Video Standards, Requirements and Guidelines

Creating effective video content is a time-consuming and rewarding process. It involves the careful planning and execution of storyboards, shoot schedules, set planning, editing, and more.

This resource has been created to help you with that process.

Minimum Requirements and Guidelines

Any video or multimedia, whether produced internally or by an outside vendor, should aim to meet the Marketing Department’s minimum requirements.

To create the most professional and effective video, we also recommend following industry-standard best practices and guidelines as closely as possible.

Videos Created for Marketing Purposes

Videos produced for marketing purposes are videos that are created to promote the university, its campuses, its programs, its services, its facilities and more, to prospective and current students, parents, and families.

All videos and multimedia created for marketing purposes, whether produced internally or by an outside vendor, must meet the The Marketing Department’s minimum requirements. You also must contact The Marketing Department before beginning your project.

Why Video?

Know the Stats – Sometimes no video is better than poor quality video.

77% of viewers stopped a video due to poor quality.
85% of people expect TV-like quality for every video they see online.
62% of consumers develop a negative perception of your brand if you publish a poor quality video.

Is Video the Best Medium?

Consider if the information would be more effective presented in a different format, such as a webpage, a graphic, or another visual medium.

Do You Have Time for a Video?

It takes a lot of hours to plan, shoot, and edit a quality video, many times spread over several weeks. Start thinking about your video project two or three months ahead.

Minimum Requirements

Videos Produced for Marketing Purposes

You are required to contact The Marketing Department to request a video consultation before beginning any video that is being created for marketing purposes, whether you are producing the video internally or externally.

Video Projects that Require Funds & Contracts

The Marketing Department will be notified by Finance of all requests for approval of funds or contracts for videography and will require 1) a project storyboard (PDF) prior to work beginning and 2) review and approval of the final draft before it is published.

Contact The Marketing Department to request a video consultation before you sign a contract or purchase equipment.

Review All Requirements & Guidelines

Please be sure to familiarize yourself with all of the Marketing Department’s video requirements, guidelines and best practices. Understanding technical and production requirements will help you to best plan the logistics and budget for your video project.

Maximize Institutional Resources

The Marketing Department may be able to connect you with other departments who are working toward similar goals in order to maximize resources

Planning Your Video

The goal, target audience, storyboard and dissemination plan can impact what deliverables you need to create, as well as the level of standards your video must adhere to.

What is the goal of your video?

Market a program or reach prospective students? (This will require Marketing Department approval.)
Provide tips or how-to?
Supplement an event or experience?
Instructional or for a class?
What story are you trying to tell?

Create a storyboard to think about a script and visuals. Creating one will save you time, and will save money if you’ve hired a vendor.

What messaging or key points do you need to convey?
Will you need to shoot interviews, b-roll or use archive footage?
Who is the target audience of the video?
For current students, consider putting it in Student Infoline or the Digital Signage Network.
For faculty or staff, consider putting it on Infoline.
For prospective students and their families, you are creating official marketing materials, and the video quality must meet the highest quality standards.

Where do you plan to share the video?

Are you putting it on YouTube or other social media?
Are you planning on embedding it on or linking to it from the eou.edu site? Contact the Marketing Department for more information.

Contact ua@eou.edu to have your video considered for EOU’s Official YouTube Channel and social media platforms, and remember to adhere to our Social Media guidelines for other platforms.

Accessibility

Include accessibility during the creation of your multimedia project. If you are purchasing video creation services, check with The Marketing Department on meeting ADA compliance.

The webteam reserves the right to not embed videos onto our eou.edu site that do not meet minimum quality standards, follow best practices, meet branding guidelines, or meet accessibility standards.

Minimum Requirements

For Any Video

No flashing or strobe effects.
Graphics added in post-production must not overlap the area where closed captions appear.
Typography must be legible.
Any text overlays must meet WCAG contrast standards.
Any text must be on the screen long enough to be read.
- A good rule of thumb is to read it out loud two times, and leave it on the screen for that long.
Visit https://www.eou.edu/digital-accessibility/ for more accessibility tools.

For Video with Visuals and Audio

Video must have closed captions.
Video must have a proofread transcript.
Multimedia at EOU
For Video with Visuals and No Audio
Video must have a visual transcript that explains what is happening scene-by-scene.

Guidelines & Best Practices

Guidelines & Best Practices for All Videos

Videos cannot autoplay unless there is a mechanism to pause or stop the video.
When working with a video vendor, establish who is responsible for closed captioning or transcript services.

YouTube Transcripts & Closed Captions

YouTube can auto-generate a transcript for your video.
- It is best to copy and paste this transcript into a word processing document and edit the text before you send it to the Marketing Department or elsewhere to be used.
YouTube can also auto-generate closed captions.
- Review and edit these, as they may not always be accurate.

Branding and Visual Identity

Minimum Requirements

Visual Identity Guide

Adhere to the creative guidelines.

Typography

Use the official university fonts.

Colors

Use colors from our official EOU color palette.

Graphics

Any graphic or graphical element must be crisp, clear and high resolution.

Writing Style

Adhere to the EOU Style Guide.

All titles and text added to the video must be proofread for accuracy, proper spelling and grammar.

Logos

Include the appropriate EOU logo(s) at either the beginning or the end of the video.
EOU graphics, logos or text must not appear altered or distorted.
Videos may not contain any external logos or watermarks, including commercial logos, without prior approval from The Marketing Department. This includes, but is not limited to, any of the following cases:
Logos on people’s clothing.
Logos in the background of a shot.
Logos of the videographer or production company.

Minimum Requirements

Rights & Permissions

Ensure EOU holds all rights to the video and to all of the content included in the video, such as talent, music and pictures.
Some material used in an educational setting may not be copyright-free in a marketing setting, so be sure you are adhering to all terms of the content’s license.
Any permissions or licenses received need to be documented.
- This is the responsibility of the department producing the video, not EOU’s or The Marketing Department’s.
EOU maintains a content management system with images, video, stock photos and graphics that the university holds permissions to use.

Music

There are various sources to copyright free music you may find online, or you can seek legal, documented permission from an individual artist.
Videos uploaded to YouTube with copyrighted music used without permission will be blocked by YouTube.

Model Release Forms

Obtain a media consent release form for everyone who appears in the video, even current faculty and staff.
- It’s best to get these the day of shooting.

Guidelines & Best Practices

Formatting & Credits

These are usually included on the last screen of a video.

Include a production credit formatted as follows: (Produced by the College of Business).

Minimum Requirements

Video Quality

Must be shot with video equipment capable of recording at a minimum of full HD 1920 x 1080, 24 frames per second (fps) resolution.
Video output should be an .mp4 or .mov.
Video from web cams, such as Zoom meetings, video shot on older cell phones, or video that is a screen captured recording of people will likely not meet minimum quality standards.
Video must be well-shot: in-focus, steady, well-framed and with proper exposure and lighting.

Audio Quality

Audio must be crisp and clear.
Use an external microphone, such as a lavalier mic or cardioid mic.
Ensure foreground and background noises are well-balanced.