The web home of professional digital marketer, content creator, and communications expert Matt Sammon
Video Production
It's funny how "what's old is new again", especially when it comes to my experience in video production. As I outlined in my biography page, my whole journey began with video production as a teenager, and while I would occasionally come back to video production during my radio days for the next 25 years, much of what I do today revolves around the planning, recording, and production of videos promoting the Deer Valley Unified School District. All of these videos have won awards either with the Arizona School Public Relations Association (ASPRA) or the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) for 2024.
The DVUSD Pathways program is a unique opportunity for students to either make up credit in high school, or get ahead by "banking" credits so they can take AP Honors or additional elective courses in their junior and senior years. The previous Pathways video was produced in 2020, featuring people wearing masks and sitting six feet apart. In addition to this dated presentation, there wasn't enough emphasis on the banking of credits, which helped change the public perception of Pathways as only a remdial course for troubled high school students.
The "Just Asking!" video series has become a staple of the DVUSD athletics department as we record these interviews with the student-athletes during their seasonal media days. The questions are sometimes thought-provoking, always a little silly, and there's a karaoke question that the kids now come prepared for. These videos help introduce our athletes' personalities beyond just the name or number on their uniforms.
The "Portrait of a Graduate" video series started with a brainstorming session on how we could spotlight successful graduates during an all-staff meeting convention prior to the start of the 2023-24 school year. What began with having a live guest or two at the convention turned into a monthly video series highlighting a graduate's life path as told by that graduate.
A rigorous checklist was created to make sure our graduates truly were outstanding representatives of our district, with a focus on the five Portrait of a Graduate traits our district identified. We also encouraged schools to nominate graduates who were not successful only in sports. While we did feature a couple of athletes who stood out, we wanted to make a point that a successful graduate would more likely become a doctor, firefighter, member of the military, or as in the case of Paityn Lauzon a successful professional ballerina.