Click here to watch the video.
I was tasked by the University of St. Thomas to create videos highlighting teams that won startup funding at e-Fest: the yearly competition between student entrepreneurs. Team members of the Innovation Challenge and Social Impact Prize winner, ECGO (formerly known as Conserve), spoke with me in a recorded interview where I asked them about their business, the progress they have made since e-Fest, and how e-Fest 2022 helped them reach where they are now. Afterwards, I took the recording of the interview and mapped out the progression of a 3-minute video, one that followed a storyboard provided by my editor. Iterating upon the storyboard, I began placing clips of the interview where it made narrative sense, tying them together with transitions and b-roll taken at the 2022 festival. I also worked with ECGO to acquire further visuals, mostly taken from their social media. These I used to show off their progress since e-Fest, how they get involved at schools, and how their app works. I also ended up going over the video multiple times to tweak the length of clips and their arrangement, fitted to background music I found. Finally, I created a simple illustrative graphic in Adobe After Effects to showcase the ECGO app – using a background and app marketing video provided by the team.
It was a pleasure speaking and working with the talented entrepreneurs of ECGO. I wish them the best of luck with their bright future: making recycling easier than ever!
John Buday: Digital Storytelling 