Markkula Center for Applied Ethics Video

Video for Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

Capitola Media produced this interview-driven institutional film for Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. The Center brings applied ethical thinking to questions in business, technology, health care, government, education and other areas, and the video was designed to communicate that mission through the people and history behind the organization.

Building an Institutional Story From Interviews

Rather than relying on a narrated overview, the production centers on first-person voices. Interviews give an institutional history credibility and texture because participants can describe what changed, what endured and why particular moments mattered. The editorial challenge is to shape those individual recollections into one coherent story rather than a chronological list of dates and accomplishments.

Lighting, sound, framing and interview preparation were designed to make participants comfortable and give the edit complete, usable answers. Supporting imagery and archival material then provide context around the interviews, allowing the story to move between personal recollection and the larger history of the Center.

A Center Founded Around Applied Ethics

Santa Clara University traces the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics to 1986, when it was launched with support from Linda and A.C. “Mike” Markkula Jr. and the leadership of SCU professor Manuel Velasquez. The early program focused on helping faculty across the University integrate ethical questions into their teaching, establishing the Center as a focal point for applied ethics rather than a stand-alone academic department.

Over time, the Center expanded beyond the campus through educational resources, professional programs and public-facing analysis of ethical issues. That broader mission gave the film a story larger than the anniversary itself: how an academic initiative developed into a widely used resource for individuals and organizations confronting practical ethical questions.

History, Mission and People

Anniversary and institutional films work best when organizational history is connected to the people who lived it. The Markkula Center story offered both: a clear founding moment and decades of work carried forward by faculty, staff, students and collaborators.

The film uses interviews to connect those perspectives with the Center’s continuing mission. Instead of treating history as background information, the edit makes it part of the explanation for why the organization exists and how its work developed.

Institutional Video for a University Audience

Higher-education video can serve alumni relations, fundraising, events, internal communications and institutional marketing. An interview-led format is particularly useful when the objective is to preserve history while keeping the piece personal and accessible.

For the Markkula Center, the result is an institutional story built around real voices, supported by careful interview production and editorial structure. The film documents the Center’s history while giving viewers a clearer sense of the people, ideas and purpose behind its work.