Murray County Humane Society Capstone Trailer Case Study

A voiceover-driven trailer that tells the story of shelter animals finding homes through a redesigned website.

Project date:

Spring 2026

Role

Director, Editor, Voiceover Artist, and Scriptwriter

Project Overview

This project is a 54-second voiceover-driven trailer for the Murray County Humane Society (MCHS) website redesign capstone. The trailer tells the story of shelter animals waiting for homes and shows how a redesigned website can help connect them with the families looking for them. I wrote and recorded the voiceover, directed the visual narrative using stock footage and live screen recordings of the redesigned site, and edited the final cut in Canva. The trailer was produced as a companion piece to the full MCHS website redesign capstone.

Opening Scene

The Problem

In my opinion, a capstone trailer needs to do more than just show the final product. It needs to make someone who has never heard of your project understand why it matters, in under a minute. For the MCHS website redesign, the challenge was specific: how do you make a website redesign feel emotional? Screen recordings of clean navigation and filter sidebars are important for demonstrating the work, but they don’t move people on their own. The trailer needed to bridge the gap between the technical reality of the project (a WordPress site with pet listings and donation flows) and the human reality it serves (animals that need homes and the volunteers who care for them).

An additional constraint shaped the process: original footage from the shelter was not an option due to certain complications. The trailer had to achieve authenticity and emotional resonance using only stock footage, a live screen recording of the site, and my own voiceover.

The Solution

The Initial Plan: A Site-Focused Storyboard

My original storyboard was heavily focused on showcasing the redesigned website. The plan was structured around a before-and-after comparison: show the old RescueGroups site, highlight its limitations, then reveal the new WordPress site page by page with text overlays calling out each feature. It was thorough and well-organized, but looking back, it was built more like a product walkthrough than a story.

Initial Storyboard

The Beta: What Feedback Revealed

I built the beta following that storyboard, and it showed. Stats like “100% Volunteer” and “No Kill” appeared as bold text over stock footage. Screenshots of the old site were presented alongside the new one. It communicated information clearly, but it didn’t move anyone. After sharing the beta for feedback, a clear pattern emerged: nearly every reviewer suggested adding a voiceover, and several noted that the on-screen text competed with the moving footage for the viewer’s attention. One reviewer put it directly: “There are a few elements that make this feel a tiny bit more like a presentation instead of a video promo/trailer.” Another pointed out that showing the old site risked coming across as putting down the client rather than uplifting their mission. The consensus was clear: the trailer needed a stronger narrative thread, and text overlays weren’t providing it.

Beta(left) & Finished Trailer with voiceover(right)

The Pivot

That feedback reshaped the entire approach. I set the original storyboard aside and rebuilt the trailer from a different starting point: emotion first, product second. I decided to remove all on-screen text (except the closing Call-to-action card), write and record a voiceover to carry the narrative, and reframe the story so it never mentions the old site at all. Instead of a before-and-after comparison, the trailer became a forward-looking story: animals need homes, volunteers show up, and a new website makes the connection easier. The storyboard taught me how to plan a trailer; the feedback taught me which trailer to actually make.

Building the Narrative Arc

The final trailer follows a five-part structure:

Animals waiting (0:00–0:10). The trailer opens with a puppy behind cage bars, then a cat in a kennel, then a vet gently examining a German Shepherd. The voiceover introduces the scale of the problem and the volunteers who stepped up to help. The footage is quiet and still, as the viewer is meant to lean in, not be overwhelmed.

The bridge (0:10–0:21). A “Take Me Home” cardboard sign next to a dog being petted serves as the emotional pivot. It transitions the viewer from the shelter world to the idea that someone, somewhere, is about to go looking for one of these animals online. A dissolve carries the viewer into the next scene.

The website (0:21–0:34). This section is a live screen recording of me browsing the redesigned MCHS site on my laptop, filmed at my desk with warm lamp lighting. The viewer watches the homepage load, sees the pet listings with the filter sidebar, and follows my cursor as I click on a husky’s profile. The voiceover here shifts from storytelling to quiet confidence: “So we built them a new home online.”

The live screen recording section, filmed at my desk.

The transition at 0:34. This is the moment I’m most proud of. After clicking the husky’s profile on the site, the screen cuts to a woman playing with her husky in a park. The music shifts from soft and reflective to bright and upbeat at the exact same moment. The voiceover lands: “Because it was never about the website. It was always about them.” The click on a pet profile becomes the catalyst for a real adoption story. It’s a small editing choice, but it visually connects the digital experience to the real-world outcome in a way that feels earned rather than forced.

The centerpiece transition: clicking a pet profile on the site cuts to an owner with her husky.

The close (0:43–0:54). The trailer ends with the MCHS logo on a clean white background and the URL “murrayhumane.org.” The voiceover delivers the MCHS tagline: “Saving lives. Finding homes. Educating hearts.” — then the Call-to-action as the music fades. No other text appears in the entire trailer; the closing card is the only moment where the viewer’s eyes need to read anything.

Final Scene

Results

The final trailer came in at 54 seconds with a complete narrative arc, self-recorded voiceover, and zero on-screen text until the closing card. The biggest lesson from this project was that peer feedback and instructor guidance don’t just polish a deliverable — they can fundamentally redirect your approach. The decision to cut all text overlays and add a voiceover wasn’t a small tweak; it changed the trailer from something that felt like a presentation into something that felt like a story. If I were to iterate further, I’d explore incorporating original footage from MCHS, and I’d experiment with tighter sync between the music’s beat structure and the visual cut points. But as it stands, I’m proud that the trailer tells a story about the connection between animals and people, between a website and a mission, in under a minute.