Project Review with Allyson Reese: Resilient Educators & the Power of Video

This episode explores the journey of creating a promotional video for Teach for America during the pandemic, emphasizing the theme of resilience in education. It delves into the collaborative process, from initial planning to filming and editing, highlighting the importance of clear purpose and storytelling.

• Collaborative background from wedding event 
• Understanding Teach for America and its mission 
• Emphasis on resilience as a core theme 
• Detailed pre-production planning process 
• Insights on production logistics and challenges 
• Importance of effective storytelling and question framing 
• Reflective experiences on filming day and interviews 
• Lessons learned during the editing process 
• Value of partnership and client-videographer collaboration 
• Final thoughts on impact and legacy of the project

FilmStory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/filmstory/id1641955836

What do we do: https://myfilmstory.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@myfilmstory

Transcript

Reflecting on Teach for America Project

Speaker 1 0:00

because we get the opportunity to kind of go back in time and revisit a project that we did many years ago . We had the opportunity to work with Teach for America in Jacksonville in Florida and I got to work with lovely lady Allison Reese , who brought me into this fold of a project for Teach for America . They're doing big things back then in creating some promotional content for that entity and I wanted to kind of bring it back to highlight the process . Of course , a lot of times in production , the production part of it is essential , but there's so much that goes on well before that and I'm sure a lot of you guys already know . But I want to take it one step further and give you like here's a literal play-by-play , a literal like recap on what happened both before the production , during the production and a little bit after . So I'm excited for the conversation today . We have Allison Reese here today . Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me . I appreciate it , even though the project was like so many years ago it doesn't matter .

Speaker 2 1:05

It's always lovely to chat with you . I'm happy to be joining you all the way from Jacksonville Florida .

Speaker 1 1:12

Definitely . Thank you , awesome . So you know . To recap , let's start a little bit of the foundation for the project . So initially we met through a wedding . Allison was working the event planning and the wedding planning for the wedding , which was a beautiful wedding at a remote club in Jacksonville , I believe it was freezing .

Speaker 2 1:37

Yeah , it was cold . I remember it was really cold . Yeah , it was like . Floridians were not ready .

Speaker 1 1:44

Yeah , look at all my like behind the scenes footage and I'm like you were wearing like a ninja mask . We kept calling you ninja black jacket hat , just completely covered in the coal filming a wedding , shouts out to lexi , the the bride , because she uh was in the cold with her dress on , yeah , filming , and she was like , do you need one more take , are you good ? She was asking me . I'm like , no , I'm good , but thank you so much for you . Anyway , that's besides the point .

Speaker 2 2:12

She's lovely she was amazing .

Speaker 1 2:16

I personally enjoyed working with you , Allison , and that project turned out great . To this day , it's still a flagship piece that we use for our marketing and things like that . Um but , we had a great time working there and , uh , was it a little after that , was it like ? I don't remember the exact days , but a couple months ? Later something like that , or was it the following year ?

Speaker 2 2:36

it was pretty . It might have been the following year , or it was that spring , I can't remember , but it was during covid , so that's why remember .

Speaker 1 2:46

But it was during COVID , so that's why I remember it all being close together .

Speaker 2 2:54

So those mystery years in your brain just meld together .

Speaker 1 2:55

And so she she brought me on to the possibility of doing some some production work for Teach for America and I want to turn it over to you , allison , kind of bring me up to speed to like how we went from the wedding stuff to like doing the project .

Speaker 2 3:10

Yeah . So I was really excited to have this conversation today too because I , as a former small business owner , to get the opportunity to do a behind the scenes with a client and you know what their thought process is on the , you know how it goes down . I'm hopeful it's like very helpful for other videographers , small businesses . So that's why today was kind of cool . It was also nice to like relive the experience a little bit because even though we worked together at the wedding , you know I was there as the event planner and you were there as a videographer , right . So then my full time job was working at Teach for America in development . So during that year , I remember you know , we couldn't do any of the things that we normally do , so we couldn't have fundraising events , we couldn't have board meetings , we couldn't bring board members into classrooms and just a little bit of background .

Speaker 2 4:07

Teach for America is a program where people join in and they become a teacher and they do a two-year commitment . So a lot of them are people who maybe they're in teaching , maybe they were not . So sometimes when you're explaining what Teach for America is , even to the average person without COVID , it can be a little bit of a let me show you . It's hard for me to tell you so without the ability to bring them into a classroom or without being able to meet students or learn what the heck Teach for America is , I feel like we were kind of facing this . What do we do ?

Speaker 2 4:50

So then I had the idea of like well , could we sort of time capsule this , because also there's like so many entities about what happened in classrooms during COVID that we might never do that again or see that again or know what that looks like . And I also was just so . I feel like it was twofold . Really , it was like how can we capture this moment in time ? How can we explain what Teach for America is ? But , more importantly , how can I tell a story and bring someone into a classroom when they can't go ? How can I show what is actually happening ? Because it's just too hard to just tell .

Speaker 1 5:29

Right , right , and so , in going through that process , decided I reached out to you . Yeah , to reach out to me of all people and try to see what we can do to create this project , if we will . Did you have something else to add there ? I'm sorry if I cut you off .

Speaker 2 5:45

No , I was saying I remember when I reached out to you , I think I said probably something similar to what I literally just said , and the thing I remember the most was you were like okay , and I think I was like oh , and like you know , three minutes or under we were talking about like how many things we wanted to talk about in the film and you were just like this , it's too much stuff , so many things . But , um , I remember you gave me like very specific questions , like you sat down with me and we took a lot of time on the front end , and I think that that was one of the things that definitely is like a huge part of the process that I just didn't see coming of how the planning of the preparation for the day we were going to film was going to go .

