Question: How can you ‘watch’ your Yearbook?
Answer: By embedding video in it!
Ok, I am presenting a somewhat unfair comparison between a YearBoxx and a Print Yearbook. To get a short video into a print Yearbook, the only way to do it is using a QR code which will require the user to take a picture of the code and then watch the video on their phone… every time they want to see that video again, they will have to follow the same ponderous process. Companies typically charge the school for each QR code (generally not much) but there will be a limited number of videos… a very limited number… if they are available at all.
I have said this a bunch of times, but I do believe that video is going to redefine what a Yearbook is.
So… what do embedded videos mean in a Next Generation yearbook?
A lot!
There are no limits to how many videos YearBoxx can have. They can appear in the following places:
- Sports
- Events
- Clubs
- Activities
- Letters
- Signatures
- School Video
- Class Video
- Graduation
- Prom
Again, there is no limit. Every club, for example, can have a video… multiple videos. And this is true for every other section. All of this IN ADDITION to an unlimited amount of photographs and you have a complete representation of your school year that is possible.
As listed above, there are two new Sections that have been introduced to YearBoxx: School/Class Videos. The ‘School Video,’ has been designed to memorialize the school, the actual building that everyone spent so much time in. Much of what I have created comes from my own High School experience, which was really good. Edgemont High School (Scarsdale, New York) was actually a series of one-story buildings connected by an exposed ‘breezeway.’ This was a great way to get to various classes in the nice weather, less so on a cold winter day. I never thought I would feel nostalgic for my physical school, but now I am. I haven’t been back since my 10th reunion, which was held in the cafeteria. I would love to see that cafeteria again… and the gym and what was brand new at the time, the library. I want to remember those disparate buildings I want to remember the breezeway where, as a Halloween prank, my friends and I lined it with ‘borrowed’ pumpkins… and due to the limited number of pages my yearbook had (which is not a problem with YearBoxx), pictures, much less video of that elicit event were not represented. I’d love to see a video of the classrooms where I spent so much time learning things I never expected I’d need to know (I was mostly right!).
I don’t have any of that in my own Yearbook from 1972 of course. But now students can. And more… The ‘Class Video’ would be something that would celebrate the Seniors. It could be something as simple as a Yearbook Staff Member walking around the school filming Seniors or something that would be highly produced using music, maybe even a script. It could be a Senior Movie full of creativity.
Many of my Schools now have a Videography Department. For my print Yearbook Schools, my Advisor would often recruit Staff members from the Art Department or the Graphics Arts Department if there was one. Now Film and Video Departments will be far more active in the creation of the Yearbook.
The length of each video is limited to 100mb, which would be around 10 plus minutes long. Not many people want to watch a video longer than a few minutes. However, there can be multiple videos in each Section of the book.
As addressed above, every section can have videos. Regardless of the size of the organization or event, there can be enough video (and unlimited images) to tell that story. There has never been a better way to preserve your High School memories.
It is easy to imagine the Football or Basketball Team having a video or two from each game. Graduation and Prom are musts. But how about smaller Clubs and Activities/Events? The Sewing Club may have only five students in it. While that is a small Club, it is really important to those students and they deserve full inclusion, which includes video. They deserve and can have the same Yearbook exposure as the Football Team or the School Play.
Video is immersive and is going to unleash an enormous amount of creativity and will preserve memories in a way that has never been done before!
