At Indigo Productions we’ve been working with schools, educational organizations, and universities since 1990.
We understand the distinct but sometimes overlapping goals and needs of classroom teachers, students, administrators, and districts – and how video can meet all of them. Like you, we value content and presentation that is both rigorous and engaging.
That’s because we’re aware of the unique challenges and opportunities of today’s classrooms – both real and virtual – and we can work with you to produce a video that is effective at any scale and for any audience.
Indigo Productions is an educational video production company
With the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, remote or distance learning is more important than ever. Indeed, many teachers are discovering that remote learning has fostered greater creativity on their part, and it is in this spirit that Indigo Productions partners with schools, universities, and the publishers who serve them.
As a supplement to lectures and print or electronic texts, our educational videos can bring any subject matter to life with:
- Live-streaming classes, events, and graduations
- Virtual events for educational purposes
- Interviews with expert guests
- Virtual tours of schools, museums, and archaeological sites
- SCORM-compliant video formats
- e-Learning course guidance
- Interactive videos solutions
- Trackable HTML5 content for your LMS
- PowerPoint course conversions
So whether you plan to use video with remote learning, in a classroom setting, or as part of a blended learning approach, we have you covered.
Be sure to hire these folks for your next project! Their responsiveness, attention to detail, and especially their thoughtfulness in understanding what we wanted to capture in this video were all amazing. We know our students are going to be very happy about what they will view. We will definitely use Indigo for future projects.
— Associate Director
THANK YOU INDIGO PRODUCTIONS! We needed a world class company with lots of experience filming top-level CEOs for a video celebrating the largest gift we’ve ever received in our university's 163-year history. Indigo delivered everything we wanted and more. I’m delighted to say that everyone loved the video! It was a total success.
— Marketing and Communications Director
Our organization hired Indigo Productions to provide live video streams for a high-profile event in New York. The Indigo team exceeded our expectations from our first interaction. Their team worked to accommodate our evolving plans all while dealing with the pressure of strict security, and a tight timeline. It was a pleasure working with them!
— Program Specialist
Indigo has definitely earned their reputation as one of the top production companies in the country! Professional, thorough, trust worthy and dedicated. Did I mention that Indigo was able to give us all we asked for and more, under budget? Hire this company and work with these professionals every chance you get.
— Film Programmer
Indigo pulled off a miraculous short-deadline production. We are a very happy returning customer, and look forward to continue working with them in the future. Outstanding responsiveness, flexibility, and customer relations.
— Communications Director
GenScript is turning 20 years this year, and we wanted to highlight this in our most recent video. I have to say Indigo Productions is one of the most premier production companies. Max is extremely accommodating to our needs. His team was excellent to work with. The final product caught the eyes of our founders of the company.
— Marketing Manager
The Power of Educational Videos
Educators have long known the pedagogical value of using moving image media. So while there’s no doubt that video has the power to capture students’ attention, that’s just the beginning. When combined with compelling storytelling and a thorough understanding of the pedagogy involved, the result is an effective teaching tool that can convey information, concepts, and skills in ways that students can retain, apply and build upon.
It is this approach that Indigo Productions brings to its work with education clients at all levels. These include Harvard, NYU, Cambridge, Princeton, Cornell, Fordham, MIT Sloan, McGraw-Hill Education, CUNY, Teachers College, Scholastic, Springer Publishing, Harper Collins, The New York Times, Prentice-Hall, Michigan State University, Newsweek, the Smithsonian Institution, and the United Nations.
Collaborating with K-12 and College Educators
Our producers, writers, and creative staff will work with you from the first moments of pre-production to focus on the educational goals and objectives of your project. From pre-production (mapping out the concept and course guidelines) through production (classroom or studio shoot) and on to post-production (editing, branding, designing, and authoring), they will be with you each step of the way to deliver your educational content.
And because we come with years of experience in the education space, we’re well aware of the fundamentals in terms of instructional design. Need scripts that are aligned with state and national standards? No problem. Want to leverage the potential of multimodal learning? No problem – we understand how graphics, audio, and video imagery work together to help students engage with content. Sometimes the narration simply reinforces the visuals while at others it complements what students see or read. We tailor the final product to different grade levels and student populations as a form of differentiated instruction.
Understanding the Classroom – Real or Virtual
Ideally, the classroom is a place where educators manifest countless hours of preparation in a way that’s “invisible” to students: the teaching and the learning just seem to flow. In the same way, we plan each video production with the realities of today’s schools firmly in mind, quietly informing everything that we do. This can mean everything from editing clips so that they fit a uniform runtime that conforms to your lesson plans to casting talent that reflects the diversity of your students.
Moreover, Indigo Productions understands the importance of building interactivity into learning, so that students don’t become passive observers and eventually tune out. Each video we create is designed to prompt a response, be it a “close reading” of a visual text, a task that represents skill practice, self-reflection, or critical thinking. In short, we don’t simply generate pretty pictures, but rather approach each project as if we are right there in the classroom with you and are accountable for rigorous instruction that helps achieve your learning objectives.
Our 6-Step Process For Educational Video Success
Indigo Productions has decades of experience with educational videos. We’ll help you write, produce, and shoot engaging videos that will connect with teachers, students, and school supervisors.
Step 1: Discovery
First, we gather all key information. What is the grade level or span of the intended audience? Are short clips, perhaps used as lesson springboards, or long-form videos needed? And what is the overall scale and instructional purpose of the project—is a video intended to be ancillary/supplemental in nature or as the main teaching text?
Step 2: Proposal
We create a detailed proposal customized to fit your needs, goals, and platform requirements. The result is that you can clearly envision what the product will look like and what the end user’s experience will be. Our global network of talented creatives and education strategists means that we can provide a suite of options based on your budget and the complexity of the project.
Step 3: Planning and Conceptualization
We plan the general “look-and-feel” of the project in conjunction with the client, eventually creating mockups or storyboards for approval. Depending on the scale of the project, a prototype may be developed for evaluation by your teacher review board or focus group. We also voice any suggestions for covering specific curricular items in the scope-and-sequence. If the video is tied into a print or Web-based program, we make sure our design matches that which has already been developed.
Step 4: Pre-Production
Indigo Productions begins to assemble its team of onscreen and behind-the-camera talent as well as subject matter experts. If we’re producing a social studies or history video this might mean using a researcher with a specialty in archival footage; if it’s a math video, we might use animation or a presenter with whiteboard experience. This is also the stage at which logistics and scheduling are planned.
Step 5: Production
The crew shoots any new footage while the designer creates graphics; any necessary voice-over is recorded as a final step. Multiple takes and camera set-ups may be used in order to craft interesting visuals that can be edited to generate storytelling that keeps students’ attention.
Step 6: Quality Control
In this post-production stage, we review and edit all footage. We also make sure that the final product meets your high standards. Is the voice-over appropriately paced, with all pronunciations accurate? Is the instruction clear enough that it adequately prepares students for any assessment based upon it? These are the sort of questions that we ask and follows up on before delivering the final product.
For a more detailed description of how we generally approach projects from start to finish, please see our Video Production Process page.
Ready for An Educational Video?
Following the above process, and using our considerable experience in K-12 and higher-ed video production, we’d love to discuss your project. Though a New York-based video production company, we have the capability and resources to create world-class videos wherever you may be located.
You can contact us through our contact page or call us with any questions at (212) 765-5224.