Hey there internet, I’m Chris. I was the shaky cameraman and video editor for this little hostel experiment. You may be wondering what prompted us to make this video.
In the interest of full disclosure, this is a student project. My group and I are seniors at Cal State University San Marcos and as a graduating requirement for the business program we have to complete this program known as SENIOR EXPERIENCE. Companies from and around San Diego work with groups of students complete projects and help these companies grow. My group was partnered with Hostelling International: San Diego and they wanted us to revamp their marketing plan and possibly use viral marketing to make hostels a viable alternative for vacationing and traveling for Americans.
The American population seems to have a few misconceptions about what exactly hostels are. They aren’t a big part of our culture like they are in Europe and perhaps a few choice pieces of cinema have only hurt their image in the not too distant past.
Being an ambitious group with delusions of grandeur, we decided that we were up to the task of changing America’s collective mind and focus on the industry of hostels in America, not just Hostelling International.
We decided to create a video focusing on hostel’s main strength: the price. A bed in a dorm room will usually cost around 20 bucks, depending on the hostel and season. The idea came to us that for the amount of money you spend on just a hotel room, you could use that money on your entire vacation if you stayed at a hostel.
We looked at all the inexpensive hotels and motels in the area, and we saw that the average price was around 80 dollars a night. A bed in a 10 bedroom dorm at HI-San Diego would be around $25 for the non member rate, leaving us with about 110 dollars to spend on a two day vacation. We figured that would be more than enough money for a vacation especially if you used what the hostel had to offer, e.g. free activities, free pancakes in the morning, and employees with a wealth of knowledge about the area.
So with this concept in mind we looked for a person to be the star of our video. We chose Tim because he is not a member of the Senior Experience group and we felt his personality would be entertaining and watchable. With Tim on board we pitched the idea to Hostelling International and they loved the idea, and agreed to fund our project. They agreed to give Tim $160 dollars to do as he wishes in San Diego as well as cover my expenses following him around.
While our premise was contrived, everything in our video was real. Nothing was scripted (save for the narration but that of course was written after the fact), and the events in the video are real and genuine… especially my inability to hold a camera still. Thank goodness for steady shot.
The Experience
The following is quite long as I try to tell what happened during our three day, two night vacation, and I would say it is optional to read. What is important is the conclusion, which is why it is the first link. I'm mixing up the order of things... Tarantino would be proud.*
*Tarantino would not be proud nor care about any of this.
1 comment:
You gave me so much inspiration after watching your video. Have a great day! I will follow your blog. Tnx Johan from Sweden
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