10/20/11 Explaining and capturing the excitement and the depth of the Culver Summer Schools & Camps experience to the uninformed and unfamiliar have always been a challenging assignment. But if pictures are worth 1,000 words, then the Summer Camps’ award-winning online videos are speaking volumes.
“For the first time we have a summer video that really shows what a Culver summer is all about – the pace, the sizzle, the quality, excellence, and breadth of the programs,” said Bill Hargraves ’77, Culver’s director of Communications and Strategic Marketing.
The Communications Department paired with Magic Hour Productions Inc. of Seattle to create a series of online videos designed for parents and campers who are unable to make a visit to Culver. The results garnered a silver Telly Award and six bronzes in the online video category at the 32nd Annual Telly Awards in New York City in June.
A silver Telly went to Communications and CSSC for the “School of Horsemanship” recruitment video. Bronze Tellys were received for the “CSSC Overview,” “Culver CSSC Teaser Trailer,” “Upper Camp Overview,” “Woodcraft Camp Overview,” and “The Culver Experience.” Culver also was awarded a bronze People’s Telly for the “CSSC Overview,” which was voted on by the public through YouTube.
Founded in 1979, Telly Awards are the premier award honoring outstanding local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs, the finest video and film productions, and web commercials, videos, and films. Winners represent the best work of the most respected advertising agencies, production companies, television stations, cable operators, and corporate video departments in the world.
Hargraves said Magic Hour’s strengths were its “editing and keen insight into storytelling. The videographers were able to get parents and campers to talk at an emotional level about what interests them.”
The videos, which are posted on the CSSC website (culver.org/summer) continue to receive a positive response, said Tony Mayfield ’65, director of Culver Summer Schools & Camps.
The online videos provide “a youthful, new, and exciting approach to telling our story,” said Mayfield. The Summer Schools staff is also using the videos at camp fairs, alumni and Culver Club events, and sharing copies with parents upon request. Mayfield said viewers relate well to the videos because campers and parents personally sharing their experience.
Headed by Ryan McKeever, Magic Hour is a creative film and video production group whose clients include Starbucks, Weyerhaeuser, the Seattle Mariners, Seattle Seahawks, Chateau Ste. Michelle winery, Costco, and Alaska Airlines. Created in 1992, Magic Hour has also received Emmys, Clios, ADDYs, and a Cannes Film Festival Gold Lion for its work.
With nearly 11,000 entries from all 50 states and numerous countries, this year’s Telly Awards were one of the most competitive in the history of the awards, according to the website. Less than 10 percent of entries are chosen as winners of a Silver Telly, the highest honor.
Telly Award entries are evaluated to recognize distinction in creative work – entries do not compete against each other – rather entries are judged against a high standard of merit. Culver Summer Camps was in good company, as this year’s winners included Michigan State University, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Fox Sports Net, Nickelodeon, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Bass Pros Shops Film & Video Productions, Lockheed Martin, Miami Dolphins Ltd., Vox Pop Films, Kansas City Chiefs, Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, Outdoor Channel, Time Warner Cable, and Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.
