This post was written by Mallory Hart ’16
This summer I primarily worked on creating short videos used to market Friends of Rogers (FOR) in an attempt to increase participation. FOR is a non-profit organization that has been managing and maintaining the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) Rogers Environmental Education Center, located in Sherburne, NY, since 2011. The mission of FOR is to provide outstanding educational opportunities that excite, inspire, and motivate people of all ages to enjoy, understand, appreciate and protect our natural environment.
By the end of the summer, I created four short videos on specific events/programs, two other videos summarizing what FOR has to offer, and one brief video thanking donors for support. All the videos can be found on the Friends of Rogers YouTube page. In creating these videos I was also tasked with photographing and video-recording most events that occurred over the summer, along with storing and cataloging all the media for my use and future use for FOR. The goal of my work was to create a connection between the community and Rogers; most importantly to tell the story of FOR and to illicit an emotional response filled with nostalgia and hope that FOR can continue to thrive.
The notion that ‘seeing is believing’ has been embraced by FOR in its recognition of the importance of the use of multimedia videos that incorporates footage and photographs from events and programs. Therefore, each video has purpose and conveys a different message while carrying a different tone. For example, the “Story Time and Hike” video (see right) is aimed to reach parents to encourage them to bring children to the weekly program. The video features children’s music from the program, images of the story time circle, video from the hike, and testimonials from a parent and the Children’s Program Coordinator to produce a child-friendly video with a welcoming and light message.
I also found two side projects for myself over the summer. The first was to create a QR code system at four locations that contains links to trail maps, history of FOR, and to the donations page. For the second project, which was much larger, I teamed up with the Children’s Program Coordinator to create a soundtrack CD to the songs she plays on the guitar and sings during her Wednesday morning sessions of Story Time and Hike. By the end of the summer, we had recorded and I had mixed 32 songs, and album cover and insert, and CD artwork that were produced on over 80 CDs to be sold at the Visitor Center.