Hernandez College Consulting

Video Review Package

Award-winning producer and Boston University professor Garland Waller has been making TV shows, documentaries, and independent videos for 25 years. She’s also been teaching college kids how to make productions that highlight their talents so that they can get jobs in the TV business. The trick, she says, is knowing how to tell a story. In the case of Application Bootcamp®, the story is about you.

Love it or hate it, some colleges are now accepting short videos as part of a student’s application package to help them evaluate whether or not you might be a good match for their academic programs. These schools may say that the video can be about anything you wish, but rest assured, if it’s in bad taste, it would not be helpful to you. This is not a video you would put on a private Facebook page. However, there is room for a lot of creativity in these videos and they should be about something that is important to you. It might capture a quiet aspect of you— one that not everyone knows about—or it might focus on your skills as a bassoonist. Maybe you are an environmental artist who has painted a mural on a hemp canvas for Earth Day.
Lee Coffin, Tufts Dean of Undergraduate Admissions was quoted as saying: “We’re not judging it on the qualities of the production values. We’re not looking for Oscar-winning short films. What we’re really hoping to get out of these videos is another part of the puzzles that make up this 17-year-old person.”

Garland Waller is here to help applicants create one minute videos that will capture who they are, what they care about, and why they are a good match for a particular college.

Garland is a professor, a TV writer, reviewer, author, producer, and speaker. After she graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in education, Garland taught junior high and high school English. Garland went on to get a Masters degree at Boston University’s College of Communication in Broadcast Journalism. Yes, she made plenty of TV programs and won many awards, including five New England Emmys, the Iris Award for Best Entertainment Special, the Grand Prize at the International Film Festival of New York, and the American Women in Radio and Television Merit Award, but she eventually returned to teaching.

Garland is now a professor in the Film and Television Department at Boston University’s College of Communication and sits on the graduate admissions committee for COM’s TV Production stream.

In accord with Application Boot Camp’s® proven strategies, in this two hour package, Garland will help you create a video that fully represents your academic niche and gives a sense of who you really are. This video will make an impact whether you shoot it on HD or on mini-DV…or your flipcam.

The Application Boot Camp® Video Review Package Includes:

• Two hours of consultation with Garland Waller, our media expert. That time includes a combination of detailed written responses and evaluations via email or phone. Garland will a) read through script ideas and production concepts if the video is not yet produced, or b) review a video the student has produced but wants to improve/change/gut.
  • For the students who send in a rough video that needs work: An email synopsis of the phone consultation and review of the video. Students can use these synopses to craft a new and improved video for a final college submission.
  • For the students who do not send in a video, but want structure and guidance before they shoot: An email synopsis of two 15 minute phone consultations. One will be a discussion of the proposed video. The second will be a review of the script. Students can use these synopses to craft a new and improved video for a final college submission.
• A copy of Application Boot Camp’s® media production guidelines. This document will provide some of the basics components of good storytelling. It will also help Garland evaluate what might be the best angle and style of video that will work for the final one-minute video.
• After the student has made the video, the student may send in the video to Garland for “touch ups” – little tweaks that may be useful but not necessary. Garland will give a brief e-mail evaluation.

Application Boot Camp, LLC
Telephone: (978) 369-7479
Email: Editor@ApplicationBootCamp.com