Speaker 1 6:36

Right , yeah , I think that's a great , a great starting point , because you know , that's that's . I can come up , I can bring the gear to you and I can say , all right , press record , go , do whatever go you're supposed to do , go do it . And it's and it's no like we with all the things that Teach for America does . Take that and that's a lot . Then you add COVID . Okay , now add how TFA works while COVID is going on . Okay , capture that .

Speaker 1 7:08

But people need to understand what TFA is . But they also need to understand how COVID is affecting TFA and they need to understand why this promotional is being shown Like there's so many different nuances to try to capitalize on . But at the end of the day , you know , this is a really cool organization that is , I mean , in a very quick way , kind of transforming teachers or people that are coming in to be teachers that may be hesitant or reluctant or not sure how it will work out , and really giving them an opportunity to like soar and like , work through it and figure it out , and providing the resources behind them . And I think that's that's kind of the heart of what we were trying to portray on camera is not just the promotional of what is Teach for America . But how exactly is Teach for America preparing and advocating for these incoming teachers , as well as the alumni or veterans ? I'm not sure what the word is .

Speaker 1 8:11

Those that have already gone through the process . How are they pouring back into people that are coming in for the first time as well ? So it was a really cool kind of unfolding of the story , but it took a good bit of folding back some layers and saying , okay , I understand , I get it , I get it , okay , let's , let's , let's , okay , let's , let's . Go in a little bit more and try to identify , like , what the actual goal is for this project and I think that now kind of the goal for it , what we want to leave with at the end of the day when we watch the video . What do we want to make sure we leave with what's communicated ?

Speaker 1 8:45

kind of a thing , and I think that's where a lot of the times my brain went , when , when it came to trying to figure that out , um , and that's that takes , you know , a good bit of thought process .

Speaker 1 8:56

Like I'm sure I don't remember correctly we had a few , a few meetings , um , virtually yes where we're kind of going through the same thing and trying to figure out okay , if this is what we're trying to communicate , now that we identify the goal for the video , which is , of course , showcasing the promotion of TSA , but also showcasing how TFA is preparing and guiding and molding these upcoming teachers , how do we showcase that ? Like , what does it look ? Like ? Teachers are everywhere , doing everything for all the students at the same time . Like you said , different classrooms are set up differently . You know all these different like , how do we even do that ? And so for me , that's from like , all right , allison .

Speaker 2 9:42

Yeah .

Speaker 1 9:42

I know I need your help because I don't . I'm on the outside looking in on this one . I don't really know what , how that works or what you guys are doing Like . Help me , help you .

Speaker 2 9:51

Yeah , and I think , uh , like a testament to the success of the project for me , sorry , was like when you reached out to me and you were like , hey , let's , are you up for having a conversation about ? You know , this project that we did I know it was a while ago it was like I think you even said to me , um , you were like , oh , do you really remember ? And I was like , oh , the video was about resilience . Yeah , and I remembered it so immediately . And then when I pulled it back up and looked at it while we were chatting , I think the title I mean hold on , I pulled it back up it's literally 2020-2021 Year of Resilience , is like what it's called . So I was like , oh , success , like that was the point of the project , right .

Speaker 2 10:38

So , like , capturing all of those elements , the theme , the theme throughout , all of those things you know , I brought them down right . Like what is Teach for America ? I , we really wanted to highlight virtual learning because , like , I had so many board members who were like I just don't understand . So , like there's this one image of you know this teacher . She's standing there and she's like showing the screen . So you had the screen and then you had the board behind her and she was using like a white board . So they because they were just like what does that mean ? So then we , we did what is teach america , the what does it look like to be virtual learners , alumni ? Because we wanted to talk about what happens after the classroom , like do people who do teach america stay in the classroom ? They don't . And then the last one was this 2030 goal that the organization set and Zandra reads it at the end . So all those elements I put like under the umbrella of they just highlight these back to back to back examples of

Navigating Collaborative Video Project Planning

Speaker 2 11:37

resilience . Like I faced this and this is how I felt and this is what we did . I faced this . This is what happened , this is what we did . So I feel like , when I thought about that part , I was like , oh yeah , we did it .

Speaker 2 11:51

But , like you said , in the moment when we were in the very beginning , I do remember a part where you were like okay , so I think you said like , who's the ? Who's going to be the main person that's going to be working on the project ? And I remember being like well , I guess it's me , um , but then I was kind of like what do you mean ? Maybe it is somebody else . And then I was like , slowly starting to , you were starting to like , slowly peel back these , like , okay , I need your help to tell the story right .

Speaker 2 12:24

So , like I think something that , from a client perspective , you know , we reach out to a videographer , we want to do a project and , like you said , you could show up and videotape some stuff and then , you know , put it together . But you went the extra mile to sort of nudge me to say , okay , so , but like , let's prep the story and let's make sure that we're asking the right questions to the people what people do you want to interview ? How many do you want ? What school should we go to ? And you were helping me to create the storyline , whereas I think sometimes people think like , oh , here's this idea . And then you run with it and you're like , but you know , you know , you have , I know which teachers we were going to go see , right , and I knew why we should see the certain classrooms that we were going to .

Speaker 2 13:19

And I feel like you really pulled me along the journey , whereas I think when people reach out to businesses to do this , they think I thought I was like , oh , I'm going to tell Damien that we're doing a video and he's got it and you do . But we talked about before this , before we started recording . I had this giant spreadsheet that I made , I mean , and it changed so many times because it kind of was like here's everything , and then we had to start eliminating , like okay , that's not going to make the cut , like okay , which , why do we need to do this ? And it was very it was . It was just not . It was totally not what I thought , but the amount of work that was put in ahead of time only amplified the story in the end .

Speaker 1 14:14

Yeah , I was going to say you , you pretty much you almost ended up doing the job of like a producer of the project kind of thing , putting all these things in order . Yeah , and and thank you so much for kind of shedding that light . And it's kind of one of the layers to peel back is man , these projects like this we're a lot of the projects but of this design we are really having to go into , go into the the deepness of an organization or really going into just trying to figure out who's who and why do we need them . It really helps to have someone that's in the organization there to help you with the process , because all of our meetings were virtual , right because you were in Georgia .

Speaker 2 15:02

That was the other thing .

Speaker 1 15:03

You're right , that was the other thing . I was in Georgia and you're in Florida and to be able to man have our meetings piece by piece , figuring out what we're trying to do and then saying , OK , we actually need to figure out who's even going to be speaking on camera , where these people located , Can we even get them in front of the camera ? It's like normally that's a boots on the ground kind of a job , but for me I heavily relied on you to do that and I tried my best to kind of equip you as much as possible for that . But that's the game . Like that's important that , right , there is the difference between a quality product that actually serves the organization well versus someone showing up and pressing record and right I think that's , that's man , that's something that um , it's kind of the difference between a business owner and a video contractor .

Speaker 1 16:01

It's it's like there's a full investment into the project where it's really not a win unless we all went like everybody .

Speaker 2 16:09

Totally yeah .

Speaker 1 16:11

And I thoroughly was appreciate , I totally appreciated you for doing that , because you didn't have to . You could have given it to someone else . Or you could have said , damien , you got it , like you said , and just you know , had me go , but I I could not , and just you know , had me go , um , but I I could not have done that without you . Uh , definitely dream , definitely a dream client , um , and I think that's uh , man , being able to you , you kinda we're jumping ahead a little bit , but that's okay , that's fine , it's fine , it's fine . But you're talking about , um , you're talking about uh , uh , figuring out , like some of the questions and like what do we need to ask ? Why do we need to ask , who do you need to ask it to Like that kind of a stuff . Those things don't come , um , until you figure out the actual purpose or goal that you're trying to create for the project . So you talked about resiliency . We talked about being able to get very clear in understanding Teach for America , but also how they are operating during this time , and really shedding light on that . So that way it's not just something that's recognized but it's highlighted and it's like oh , wow , wow , they're doing that in the school system .

Speaker 1 17:28

Sorry , sorry , sir , I'm not talking to you so you know they're doing that in the school system . That's , that's crazy . I had no clue . Um , and I just want to take time to make sure . I'm saying we didn't figure out what we needed to ask or the questions we needed to ask until we figured out the actual purpose and goal we were trying to communicate in the project . And it has to go in that order because once again I can show up and I can figure out something to ask Allison go . Hey , allison , tell me about Teach for America . What do you like about it ? You know how's it helped you in your life and you're I mean it's , it's been great .

Speaker 1 18:09

but I think I thought we were talking about the you know , it's , it can go so many different ways , but being able to kind of fight past the , the outline and kind of say , hey , we really want to focus on the things that we want to focus on . You know that takes some , some , some gumption because you kind of got to go okay , no , we're not going to focus on that , we want to focus on this . Not going to focus on that , we want to focus on this . And so that's that's really key , so thank you for bringing that up .

Speaker 2 18:37

Yeah , it kind of reminds me

Crafting Impactful Video Storytelling

Speaker 2 18:39

. One of my former teachers many moons ago said this and it's always stuck with me but you know you can take . It'll take you two minutes to prepare a two hour speech , right , cause you got two hours , so you'll just wing it . But it'll take me two hours to prepare a two minute speech , cause I got to make the impact in that two minutes matter , right , and I have to be able to figure out . I got to get very specific , I have to get to the point , I have to hit my mark . You know , and I think that's kind of how it felt was that I was like this video can't be too long . We have to , like hit the emotion right , because for any of you who work in development and fundraising , there's something that we talk about all the time there's head people and heart people , right . So the head people they want the data . What are the reading scores ? What's the economic impact of teachers ? How many teachers do you have ? What's the retention rate ? What are the summit Like ? They want that part of it and that'll be what moves the moves it for them . And then there's the people who , like I said , they got to see it , they have to see the impact , they have to feel the emotion of being in a classroom , feel like what it's like to learn this life changing information from teachers . And so , if you're going to be , if that's going to be the purpose of the video to move people right like you have to get in there and figure out how you're going to tell the story , to do that story to to do that and not to jump ahead , but like .

Speaker 2 20:10

There's one part at the end of the film , like at the end of the movie , when Zandra says , like I can't , oh , I get chills still , I don't know . It's like this one part , that like and I'm saying that because we didn't tell her what to say , right , but we were really intentional with the question . I remember that we asked her yeah , and so she talks about how she's like . You know , people really like to think about how learning was lost during covid . You know , two years behind , and what did we do ? And she was .

Speaker 2 20:39

But she said but I don't think learning has been lost and it was just the way that she said . It was just this hopeful . And it was just the way that she said it was just this hopeful , just like , celebratory , like . But we're working really freaking hard over here and I don't think learning has been lost , because that's what you can feel in her voice . She doesn't say it and you can only emulate that with however we had worded the question to her . You know , and I think that's why the time that was taken to do that was important . And I remember when we were , when you were explaining it to me , when we were coming up with these questions , I was like okay , but so like what happens ? Like am I sitting there , like do we hear the question on the camera ?

Speaker 2 21:21

and I think , remember I think you were like I'm like , is it like oprah style , like does the question , does the question pop up on the screen ? And you were like no , you just we are gonna sit in the back , like we sit behind the camera , right , and we just tell them the question . We just record what they say , and it was like even just that granular . I had no idea how it was gonna work . I was like cool , I made the questions damian . Now what ?

Speaker 1 21:51

that's hilarious . I do remember that . Yeah , wow , yeah , that's , that's great . I do remember that . Um , yeah , shots out the zantra . That was great , um I know so good you killed it . She killed it um she's . She's a natural in front of the camera . I feel like she's a natural in life . She just kills it .

Speaker 2 22:11

Yeah , that's true , she exudes passion for what she does . She still works at Teach for America . I just saw her the other day and you can tell . So that's easy , right when you're picking , like , okay , who am I going to interview , who am I going to ask these questions ? And the diversity of the people we asked was important for the video too . So the diversity , not only within the human , of who it was , but an elementary school , a middle school , high school , a virtual learner , a virtual teacher , an alum Leighton was actually . He was a director of operations for a school who used to be a teacher , so his impact was important because he operationally had to get a school ready for covid yeah , so I feel like we had these .

Speaker 2 22:57

Yeah , so it was also like the humans that we chose were diverse and very specific , because we wanted to capture multiple , I guess .

Speaker 1 23:11

Perspectives , maybe .

Speaker 2 23:12

Perspectives , yeah Scenarios . Absolutely Excuse me yeah , it was crazy .

Speaker 1 23:19

Yeah , Both those A lot of all of them did well , but those two in particular did really well in creating some of the foundation and ending to the video .

Speaker 1 23:31

So , quick recap . We talked about being able to get very clear on understanding what the goal and purpose is for the video , and so we did that a lot through virtual meetings back and forth , really digging into the layers of TFA , especially in Jacksonville , and , if I could go one layer even further , as far as making it as black and white as possible , being able to ask you like so what exactly is the goal for this video ? Like what , when people watch this video , what do you want them to leave with ? Um , I know I tend to ask that question a lot when I start off with my with clients , because that's a perspective they don't really think of a lot of the times .

Speaker 2 24:15

A lot of the times they're on the front end like I need this video right , I need it because it's a donor event and I need to show them a video and it's like well , yeah , but like exactly I need it to work .

Speaker 1 24:27

That's like it needs to work and help what I'm trying to do , like that's what I need it for and it's like , okay , that's , that's , that's a great start . So you , you know . So that's kind of how we start and when we talk about figuring out what that goal is , what that purpose is , a lot of the times when you hear that response you can begin to kind of ask figure out , what are the problems to that goal ?

Navigating Budget Constraints in Video Production

Speaker 1 24:54

Like , if we're trying to showcase the resiliency for Teach for America , jacksonville , what are some of the problems that hindered that ? Or is the struggle for that ?

Speaker 1 25:04

And that's where you have the COVID , where you have teachers in like classrooms trying to figure things out . You have trying to figure out the support system for them . You have the whole city shutting down . You have all these things . Okay , so we have all have all these problems . Okay , what are the solutions to those problems , correct ? Yeah , okay , we have the problem and we have the solution . Okay , who can specifically speak about each one of those problems ? Okay , layton , he did his thing , like you're just saying , with the school system and he does a lot with the um I forgot the term he used for his position , but he helped a lot with getting the uh , the word ppes keep coming to my mind , but getting oh , like the , the glass , like , or the glass , the protective , yeah , all that yeah , he was .

Speaker 1 25:51

He talked a lot about that . He talked about the teachers doing the virtual classes . Um , uh , with that video clip of her sounding out the words during the virtual um yeah , you have actual teachers in classrooms , you have alumni , you have all these different perspectives .

Speaker 1 26:08

That answers the problems to what we're trying to showcase . So now , again , we're not guessing . I think that's the thing that I don't know . If I don't remember , I might've shared that a lot back then . I might've had that epiphany back then . I don't know . It's become more and more clear as I've continued it's been my 12th year now is I don't have to guess . When we're trying to create this content , I'm literally trying to hear what the actual goal is , what the actual purpose from your perspective right now , and then being able to dive and say , ok , if this is the goal , what are some of the problems that hinder that from happening ? And saying , ok , if those are the problems , what are the actual solutions , the clients that they've served , that they've helped ? You know we've done that for other projects and it's turned out great because they're specifically targeting and answering the questions , bringing the solutions that the company provides to those problems , and so we just did that exact same thing for this project . Now , of course , every project looks different and for this one , you know , we had the opportunity to go from the pre-production and going through all of that into the production , right , and so for you , allison , we're talking about production .

Speaker 1 27:24

You mentioned it a little bit with the interviews . That's a great tidbit I really forgot you were trying to figure out that perspective , but were there any like hesitations or like I don't know ? Fears might be kind of a strong word , but anything that you were like ? You mentioned the interview , so maybe that was one thing , but was there anything that you're going into it and you're like man , I don't really know how this would work or if it would work or what my role is here , or was there any kind of hesitation or fear , even if it was in the earlier phases ? I'd love to hear what your perspective is or was on that kind of hesitation or fear , even if it was in the earlier phases . I'd love to hear what your perspective is or was on that kind of a thing .

Speaker 2 28:01

I think too , when I think back on it , um , I mean , I think this is with any client , I mean , budget , budget was a hundred percent . You're always your first concern , right ? So I it's like , you know , when you watch house hunters and they're like so I it's like you know , when you watch house hunters and they're like I want to . I'm a five bedroom house with seven , you know , bathrooms , and I have a $2 budget because it's COVID and it's nonprofit and I'm , you know , I'm trying to create this million dollar video on not a million dollar budget , right ? So like , how do you find that balance between where we have to spend the money on this ? You know , but I can't , I can't have all the things , right .

Speaker 2 28:46

But so I think , also , the budget helped me stay focused in a way that I was like okay , because , um , I was the one who asked for this , right ? Like , it's not like someone in the organization came to me and they're like we should do a video . It's like I was actually like we need , I need this video . It was that I need this video because I need to be able to have it from a donor perspective , and I was almost proving to my team how valuable it was . I had worked with you before . I knew that the story was going to be impactful . So I feel like my fear was you know , okay , we're spending this money to do a video , what if it doesn't succeed in the purpose of the video ? Right ?

Speaker 2 29:31

So then it was like I knew it would , but it was like because I was the one sort of leading the charge on it , I was just like I think I just felt a little bit more pressure to make sure that every single piece was intentional yeah um , so I think also because you weren't in Jacksonville and we I knew you were traveling , so it was also , you know that it wasn't a fear necessarily , but it was like we got one day right , like we got like Damien's coming and we are cramming so much stuff I almost guessed stuff into this one day and I actually think you did spend the night and we did one more school in the morning before you left . Spend the night and we did one more school in the morning before you left . But like yeah , yeah , I was also like what if layton is sick ? Like what if we spent this so much time picking the schools ? Like what if some ? What if something happens in the school and we can't go that day because , also , we had to get so much clearance , yeah , to be able to bring a whole camera crew into a classroom .

Speaker 2 30:35

So I think there were other nuances about the actual execution that day . You know we had to get media releases , so any of the kids that were on camera , even though they were wearing a mask , we still had to get approval to have them in the video . So I think there's other entities that were like that . I was more like , okay , cool , we're going to do the video and then , once I found out where I was , like all right , now the pressure is a little bit more pressure , but it wasn't . Um , it wasn't . Those are probably just the normal things that I would assume when you're going to tackle a project like that , that I remember being a little bit .

Speaker 1 31:14

Yeah , yeah , that's that's . Um , that's , that's , that's , that's , that's . That's a really good , transparent perspective that I'll say I don't , I don't hear a lot and don't get to hear a lot , because when you were sharing that , it almost felt like you were like all right , I'm putting all my chips on the table here , we're going to go for it . Here we go . You know , like I'm putting it all in , I got nothing . I got nothing else .

Speaker 1 31:48

We're going to go for it and to be able to work . You know , from the wedding worked out great , and then from this , but now I'm in another state and so you're , you're having to speak with , you know , different representatives and whatever entities in the organization yourself to try to , like I don't want to say prove that this is helpful , but to kind of say , hey , this is really something that I believe can help and really showcase what we're trying to do , kind of pitching that almost , and then turning around and saying , Damien , you got me right , we're good , right . I'm like , yeah , we got you , and then it's like I got you , but I'm still in another state , you know . So I think that perspective is it's it's new for me and it's good to hear , it's just good to hear .

Speaker 1 32:38

I don't hear that a lot , did you ? I'm curious did you ever feel , did you ever feel like it wasn't going to happen , Whether it was due to a budget or whether it was due to maybe just had a lot of pushback from the project or maybe wanting it to go a different way ? Did you ever have that feeling ? Or was it like , once you kind of pitched it and was solid , kind of felt the momentum shifting from there ?

Speaker 2 33:06

I do remember there being hesitation .

Speaker 1 33:09

Yeah .

Speaker 2 33:09

Right , like I do remember , because , again , every penny in a nonprofit at that time was tight , yeah . So , and again , I value the work that you do . This is how much it costs . And it was like Allison , do you want to get quotes ? No , I do not , right . And again , not all clients are , but I'm saying not all clients are going to be like that , you know , but from but ,

Capturing Stories of Resilient Educators

Speaker 2 33:37

for me .

Speaker 2 33:37

I was like , if you guys are going to , I'm putting a lot of time into this project , right , like I think that it's going to and it's still on the Teach for America website to this day . I saw it , yeah , when I was like , when it's gone , it's going to be gone , and you guys and we wouldn't , we didn't , we didn't capture this thing that , like so many people did the hard thing , they went to schools when it was , it was very difficult , right , they figured out how to you know , it was just one of those things that I was like I think I believe in this project . And then , but my team , like I remember they trusted me . They were like , all right , but I don't think I ever had any hesitation .

Speaker 2 34:30

It was just a fact that that's kind of how , and maybe clients , maybe it is a good perspective , like clients are coming to you with and it's their idea , right , so , like I'm pitching it to my team . It's not like , hey , allison , we want to do a video , can you get a couple quotes for us ? It's like right . It's like , oh , hey , I think this is valuable for what I'm doing , um , and so I think that's why , like the partnership that you and I had throughout the process was what I knew I I needed like this , wasn't you know ? Like I said , I wasn't just paying a videographer to take some , but it was like no , I need someone to help me tell a story .

Speaker 1 35:02

Yeah , absolutely , man . Amazing perspective . Thank you for sharing that . That's good . I think that helps me even in my own and growing my own business and trying to reach , honestly , people like you that are in that position even more . So great , thank you for that . Let's talk production a little bit . Like you said earlier , the schedule that you so eloquently put together and made adjustments and we're trying to figure it out .

Speaker 2 35:27

It was tight .

Speaker 1 35:28

Yeah , it was tight . I was looking back at it . I'm seeing , like the interview stuff here , interview time slots 1.30 , then 3 , 3.30 , 4 , 4.30 , 5 , 5.30 , like it's just boom , boom , boom , boom , nonstop . Yeah , but again , a lot of the work in putting that together . I remember firstly , for clarity's sake , it was me , I brought on me and another guy to do all the filming there in Jacksonville .

Speaker 1 36:00

Um , and uh , this guy I've worked with him before . His name is Audie , great work , amazing work , great guy to work with We've done . He was on site for the wedding as well , um , so I wanted to bring him for this as well , because Allison , I think , had already like , knew him , broke the ice , Like it for this as well , because Allison , I think , had already like , knew him , broke the ice , like it wasn't like a brand new face , familiar with him , um , and so we kind of divided and conquered a little bit because , like Allison said , there are , there are multiple schools , like this wasn't just one school that we were filming , um , and the reason why was because different schools were doing different things , um , from the younger ones that I think audrey captured , where , uh , they they had like their yeah , they had the plex , the glass and the masks and they were very far apart , like they had the individual desks that were super spread apart , versus the middle school , I think , was still actually at clusters .

Speaker 2 36:55

There was one school that was still and then there was one that I don't even . I mean masks were required , but then , let's be honest , how many Plenty of the kids had . I mean , the masks were like this , like that's about right , just like what is happening , yeah .

Speaker 1 37:15

That's about right . So , yeah , you're just like what is happening . Yeah , that's about right . So , yeah , um , so we kind of divided and conquered , capturing different schools , um , getting supporting footage , um , and the supporting footage that we got was based off of the answers that we figured and thought and assumed that we would get from the questions that we were going to ask people . So , once again , I'm not guessing , I know the questions that I asked . I have an idea of the answers they're going to say . So I want to get the supporting footage based off of that .

Speaker 1 37:49

So , even though the schedule was full and packed , it was still a targeted plan to kind of get what we needed , and there were I think there were a few other deliverables as well that TFA wanted aside from this , that were kind of like long form recordings , and Audi handled those as well , and so we did that , split it up , and then we met back at HQ for the interviews . Split it up , and then we met back at HQ for the interviews and that's where all the interviews took place , asked , all the questions , got them all recorded , worked out really smoothly , great , and teachers were great in front of the camera , sandra was great , layton was great , I mean just all around solid content , like I remember leaving that day and I was like , yeah , we have solid content that we can use for the project , and I think that again goes back to being able to work through those questions .

Speaker 1 38:46

I also remember that by the end of the first day your boy was tired . This was a solid like I'm looking at the schedule here there were three star , three schools , is that right ? Yeah , yeah , I'm looking at three up , wait , three schools and the interviews , yeah , on that day , yeah . And then the second day , like you're saying , was , um , the two schools and so , um for you , logistics , production , scheduling what was that like for you ? And at that point you already had kind of the schedule created , but now we're like it's go time , we're going through it , um , what do you remember ? What do you ? What were you like oh man , this is crazy , or what was it like for you ?

Speaker 2 39:36

um , so it is kind of cheating because all the people we interview are teachers by nature , right , so also like their level of presentation skill or being able to speak is probably you know it's I wasn't concerned is my point , believe me . But ask a teacher a question , you know they , they have it's . Everyone can speak .

Speaker 1 39:59

Yeah , it's , definitely better . But I will say sometimes it's a little different when that camera and the lights get in front of in front .

Speaker 2 40:05

That's very true .

Speaker 1 40:06

But they still did a great job . So they were , they were fine , they were great , yeah , yeah .

Speaker 2 40:12

I'm trying to remember no-transcript , not to downplay the different schools , but b-roll is kind of b-roll yeah like I remember that we were like we're gonna go to even I was trying to fit like one or two other schools , and I remember you being like I think once we get a couple drone shots , and then , oh , I remember you suggested , um , we did purchase some footage because remember , we were like you know , we had location in tampa , we had another thing in orlando , like we're obviously not going to go to Orlando and I'm and in the beginning there's like this B , this B roll of Orlando . But I remember that you were like we have this library of assets that we can use . So that also helped sort of hone in on okay , what do we really need then ? And so I remember not , I remember us probably not needing as many visits or as much of that B-roll maybe that we got . Because I think once I actually saw the video come together I know the schools are different , but to the average person you kind of don't . So I mean , that was one thing .

Speaker 2 41:52

And then the second thing I definitely I feel like once you set off all the interview equipment and we were in the room and you had the lights and like we were in that chair , like sitting in the tall chair , and I was asking the questions , I remember like you could feel it almost , like you could feel I don't know , like the emotion or like the pressure of the question , and remember at one point layton had just started talking and then I remember we interrupted him and I was like do you want me to take your stuff ? Like , and you can see in one of the clips like he's still holding his like paper and his phone in his hand and he's just like sitting there . And I remember being like , well , we , do you want to put any of that down ? He was like , oh , I mean , yeah , just figured I'd start talking .

Speaker 1 42:42

Natural . He's like let's go . What do you need ?

Speaker 2 42:45

Yeah , let's talk about it man , yeah , it was so great .

Navigating Video Project Timelines and Editing

Speaker 2 42:48

I remember literally coming home that day , being exhausted and also being like my heart is full , like I remember just being like this was cool . I usually don't get to go to classrooms and because we had to get all this high level of approval , it was also refreshing because I was like I haven't even been in a classroom and it was really cool to see teachers and I feel like you know , we got to laugh with kids and it was like the whole point . So I feel like when I got home was just like wow , that was really fun . I had so much fun and maybe not everybody will would feel that way , but that's how I felt and I was like now I felt like here you go , damien , like I got home and I got home and I was like , okay , we , we got the footage , I think we have great content .

Speaker 2 43:34

And then I was like now it was like what is he gonna do ?

