Unearthing UMass Boston’s Transformational Campus Project

Project Overview

Formation assisted BVH Integrated Services in submitting a proposal to the SCUP (Society of College & University Planners) National Conference for a presentation highlighting their ten year utility corridor, landscape and roadway project at UMASS Boston. This project transformed the campus from an insular car-centric commuter school into a pedestrian friendly, green, high-performing campus envisioned by the University’s twenty five year master plan. BVH submitted for this presentation with Sasaki (landscape architect) and UMass Boston’s Vice Chancellor of Facilities who oversaw the project.

In addition to helping them formulate the title (Unearthed: Digging Into UMass Boston’s Transformational Utility, Landscape, and Roadway Project) and pull together a compelling storyline for the submission, we also included a pitch that the presentation would kick-off with a short documentary video. The idea was to give context to the project utilizing historical and under construction photos along with aerial drone shots and video in order bring the story to life and highlight its transformation on screen prior to digging into the details with a power point presentation.

When we got word that the presentation was accepted, we worked diligently to pinpoint key milestones and outline an overall production schedule. From there, we scripted and storyboarded the overall flow of video and began the production process. We collected and organized images and renderings from all stakeholders that documented the planning process as well as photos that documented the construction.  

Watch the Video Here

Unearthed: Digging Into UMass Boston’s Transformational Utility, Landscape, and Roadway Project
 from BVH Integrated Services on Vimeo.

The University of Massachusetts Boston was an insular, car-centric campus built on a former landfill. Ten years, 24 miles of utilities, 700 trees and 972 meetings later, it’s well on its way to becoming the walkable, green, high-performing campus envisioned by the University’s 25-year master plan. This docu-video tells the story of the massive utility corridor and roadway relocation project that was central to making this incredible transformation possible.

Production included scouting visits to UMass Boston’s campus, interviews with stakeholders at BVH’s office and organizing a single day shoot on campus to capture primary scenes, student interviews, aerial drone footage and B roll. Once all this was captured we began an iterative and collaborative editing process sharing rough cuts, getting feedback and fine-tuning until we arrived at a version that worked for the presentation. We then created a promo/publicity package and trailer that was used to announce the teams’ presence at SCUP. Post conference, we developed a promo/publicity plan for the final long cut version that included “movie poster” jpegs for use in email blasts and social media promotion.

SERVICES PROVIDED
Video / Copywriting / Public Relations  
Strategic Planning / Social Media
Public Relations / Social Media Video Production / Drone Aerial Footage