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Content Creation Tips

We appreciate your time and your willingness to share your unique perspective.

Your videos will be used on our website and social media channels to help educate, inform and entertain potential Mercy College students.

Creating your video

We’d love for these videos to feel as authentic as possible. We also would like them to be useful to potential students. With this, we have a few tips based on best practices to help guide you.

Tech Tips

  • Keep all video vertical - All video can be taken with your smartphone, held vertically.

  • Authentic Angles - When taking video of yourself talking, you can simply hold your phone or prop it up. Take videos of scenery, classrooms, and friends/family from your perspective.

  • Lighting & Sound - There is no need for lighting or microphones. Please don’t be overly concerned with the quality, as this is not meant to be a professional video. If possible, record talking scenes indoors (without wind) and try to avoid big echos.


Team up

If you need someone to follow you while you’re moving (walking, writing, etc.), enlist the help of a classmate, friend, family member, etc.

Content Tips

  • Types of Footage - Take a lot of quick videos with interesting visuals that can be edited to show while you’re talking. Need ideas? Check out this list of examples. Don’t worry about sound on these, as it won’t be included in the final result.

  • Include friends and family - Speaking of friends… if you’re comfortable, sharing details about your life outside of school can help add context for a potential student weighing out their decision. It also makes you seem more personable. Need ideas? Check out this list of examples.

  • Include video of your surroundings and views - We realize this can feel intrusive, but it’s helpful if you can include visuals of the classroom and/or hospital. These shots can be quick scans (side to side movement) without sound. If there will be people in the shot, with their faces shown, please make sure they know what you’re doing and are comfortable being filmed.

  • Talking points - Whether you're a current student, alumn in the workforce, or both, we want to hear how Mercy fits into your life and goals. Need ideas? Check out this list of examples.



Show your personality

Smile, laugh, and have fun with it. It’s ok if you “mess up” or if you explain something in your own unique way. Think of it like you’re talking to a friend.


Editing your video

To add to the authenticity, it’s excellent if you prefer to edit your own video. Depending on your comfort level, you can do this with Adobe Premiere, iMovie, Canva or in your TikTok or Instagram app. You could also use a free video editing app like Inshot or CapCut.



Editing Tips

  • Setting vertical ratio - Your editor should be set to 9:16 ratio

  • Selecting Music - Any music used must be copyright free. You can find free music on artist.io

  • Keep it brief - Your final video should be no longer than 60 seconds, and preferably closer to 20-30 seconds.

Uploading

In an effort to keep things convenient, we offer a couple of different upload methods. Please select the one you feel most comfortable with. If you did not edit your video, please include any and all video clips.

Upload Methods

  • Upload to a folder - We will email or text you a link that will lead you to a folder where you can upload

  • Text message - If it's easiest, we will provide you with a number where you can send via text