Two Gold Telly Awards Scored by BU Productions
The Duan Family Center for Computing & Data Sciences building was the subject of a Telly Award-winning drone video.
Two Gold Telly Awards Scored by BU Productions
Videos on President Gilliam’s inauguration and the CDS building honored with top prizes at the 46th annual Telly Awards
BU Productions, Boston University’s in-house video production team, took home two gold statuettes at the annual national Telly Awards competition: for a video about the inauguration of President Melissa Gilliam and a drone video inside the Duan Family Center for Computing & Data Sciences.
The video team—a branch of BU’s Marketing and Communications (MarCom) department—won gold in the General-Education Institution category with President Melissa Gilliam Inauguration Opener Video 2024, a two-minute historic University overview played before Gilliam’s 2024 inauguration ceremony. Another gold was awarded in the Craft-Drone and Aerial Cinematography category for Center for Computing & Data Sciences Drone Tour, a drone-captured tour of the iconic building that resembles an off-center stack of books.
Nancy Marrs, senior executive director of BU Productions, says she and the MarCom Creative Services team “are honored that our hard work has been recognized by this prestigious awards competition.”
Since 1979, the Telly Awards have recognized the best of video and television across all platforms in an annual showcase, spotlighting exceptional local, regional, and cable TV commercials, as well as branded content, social media, documentaries, and immersive media created by media agencies, production companies, and individuals. The 46th awards season saw more than 13,000 entries from around the world. This year’s theme, “Stories Take Shape,” highlights a blend of traditional storytelling themes with emerging media formats, showcasing the scope of what video can be, according to the Tellys website.
Although the Tellys were awarded to BU Productions, each video was a collaborative effort among various BU departments, Marrs says, as well as external partners.
Gilliam’s inauguration opener video showcases BU’s historical legacy and impact, featuring information about the University’s founders and all 10 former presidents, ending with an introduction to Gilliam. Besides sifting through decades of multi-format b-roll in the department’s video library, Productions and Creative Services colleagues collaborated with BU Events & Conferences to establish the vision for the video and with BU’s Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center to obtain archival photographs, historical information, and quotes from past presidents. Embryo Creative—a Boston-based production company—then edited the video and motion graphics.
Marrs, who has been spearheading the BU production team for 37 years, describes the finished piece as an “important, tone-setting video for Dr. Gilliam’s inauguration.”
BU Production’s other win explores the ins and outs of the 19-story, 380,000-square-foot Duan Family Center for Computing & Data Sciences building, which opened in 2022.
The drone video was commissioned by the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences and produced jointly with BU Productions and Above Summit, a video production studio specializing in drone photography. It highlights the Data Sciences Student Pavilion, the BU Spark! Innovation and Experiential Learning Center, CDS classrooms and research labs, and the 17th-floor patio and conference center.
“We wanted to create something that felt immersive and alive—something that reflected the energy of our faculty and students and the innovation this space makes possible,” says Maureen McCarthy, CDS director of communications. “Receiving a Gold Telly is a testament to the creativity, storytelling, and collaboration that brought it all to life.”
The drone video was filmed over several weeks, and the production team faced a unique challenge: how to fly a drone through a busy academic building without disrupting the activity—or catching everyone looking up at the drone. The CDS communications team devised a creative solution: printing more than 1,000 business cards, which were distributed throughout the building during interior filming. The goal was to minimize distractions, according to McCarthy.
The message? “Drone video production in progress. Don’t look up.”
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