Click to view screenshots from the storyboards.
I inadvertently helped brand and launch a new product for Blackboard, Inc. called Developmental Education or "DevEd". Initially, I was asked to design a quick "one-sheet" sales tool. In the course of designing visuals to help describe the new product quickly I developed something that we called "the orbit graphic", which showed the key elements and stages of the product and how they encompass the student. I was unaware that the hurried work I had done for such a "little" project would actually effect the overall branding of the product.
The one sheet, and especially the orbit graphic, were very well received and I was contracted again to create a short presentation video (in the :45 to 1:00 range) to be given at conferences and sales meetings. I was provided with an initial script by the client which was overly long and worded in their own "internal speak." I reworked/rewrote the script in order to condense it and to make the language approachable to everyone, not just people who work at Blackboard.
In the process of script editing, storyboarding, and sharing with other stake holders, more and more content was added to the point where our "short little video" soon ran at over 7:00 minutes long when read out loud. I could not condense it down any more and still hit all the topics that were requested. So I discussed with my client a solution to create two videos: the first to set up the problem and why DevEd is needed and the second to dive into specific functionality and how DevEd works.
Once the scripts and storyboards were approved, we hired professional voice talent to record the VO, chose a music track, and I sat down work some After Effects magic. On a geeky note, this project was fun because it finally allowed me to play with AE's limited 3D spatial abilities. Please view the videos below: