Process: I began by reviewing and organizing student submission videos for the Life Lessons Scholarship. After reviewing the video transcriptions, I identified key themes and emotional throughlines across the submissions. Using these insights, I developed a video outline and began assembling a sequence in Premiere Pro. The project combined both live-action footage and motion graphics elements, so I used dynamic linking between Premiere Pro and After Effects to integrate those elements seamlessly.
Throughout the editing process, I layered in music and sound effects to shape the audience's emotional response—creating moments of tension and release to increase engagement. To improve accessibility and ensure a consistent viewing experience—especially with the varying audio quality of the students' recordings—I used Premiere Pro’s auto-captioning feature to generate on-screen captions. This not only increases clarity for those who are hearing impaired, but it also increases a videos overall retention and watch-time. Lastly, I created alternate aspect ratio versions of the video to optimize distribution across multiple social platforms.
Of note: This video was intentionally designed with modularity in mind. The concluding section—which highlights key statistics such as the number of schools, recipients, total dollars awarded, and the call to action—was built to be easily updated on a yearly basis to reflect current figures. Additionally, the CTA was crafted to be flexible, allowing it to effectively target either prospective student applicants or potential donors.
Programs: Illustrator, After Effects, Adobe Enhance
