In this guest blog post Instructional Designer Lizzy Garner-Foy and Media Production Officer Callum MacPhail talk about how they created the trailer for the University’s new Sustainable Global Food Systems MOOC entirely from re-purposed open licensed content.

Our Sustainable Global Food Systems MOOC launched on the 3rd November 2020. The issues around food systems, sustainability and climate change are all incredibly important, especially right now, and we wanted to get this message out as clearly, boldly and to as wide an audience as possible.

I worked with the course lead Fiona Borthwick, and the Media Team, to produce a trailer that would make an impact, get people thinking, and inspire people to enrol to learn more. I used open channels Pexels, Pixabay, and Unsplash to source stock video and images. I also identified key questions in the script such as ‘What happens if we don’t act now?’ and added motion graphics to enhance the dramatic impact of the visuals. The storyboard went through a few drafts (finding footage of specific breeds of cow brought its challenges!) but we were able to find everything we needed on open channels.

Creating the whole video using only openly licensed content showcases the professional results you can achieve without using pricey stock footage or filming lots of new content. All teams involved benefitted as it saved on studio bookings, filming time, and course development budget. I think this trailer is a great example of supporting the University’s vision, to discover knowledge and make the world a better place. We used OERs to spread an important message and make a real-world impact!

Explaining how the media production team created the trailer and MOOC content, Callum adds:

The way we implement stock footage has changed considerably since coronavirus. Traditionally we would try as much as possible to generate the necessary stock footage ourselves, but the pandemic has made this difficult if not impossible in most cases. We use a number of websites, with freely available stock footage to provide context and visual flair to MOOCs focusing on a wide variety of topics and international issues. The percentage of stock footage that we use per project varies, but on average our use of community sourced stock footage has gone from approx. 20 percent per mooc, pre coronavirus to as high as 90 percent now.

You can sign up to join the free Sustainable Global Food Systems MOOC on EdX.