Compelled: A Century of Faith, Love, and Sacrifice

Compelled: A Century of Faith, Love, and Sacrifice

A 100TH ANNIVERSARY FILM

The largest project we have completed to date, which was just released a few weeks ago, was for a missions-sending organization called Christian Missions in Many Lands, or CMML. Though Jim Elliot is probably the most famous CMML missionary, thousands of other CMML missionaries have served in over 150 countries. To celebrate their 100th anniversary this year, we were hired to work with Craig Fritchey to compile interviews and b-roll footage from many of these missionaries into one 20-minute film that would tell some of their stories. If you would like to read more about some of the details of my work on the film, keep reading.

,

Why Audio Matters in Our Wedding Videos / Drake Wedding

,
Why Audio Matters in Our Wedding Videos / Drake Wedding

WHAT IS SPOKEN

When shooting and editing wedding videos, countless decisions are made that affect how the story of the wedding day is told in the video. With each of our weddings, although we obviously focus on getting quality footage, we pay special attention to the audio we capture and use in the video. This is easy to overlook because we all want to see the bride’s dress, the groom’s smile, the beautiful venue, and the guests having a great time. But I would argue that what is spoken during the day (the vows, the officiant's words, the toasts, etc.) may actually be the most important thing to capture.

I spend a lot of time weaving the audio of the day throughout the video in a meaningful way. It would be much easier to use a song with lyrics and not think about the recorded audio, but we believe it makes for a much more impactful, memorable, and meaningful final product when the audio and video have been carefully weaved together.

The YMCA of Greensboro

The YMCA of Greensboro

RECURRING CLIENTS

My favorite type of client is a recurring client, someone who hires us multiple times for different projects. Not only is much easier after having worked together on previous projects, but it also means that the client was pleased with us enough to hire us again. For the past couple of years, I have been intentionally trying to build relationships with these types of organizations. One of my recurring clients is the YMCA of Greensboro.

NINE YMCA PROJECTS SO FAR

To date, we have completed nine video projects for the YMCA of Greensboro. Some of these only involved editing, but many of them involved shooting on location as well. Most of the videos are not up publically because they are specifically for donors or employees.

,

Mountain Top Youth Camp

,
Mountain Top Youth Camp

MY HISTORY AT MTYC

I have spent at least one week of every summer of my life (except one) at Mountain Top Youth Camp. It’s a Christian camp on the mountain beside Pilot Mountain in Pinnacle, NC. I transitioned from camper to staffer in 2010. In 2016, I started creating recap videos of each camp week to show on the last day.

I have loved doing this the last several years, getting to know the campers and staff each week, figuring out how to weave together my footage of the different activities in an interesting way, experimenting with different ideas I wouldn’t be able to try in most projects, and starting to outline the videos more and more with highlights of the preached messages.

2021 CHANGES

With the addition of a beautiful little girl to our family, it became clear…

,

Island School of Dance - How We Deliver Collections

,
Island School of Dance - How We Deliver Collections

ISOD DANCE RECITALS

Two years ago, we did our first dance recital video project for Island School of Dance in Kill Devil Hills, NC. After they took 2020 off because of COVID, we were so excited for this year’s recital!

ONLINE VIDEO COLLECTION DELIVERY

Most of our projects are delivered through Dropbox or Google Drive, uploaded straight to a streaming site, or sent through the actual mail on a flash drive. However, we occasionally have projects that are delivered a little bit differently, through a site called MediaZilla. The projects we deliver this way are basically like an online, higher-quality version of a DVD. There are menus to click through and multiple videos set up in the same collection. It can be accessed and viewed on a computer, smartphone, or smart TV.

,

Family Photo Shoot

,
Family Photo Shoot

OPEN TO NEW PROJECTS

I always want to continue learning and improving. During these first years of growing our video business, I have wanted to stay open to taking on new types of projects. I'm sure we will eventually settle into just a few of our favorites (more on that in our next post), but for now, I am enjoying the variety.

FAMILY PHOTOS

My sister-in-law recently suggested we add family photos to our list of services. I had considered it in the past but wanted to focus strictly on video at the time. When I looked on our fridge, I noticed that I had taken most of the photos used in our different families' recent Christmas cards. I remembered how much I enjoyed taking each of those photos, finding spots with good light, and trying to make the kids laugh.