Two fraternity brothers are working together to build a business, and they’re getting quite a response.
Mark Branagh, junior supply chain management major, and Christian Wendlandt, sophomore finance and management double major, created the GoPro aerial view video of TCU’s Christmas tree lighting that took place Dec. 2.
Within 24 hours of its posting on YouTube, the video had almost 5,000 views. Students and alumni also shared the video on Facebook and Twitter.
Branagh and Wendlandt said they began shooting video together after they went on a day trip to Lake Whitney with friends. Wendlandt said he brought his GoPro camera and Branagh said he brought a camera of his own to the lake, which sparked conversation between the pair about video. Wendlandt said he told Branagh about his DIJ Phantom drone and they discussed working together to make videos.
The two said they thought the firework show that accompanied the tree lighting would make for a good video from an aerial view.
They said they arrived in the commons a few minutes before the tree lighting began, but not without a few minor setbacks.
“We actually had to pick the lock to my safe to get the remote for the drone,” Wendlandt said. “I forgot that I had given my girlfriend my keys.”
Once their equipment was all together and they were ready to shoot, Wendlandt and Branagh said they began looking for vantage points that would make for good shots for the video.
Wendlandt said they had to be creative with the camera angles and what shots would turn out because they did not have a live view of the video while they were shooting.
“We talked to a camera man from a local news station and he told us what time the lights were all going to be turned on,” Branagh said. “He ended up asking us for a copy of the video when we were done so it could be aired on the news.”
The pair said they received a lot of feedback on their video from alumni, staff members and students. Branagh said within minutes of posting of the video he received a phone call from Chancellor Victor Boschini asking for the video so that he could send it to TCU’s trustee and committee members.
“We hope this will lead to us doing more promotional stuff for TCU,” Branagh said. “We also got a response from Nick Utter- the guy that makes the amp it up videos for the athletics department. He asked if we could possibly start filming stuff for him eventually.”
They said they got several offers to shoot video for people in the spring.
“The [tree lighting] video was great exposure for us,” Wendlandt said. “Hopefully this will lead to opportunities where we can charge for our productions. Maybe this will turn into a business for us.”
In addition to the Christmas tree lighting, Branagh and Wendlandt said they have done aerial shoots of Greek philanthropy events such as the Pi Beta Phi “Dodge the Arrow” event and the Alpha Chi Omega “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” event.
Once they can acquire better equipment, the pair said that they would like to expand their business to all types of entertainment production. Wendlandt said he has already had offers to do aerial photography for weddings.