Students Produce Sponsor Commercials

Oak Creek High School has been preparing for their new football display in more ways than one. We featured their inspiring visit to the Brewer’s, but they were looking into more than just showing game scores. Students in the Wisconsin high school’s KnightVision Productions class are producing commercials for local sponsors to air on their new video display.

Two students just finished producing the first sponsor’s commercials for the display, ads for the Academy of Performing Arts. APA needed a commercial that wasn’t copyrighted, so Oak Creek Athletic Director Scott Holler reached out to the business to see if students could help them make a new one.

APA is a dance studio owned by Stacy Tuschl, an Oak Creek alumna who values community involvement. Advertising on the school’s new football scoreboard was a smart investment for her business to reach her customers at an emotional high, with the added bonus of supporting her local school.

Tuschl’s sister Rachel Dachel, an employee at APA, said, “It was something we felt was worth doing to get our name out there.”

Dachel said APA was very pleased with the final result.

They’re high school kids, and they did as good of a job as professionals.

In turn, Oak Creek students are getting experience in video production. KnightVision Production teacher Tom Stock said the students are working on these commercials on their own time over the summer for academic credit.

“There’s no expectation or any graded part of their job,” Stock said. “They like doing this sort of thing and they like having the opportunity to do this sort of thing, whether it’s during the summer or during the school year.”

While the first sponsor’s commercials, a 60-second and 30 second ad, are completed and ready for the new display, other students continue to work on additional sponsor ads for other local businesses.

Stock said the ability to make the commercials with a low budget made the appeal greater.

“It’s just a great opportunity because you are able to produce for a local business that may not have the opportunity or the money to hire a professional to produce an ad, let alone buy the air time to air it,” Stock said.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new video display, where the commercials will air, is planned for the end of August.