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Telling Cinematic Stories That Help Schools Advance Mission, Reputation, and Growth
Academic Lens combines consulting, creative direction, and cinematic video production to help schools communicate vision, attract investment, and lead the conversations that define their fields.
STRATEGY
We translate your strategic plan, campaign priorities, and leadership vision into a clear, unified story framework.
We bring advancement, marketing, and academic leadership into narrative alignment — creating a strong, unified message before production begins.
We identify which stories will actually drive fundraising, enrollment, or reputation — and focus there.
EXECUTION
We research deeply, shape editorial direction, and develop scripts that reflect institutional credibility — not marketing hype.
We manage scheduling, faculty coordination, donor sensitivities, and logistics, so that your team stays focused on core responsibilities.
Our team comes from film and premium TV backgrounds. We bring theatrical-level craft to institutional storytelling — work that rises above the noise and commands attention.
IMPACT
We position faculty, research, and programs with clarity and authority — increasing visibility and distinction.
Our work has supported advancement campaigns across the country, including a $500M capital campaign that contributed to 58 endowed scholarships and fellowships, 19 faculty positions, and more than 14,000 new donors.
We don’t deliver one-off videos. We build narrative assets your institution can deploy across years and initiatives.
FOCUS ON
Showcasing your school's unique programs attracts prospective students and faculty, keeps alumni and donors engaged, and provides leadership with effective presentation tools. Here are examples of vital programs we’ve highlighted for very different institutions.
Highlighting faculty and administrator accomplishments honors and rewards your educators, while demonstrating to prospects the positive nature of your work environment. These are some of our most successful profiles.
Focusing on scholarships and fellowships not only paints a compelling portrait of student life, but allows your donors to see their resources directly at work for the common good. Here is a yearly series we’ve produced for the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.
Whether you are commemorating the accomplishments of decades or a single year, it's critical that your institution communicates what it's been doing and the impact it's been having. Anniversary and Year In Review (YIR) videos are short, powerful and engaging methods of telling the world about your achievements that can engage donors, prospective students and faculty, and other key stakeholders.
Your highly accomplished alumni can be your school's greatest advocates; but while it's common to honor them with awards, why not do so in a powerful, emotionally engaging way? Here are examples of how we’ve memorialized notable alumni.
It's critical to celebrate the contributions of key donors, and commemorate the opening of new buildings and facilities. Here are tributes made for significant supporters, and their gifts to the school.
Awards may be common, but what is unique and powerful is using high-quality videos to deliver the impact of the accomplishments they are honoring. These videos were the centerpiece of prestigious awards presentations and ceremonies.
Emmy-winning productions from Academic Lens transform complex research and institutional missions into emotionally compelling media that moves policymakers, funders, and general audiences from awareness to action. The goal is always the same: turn institutional impact into public narrative, and public narrative into lasting change.
Leveraging the power of social media requires not only content, but a strategy to build engagement. Our unique approach to social marketing includes success stories like The Circuit, a program for which we grew the subscriber base from 500 to over a million, in less than two years.
Academic Lens perfectly captured our school's story, values, and messaging, and provided a white-glove production service that was by far the most turnkey vendor process we have experienced. The video received high remarks and feedback from all our key stakeholders, and we’re so excited about the impact it will have.
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CAMILLE C. HENRIQUEZ
Communications Manager
ISyE, Georgia Institute of Technology
Daniel and his team’s work showcases our school and its story in a profound way, and their videos have become cornerstone in our advancement efforts. We routinely get effusive compliments from faculty and donors alike.
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KEN BONNER
Associate Dean for Inclusion and Diversity Initiatives
USCViterbi School of Engineering
We chose Academic Lens for their creativity, which they used, along with tremendous sensitivity and flexibility. Daniel and his team exceeded expectations, creating highly impactful videos that made a tremendous contribution to our organization.
JAMA TOUNG
Vice President of Development
Ackerman Institute for the Family
We were extremely happy with the Academic Lens team. They are creative, artful, understand storytelling, and embrace feedback. The work reflected a deep understanding of the editorial content and our aims for the project.
ROSE MARIE ARCE
Vice President
Soledad O-Brien Productions
Jowan will go above and beyond to find the story, and will deliver the best final product possible. Prompt, efficient and creative — you’re in good hands with Academic Lens.
SHAHEEN NAZERALI
Director of Post-Production
VOX Creative
I have had the pleasure of working with Academic Lens on multiple projects over the years and they have always delivered results. They are an innovative team who creatively exceed expectations and stay customer-focused throughout the course of the project.
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WILL PISNIESKI
Special Projects, Unscripted
Amazon Studios
They trusted us
DANIEL RAGUSSIS
Before Academic Lens, Ragussis founded a successful marketing consultancy servicing a broad range of organizations, from major corporate clients (AOL, Fannie Mae, Verizon, DHL) to non-profits and tech startups, all while covering widely divergent industries, from healthcare and financial services to energy and telecom. He then moved into feature filmmaking; IMPERIUM, starring Daniel Radcliffe and Toni Collette, was released by Lionsgate and Universal. His unique background puts emotional storytelling and audience engagement at the center of the company’s education & advancement videos, with a focus on producing results for our clients.
Ryan Westra
Director, producer, cinematographer and editor, Ryan has expertise in all areas of production and knows how to deliver high quality at any budget level. His clients have included HBO Documentary Films, Verizon Wireless, Dreamworks, the Atlantic, the BBC, the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, Panorama Music Festival, and has had his work featured on FunnyOrDie, Upworthy, The Huffington Post, and the BBC. His latest Oscar-qualified short animated film, American Sikh, made waves at the Tribeca Festival in 2023, won film festivals across the country, won the Webby Award, Telly Award, and Collision Award for best animated short of 2025, and was featured on Good Morning America, Forbes, Variety, and CNN.
JOWAN CARBIN
Carbin is the producer of The Circuit, a weekly YouTube engineering news show with over one million subscribers and growing. Taking the helm of the series, he engineered a cutting-edge social media marketing campaign that dramatically accelerated subscriber growth and expanded the show's audience. His commercial work spans Bacardi, JP Morgan Chase, Sephora, Doritos, OnStar, Patrón, and GMC, and he has produced content for Amazon Studios, Facebook Watch, Soledad O'Brien Productions, Complex, Authentic Entertainment, Endemol Shine, YouTube, Discovery+, Netflix, and NBCUniversal. He brings these same storytelling and audience-building skills to Academic Lens.
DAN DRUHORA
Dan Druhora is an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker whose work has been featured on PBS and distributed globally through platforms including Amazon, ARTE, Netflix, and MUBI. His films focus on elevating science, technology, and human innovation — translating complex research into cinematic narratives that resonate far beyond academia. He has collaborated with major government funders and research institutions, including the State Department, the National Science Foundation (NSF), DARPA, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). A member of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Druhora brings broadcast-level craft and documentary discipline to Academic Lens.
Start the Conversation.
If you’re exploring how strategic storytelling can support your campaign, enrollment, or institutional priorities, we’d welcome the opportunity to connect.
Share a few details below, and we’ll follow up directly.
EMAIL info@academiclens.com
