-based project leader for a video is key and allows us to put the big pieces in place. Once we have a solid foundation and a home for the details, the smaller pieces, to fall into place, we can build from there. Sometimes even a sound bite can go to a level of depth that only comes from planning an interview properly. Leaving space for the unexpected sometimes brings the most meaningful results.  

Let’s watch the movie so we can bring this process to life.

SAILING WITHOUT A MAP

While we came up with questions that would hopefully reveal how Churchill was the best school for students to overcome challenges, in many respects this video went against the theory of having the message settled before the camera was rolling. Looking back on it six months after we finished, we allowed ourselves to sail without a map and figure out the reason for the journey after we arrived. This willingness to be open minded in the creative process left space to set aside our preconceived notions and allowed room for discovery. Much like your school provides room for your student to discover themselves, sometimes a video should do the same.

A good interview is really not like catching lightning in a bottle. We can do multiple takes and the magic really happens in the editing. As long as we’re interviewing the right person for the video, we’ll likely get somewhere. Which brings me to the most common question I get when making interview-based documentary style independent school videos: Who should we interview? With some guidance from me, in his words, here’s how Bob found our storytellers: 

“We asked the principals of each three divisions (elementary, middle, and high schools) and a few teachers to select who they thought would be good candidates for the video. We received about 5-6 names and chose a few that we thought would be good.”

OPEN HOUSE CONVERSATION STARTER

The last piece to the puzzle was how to use the video and again we stayed consistent with our theme of ending up somewhere other than the destination we had imagined. We had intended to make a 60 second piece for the website. And as it turns out, Bob is using an extended version of the video (clocking in 4:01) for open houses. It is in this live deployment of the video where Bob sees the immediate feedback of having student stories connect to prospective parents. Bob said,

“Beginning our open houses with this video offers our attendees a quick glimpse into the Churchill community. I’m even showing it to families who could not make an open house when they come in to speak to me about admissions and their child. It’s very helpful for parents to see and hear the voices of the teachers and students. I don’t know if it has a calming effect, but I have heard several parents say how much they appreciated seeing the video and how they hope their child can become like some of the students in the video.”  

 LET YOUR STORIES REVEAL THEMSELVES

Working on this project for the Churchill School allowed me as a filmmaker to truly collaborate with a client to allow the art of the interview lead the way. Looking back I can’t help but offer some advice: allow space for your student interviews to be unpredictable and stories inside your school will reveal themselves. I’d like to hear your thoughts on interviewing and welcome your questions.

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