A school anniversary usually calls for a history film of five to ten minutes, short greetings from alumni and staff, a one- to two-minute opening film and a highlights video of the day. The slow part is not the editing but finding the material, so for a major anniversary start looking four to six months ahead.
An anniversary is a rare moment when a school looks back on itself, especially at a round number such as the 30th, 50th or 100th. The hall holds current pupils, teachers, a retired head teacher and alumni who graduated decades ago and came back for the day. While the history film plays, the room often falls quiet. The moment a photo of the old school building appears, someone in the audience points and says, "That's how it was in our day."
Videos often made for an anniversary
- History film: from the founding to today; buildings, uniforms, key people and events. Five to ten minutes, for the ceremony or an alumni gathering.
- Alumni and staff greetings: alumni from different years, retired teachers and current staff each say a few words, ten to twenty seconds per person.
- Opening film: one to two minutes before the ceremony or evening event, to lift the atmosphere.
- Anniversary highlights: the sports day, school fair or evening show, two to three minutes, for the website and social media.
Finding material for the history film
- The school's own records: the archive or history room, yearbooks, school magazines, old event photos and videotapes.
- Alumni contributions: put out a call through the alumni association or social media for photos, with the year and the people in them noted down.
- Digitise: scan photos, or photograph them with a phone in daylight; have videotapes and discs converted to digital files. Important photos that are damaged or faded can be restored first; for an assessment, use our repair site.
- Build a timeline: a list of "year, event, one line of explanation". The editor doesn't know your school's history, so this timeline becomes the backbone of the video.
Collecting greetings
Send one set of recording instructions to the alumni association and each school office: phone horizontal, somewhere quiet, ten to twenty seconds, starting with the year they graduated or which teacher they are. Have everything uploaded to one cloud folder rather than sent through messaging apps. Collecting greetings works much like a wedding greetings video; see collecting video messages from friends and family.
Making it work for every age
- Mark years and events with title cards, so current pupils can follow the order of events.
- Use large text that can be read from the back of the hall.
- Move slowly over old photos rather than flashing through them; see turning photos into a video that doesn't look like a slideshow.
- Subtitle greetings given in Taiwanese, Hakka or any language part of the audience won't follow.
Timeline
For a major anniversary's history film, start looking for material four to six months ahead and hand it to the editor two months before, leaving time for the school to check facts and names. For playback on the day, confirm the screen ratio and playback equipment with the venue and arrange a test run; see LED wall video sizes and specifications.
Frequently asked questions
We have very few old photos and they're blurry. Can it still be done?
We can assess it. Years with few photos can be filled with title cards, the school emblem, old documents and alumni recollections. Blurry photos can be restored first; how far depends on their original condition.
Can AI make the people in old photos move?
Technically yes, but AI can change how people look, and alumni may feel it no longer resembles them. If you use it, keep it to landscapes and buildings; see photo to video with AI.
Can the sports day or evening show be cut into highlights?
Yes. Send us the footage from the day and it can be cut into a two- to three-minute highlight for the website and social media. It also makes useful material for your next student recruitment video.
Other kinds of school and public sector video are covered under school and government video production.
