College students are an exceptionally challenging group to reach with your message, especially when that message is something as mundane as registering for classes. Throw in the fact that you’re asking them to spend their winter break cramming in three-credits worth of coursework in 21 days, and most will tune out before the message even begins.

To catch students attention, you sometimes have to resort to being a little silly; taking a class while wearing fuzzy slippers and sipping hot coca in front of my living room fireplace? Sign me up!

Well…maybe not so fast. Because studying 6-8 hours a day isn’t easy, we need students to have realistic expectations about the amount of work involved in an accelerated winter class.

I developed the idea for MCCC’s 75-second winter registration video to both be attention grabbing and informative. It was my first time working with a green screen, and I was thrilled that a crew of students and staff from MCCC’s Media Arts program embraced the concept and helped bring my idea to life.

The video was success. MCCC’s 2014 winter session saw record enrollment; I learned new production skills; the students got free pizza; and Nick Vergara, who was a great sport acting as the talent for the piece, got to keep the fuzzy slippers.

Alana’s role: Developing concept, writing script, coaching talent, obtaining approvals, and promoting on campus and social media.