Speaker 1 43:40

yeah , yeah , that's a good point yeah .

Speaker 1 43:43

So I guess yeah at that point um whereas you left and went home and you're probably already got a lot of work to do yeah , yeah , you , you get used to it like it's just , it's , it was a good bit um , but and that's one of the that's one of the reasons why I enjoy doing weddings so much was because weddings teach you how to move in pressure . Like you're filming all day into the night Tons of footage . You have this story that you're trying to tell At least for us , when we do our wedding videos . They're very story led . They're not some cookie cutter thing , they're very story led . And you got to create an amazing product Right For this .

Speaker 1 44:29

I was like man , we have a lot of content . We had so much footage , but I see the story , we have the questions . We ask the questions in the order of the way the story is going to go . Like we were good , like I knew we'd be able to make something out of it , but yeah , it is . You know like , oh man , how's he going to do it ? How's he going to do it Right when I know you'll know like that's , you know that's that's about it , um , but yeah , that's great to hear , um , but I'm sure that was a little bit , uh , like you know , wondering what that's going to look like .

Speaker 2 45:08

But I think it turned out pretty well it turned out great , yeah , but then it's like you know , okay , it would be like two weeks or I don't remember what the timeline was , but it would be like the next day and I'd be like so no , I'm just kidding , I was like yeah , I don't remember how long it took , I don't I don't remember that long .

Speaker 1 45:26

I don't think it was a . I don't think it was a long turnaround . Most of my turn , most times my turnaround's pretty , pretty quick , if I can help it . Um , I just like to knock it out .

Speaker 2 45:35

I remember we were pushing the timeline not to go back to your other question , but that was the second thing that I was a little I wasn't worried .

Speaker 1 45:41

It was for an event right .

Speaker 2 45:43

It was for an event . So I remember like we took so much time on the pre-planning , like way more than I had thought was it was going to take . So I remember when we picked the day to actually film , then I was like under the pressure . I was like you know , I mean like because in the beginning I felt like , oh , we'll talk about this , and like you and I kept having these meetings , and then finally it was like , okay , but this event is coming up right . So I feel like that was the other thing of getting the approval for the school and getting so . It was pushing it a little bit , I remember , but we made it work yeah , absolutely .

Speaker 1 46:18

And I think you know , man , editing editing is where the rubber meets the road , because there's , you have a plan , you figured out the goal , you got the questions down , you have the answers , you have the content , you have the b-roll , you have the music you're going to use for it , you have the , the way in which is going to go , in your mind , and then you put it together and you're like , oh , this isn't going exactly how I thought it was going to go , but the truth is that's normal , like it , it never goes the exact way it's gonna go I mean , let's you know high-end , you know box office movie , of course , like that's that's product , like that's a different .

Speaker 1 46:59

We're not talking about that . We're talking about businesses that are creating , uh , video content , video production businesses . That's creating video content for other businesses or entities or non-profits , whatever it is , and those projects never go exactly how you want it to go .

Speaker 1 47:16

As far as editing , it's always something that has to be tweaked , um , but uh yeah , okay , yeah I remember there was a little bit of a timeline , um , because of the event that was coming up , yeah , but I also know that we did . I remember you were , you guys were very great at responding to emails because we went through a few drafts , um , and it was like quick turnaround drafts , like , watch , send the email , here's the first draft , I'm able to get a response the same day or I will , um , the next day , kind of a thing , and it was quick and it was like , hey , these clips , you know , at these time , can you switch it to this or whatever it was . Yeah , and that worked out great , as well as the thing you mentioned at the end , um , with the uh , whatever was the forecast for the future ?

Speaker 2 48:11

oh , that the we did add that , I feel like at the last minute too , yeah , because we wanted the photos but we didn't . But then it was like , well , what are we going to do over the photos , right ? I think it was something like that . But and I remember a lot of those cuts this might be a part of the process too , from a client perspective , that I was not expecting , but I didn't know what B roll you were going to pick , right , I didn't know what B roll

Navigating Video Production Challenges

Speaker 2 48:35

you were going to pick Right .

Speaker 2 48:35

So once I saw the first draft , I realized that there were like three kids , kiddos that we didn't have waivers for . So , like I had to go back and I looked at each individual face , also trying to figure out what the masks on the faces , right , and I had to talk , call the teachers , because I would . I would send them a screenshot and I'd say like , hey , here's the list of names we have waivers from . You know , is this where there's too many ? It was like too many faces to the names , and so then that was also tedious for me to , just because we had to have that we had , we had to have their parental permission because they're kids , um , and I remember we had to keep switching some of the cuts because there were a couple that we didn't get waivers for .

Speaker 1 49:19

Yeah , yep , yep , that's what it was . So , yeah , it was . It was a quick turnaround , um , we just have to make those adjustments . But at the end of it , if , if all I'm hearing is , can we switch some b-roll clips out , like that's a win , like it could have been , like hey , yo , damien , um uh , this second half of the video , do you think you think we could , um , maybe not have this part ? I'm like , oh gosh , okay , um oh yeah , I don't remember any of that .

Speaker 1 49:55

Yeah , yeah well , that's good . So , yeah , it was . It was when , and I'm glad it worked out so well . Um , and it's still serving well . It is on the website still . Um , it's it's doing pretty decent on . People are still watching it um long story short on the website and on the youtube channel for teacher for America . So that's great to hear . Um , man , this has been great . So , yeah , me too .

Speaker 2 50:24

It was a really fun project to be on . So , like I said , when you called me and asked me , I was like , oh yeah , it was like a really nice memory that I have from , like I said I'm not on staff there anymore , but it was definitely like a very fun memory that I have of a journey during a time that was just completely crazy .

Speaker 1 50:45

In summary yeah for sure . Yeah , well , I mean , that's that's the speaking of summary , that's , that's that's that . So you have being able to get very clear on on what the initial goal or purpose is for the video content that the client wants and figuring that out , recognizing what are the solutions that may hinder that goal or that purpose from happening , being able to identify the solutions to those and that way you can create the questions that you need to have asked and answered . And then being able to have an amazing person on site to help with maneuvering the lanes of trying to figure out the people to get on camera . Maybe the people that have that would be the best on camera . It is being able to find . That is something that you need to be able to do .

Speaker 1 51:34

There are some people that are great when the camera's not around and there are some people that are not great when the camera is around . So to have somebody that's there on the ground to be able to help with that is mint . And then being able to create a plan of action , which Allison helped with . That so much the logistics , the scheduling , a lot of back and forth between us and trying to figure out what's possible a lot of back and forth between us and trying to figure out what's possible . A lot of back and forth between her and , like the teachers and admin , and trying to get permissions , as you just heard , uh , for the different students . Um , you know all these things , you know she really , uh , man , she , she , she , she did so much in that side of it and , especially because I was out of town , um , so making that happen to the production , uh , where allison was the person asking the questions , um , so , having I was like I'm oprah here we go , so having that , there was a big help and she learned how interviews work .

Speaker 2 52:33

Yes , I know it felt so silly . That was probably probably the silliest question . I felt like I asked you , but it was so true . I was like I don't know how am I supposed to word it .

Speaker 1 53:00

I can handle everything production wise , cameras , lighting , microphone backup , microphone hard drive storage for the equipment , backup hard drive storage for the stuff we're filming . You know all that stuff was handled there on site with me and Audie at the other location and then editing being able to . I didn't forgot to mention this one thing . You know , when we were filming everything as we're going through the days on my hard drive , I had those things organized . So I had I believe I had them by like B-roll or supporting footage . I had it all there listed . All the interviews had them , the folders named hat . We had two cameras on them .

Speaker 1 53:34

So Kamei Kambi had all of them listed the audio , who the audio was for , the microphones that we had clipped onto them , who they were for Drone footage , separate folder , all those things were organized . So by the time we and I had a , I think I had a notepad or a folder at that time that I did my best to keep up with the interviews and when , like , great things were said or things that I think could be used . So when I go back to editing , I kind of have a starting point as to where you know I want to draw from for the audio . So all those things helped the process a little bit better . Um go .

Speaker 2 54:11

And I think you being as involved in the pre-planning as you were isn't also an attributing factor to how well the story is told , right , because you also were with me along the whole pre-planning process , like I think that because you had taken so much time to understand the point that we were trying to make , I think that also , maybe then throughout the day , you know , you're kind of like seeing it play out , maybe , and it's not like you're for the first time being like , oh , that's a cool question . You were like , oh , uh , allison , uh , I wrote that question for her . So , uh , I think that has to I'm assuming has to play a factor absolutely , absolutely , yeah , it's , it's definitely like , yeah , to be there in the trenches .

Speaker 1 54:58

You get a feel for it , you get an understanding , you , you understand the thought process and now you're not just going into a cold like you . You've been warmed up , you know what's happening . So , yeah , absolutely , um , yeah . And then the editing process . You know , putting the vision to life , um , the editing , I mean I , you know it was it's a couple years ago now , so I don't remember the length of time the editing , editing process took . I could say it probably at least took about maybe I don't know 10 hours , 12 hours editing , I don't know . Probably longer , um , but I'll say starting time was at least that , um , actually , yeah , no , it was more than that , because just syncing the footage was like four hours . This was before I had this , might have been before I had certain software that helps me with that now . But , and then being able to go through revisions , um , with you and having the quick response time for that .

Speaker 1 55:57

I think this is why you know , for all these reasons , is why I say working with you and teach for America and Zandra Layton , I mean , like , I say dream , dream client . For that reason , like it , it's not just man , you guys are just the kindest people to work with . It was like these people really put their feet to the ground and said , hey , we're invested , damien , you're invested . Let's do this together . And , truthfully , sometimes it's rare , sometimes it's tough to get that kind of both investment on both sides . So that was .

Speaker 1 56:37

It's a breath of fresh air to be able to walk through that together and even if , um , maybe one of the schools weren't able to film , if something like that happened , we all would have figured out some kind of a workaround . And I think that's that's the important part with you know , talking about those things from the beginning the investment . So if we all were fully invested into it , then we know that if we're going through this project together , we're going to put our best foot forward , and I think that's that's why I enjoyed walking through it with you . So thank you so much . That is the Teach for America Jacksonville promotional video project . Thank you so much , allison , for taking the time for talking with us . This is great .

Speaker 2 57:29

Thank you for being great . If you need a great storyteller , you got one right here . Oh man , yep , it was really wonderful . I'm sure you'll show clips of the video . Roll the video for the people . Roll the video .

Speaker 1 57:48

I guess I might do that on YouTube or something if they want to see . But yeah , man , thank you so much . This was great , this is great . Thank you so much for tuning in guys . I hope this helps . I hope this gives a little bit of insight on the possibility of production . It does take some investment at first but it really brings and ups the quality if we're able to kind of put the people first and get through those hard questions first and getting that process going . If you notice , I didn't really talk about camera gear and all that stuff too much , because there's so much of it out there . Use what you got , make the best of it . Nowadays you can use your phone if you have the right storage hookup and everything Create . Go for it . Thank you again so much , allison , for taking the time . We'll see you guys on the next one .

Speaker 2 58:34

Thank you Bye .