I was just reading an article about The Low-Budget Movie Phenomenon, and it addressed a few things about this movie and that movie and what-not.  But I got to thinking about the impact Hollywood and it’s standard of movie production with numbers in the billions and marketing out the waa-zoo. I recall the dramatic and documentary productions I worked on for this teaching resource or the that international work. There is no way we can get the budget to produce a film with the level of perfection and precision that comes out of Hollywood. Films that even our non-profit audiences are familiar with and know. Films that get compared to the measly production we are able to put out. Ours are good films but never-the-less come up short in comparison.

So the question I pose to you and myself, what’s the basis for your standard of good enough when you know they expect Hollywood, but you can’t deliver?

Tags: philosophy, Production

I’m pretty sure it’s just fine if I post this. Most of you know I work for a faith-based organization full-time. I’m finalizing the first edit on the promotional video of a new resource that’s just come out. My VP, also the Exec. Producer on the project just sent this out this morning:

To the VP/director team:

In the melee that is life at the moment, it may have passed your attention that “The Leadership Opportunity” is now in full-scale production. It’s all finished and we’re now making it!!!

I cannot overstate what an incredible amount of work Fred and JR have done to get it there: Remember we are talking about a 100+ page study guide, 14 professionally shot and edited video lessons (oh…not forgetting we built the studio ourselves!!), a leaders guide, a quick start guide, a supplementary materials binder, a completely new design, conference display materials, a completely new DVD promo, and a customized version of a book.

And… most fun of all…. If you add up the budget for this little project, it‘s probably about 1/10 of what a commercial company would have spent on the market research alone. It’s a joke how cheap we did this.

Most of you on copy also played important roles in the project, and I don’t in any way want to minimize that, but to produce something in this quality, for this cost, in this timeframe bears a huge testimony to God’s faithfulness, and Fred and JR’s skill and diligence.

In one week you‘ll see a big display at conference, and a LOT of shiny boxes. Please pause to thank God for His incredible faithfulness and the diligence of the product development team. I’ve been responsible for a lot of new products in my life, but I’ve never been prouder of one than this.

Let’s pray God uses it beyond our wildest imaginations.

Tim

That says a lot from a guy (Tim, my VP) who, still coaches the CEO’s of Fortune 50 companies. If you’re in charge of a project, encourage your team, frequently, often, and give them credit where credit is due. This most certainly boosted my morale this morning!

Click HERE and HERE to view vlogs and behind-the-scenes we recorded from location including, our home-built set and some fun outtakes.

Tags: philosophy, Production

When you watch a non-profit promo video, what do you see?

Generally, I see a glorified power point presentation or slide show with moving pictures. I hate those. They’re dry, dull, overproduced. They do tell me what’s going on, or rather what the company wants to say to me…and generally tug at some heartstrings to get involved by use of pictures of people in need. They don’t really create a connection for me. They draw upon the “impulse-purchasing” nature of who I am- get me wound up for five minutes and hopefully I’ll sign over my bank account, or spread the worthiness of the cause.

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Tags: documentary, philosophy, video