THE PROJECT
When VIVI approached True Medusa Pictures with the opportunity to create a video to be used in a crowdfunding campaign, I jumped at the chance, what I didn't expect was the incredible brand story that would follow.
VIVI (pronounced vih-vee) is a rebranding of the Invictus Project, a health initiative that focuses on using smarter technologies to diagnose and treat traumatic brain injuries; not just teaching patients how to deal with symptoms, but truly curing and rehabilitating them. They were beginning their crowdfunding part of their fundraising journey to open their first clinic ever right here in Denver.
DELIVERABLES:
- x1 3-4 minute video to be used in a crowdfunding campaign
THE GOALS
The client clearly stated that they needed this project "yesterday" so they could get started on their crowdfunding campaign; the simpler the better, the faster turnaround the better...
...say no more. We know tight timelines.
We rented out a beautiful space in Realm Denver to use as the background and to save setup time and began making our pre-production plan for the interviews.
THE SHOOT
Though they wanted it to be simple and done quickly, that doesn't mean sloppily or having any less quality than you would expect from any other shoot. We wanted a 2-camera shoot to add some interesting angles to a "talking head" video and to allow for cuts to be made for emphasis on especially interesting quotes in the edit. I love interviewing people and learning a little more about their stories, but I wanted to make sure I could pay attention to what they were saying.
The production setup, though multifaceted, was simplified to keep the crew down to just one.
A Sony FX6 rig and monitor was the main camera on a tripod
A Sony A7s2 was constantly moving on a robotic slider as the B-camera (with a larger monitor so I could see the screen from my tripod position)
An Aputure 300D light with a large diffuser was used for fill, and the sun was the key light
Audio capture was done on an external recorder and a lavalier microphone
All this planning allowed me to stand in one spot, ask my questions, and listen to the audio while not having to worry about the cameras and what they were capturing. I could see it all from my little monitor kingdom.
THE EDIT
Because the pre-production plan was so thorough and we knew what each person would talk about, the edit went exceedingly smoothly with a first cut ready to go with a base color within a day. The graphics treatment was added to emphasize more talking points and add a little bit of new color and motion. I also animated the logo on the end, which can then be used and re-used again in future videos for VIVI.
