University of Mary Washington student Elsa Lee won first place in the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis national video competition for her video “What are the 4 Factors of Production?”
Lee’s winning video features a young woman setting up a small business, and throughout the short film, Lee does her own voice-over. Lee received a $1,000 U.S. savings bond for placing first in the contest, and the Federal Reserve Bank plans to encourage high schools to use the video for educational purposes.
“It is very impressive that Elsa’s video won over entries from all over the country. Her video provides an excellent introduction to the idea of factors of production,” said Bradley A. Hansen, professor and chair of economics.
The video is posted on the YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7KlMb4U0IA. Lee hopes her video will be useful to students. “In econ classes, more and more professors are bringing up YouTube video and saying, this is relevant to what we’re learning,” said Lee, a senior with a double major in economics and French. “Maybe that tactic will trickle down into high schools.”
Lee’s brother Patrick, a freshman at James Madison University, won third place in the contest. He wrote his own script, and Elsa helped shoot and edit the video.
She became interested in the competition when she and her classmates saw last year’s winning video. The reward of extra credit motivated Lee to enter the contest. “I saw the winners from last year and I thought, I can do this,” she said.
Her interest in video production started in high school when she and her friends began making short films. Lee, a native of Falls Church, Va., volunteered at the Falls Church Community Television station, learning how the station operated and observing green- and blue-screen effects up close. The summer of 2008, she took film classes at New York University. While there, she worked with 16mm film, which she called a “huge pain.” Lee’s return to her digital video camera was like a breath of fresh air.
“It’s great, because higher and higher quality film equipment is available for consumer use at a reasonable price, so more kids can make better quality films,” she said.
Lee is a member of the UMW Student Senate and the Undeniably Adjacent, Mary Washington’s student improv comedy troupe. She also helps to run the student Film Fest each year.
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis is one of 12 regional Reserve banks in the Fed system. The Eighth Federal Reserve District, headquartered in St. Louis, Mo., has branches in Little Rock, Ark., Louisville, Ky., and Memphis, Tenn.