June 17, 2009

Stepping into the client’s shoes

It’s not often that I find myself the client in a creative project, but for six months I did just that. I worked with People TV to film a short documentary about the Eastside Parks Network, a neighborhood project in which I’m involved.

1) A creative team needs to understand the ultimate purpose of every project. Compelling language and beautiful visuals mean very little if they don’t communicate the intended message. For my project, the editing team initially included some great interview footage, but it was only loosely related to the project. Reminding them that the goal was to build support for the park vision quickly brought the group back to the main focus of the film, and that portion of the interview was cut.

2) It’s not enough to know a project’s limitations – you have to focus on what can be achieved within them. Budget is a big one, but others include available resources and timeframe. For example, we would have liked an animation sequence showing that Kirkwood is on the subcontinental divide, which means some streams in our neighborhood flow into the Atlantic Ocean, others into the Gulf of Mexico. But creating such a sequence would have taken more time and animation skills than we had available. So we compromised by highlighting the streams on the one map we had available and using voiceover to describe where the streams flow.

3) It’s important to have a vision, but it’s equally important to have an open mind. The collaboration of inside knowledge (client) and outside vision (creative) can produce a stronger outcome. Originally, we planned to tell the park story through interviews with key participants taking place in the various parks. We wanted to include some footage of each location to give a sense of place. People TV helped us consider ways we could give a fuller sense of both the physical spaces and community involvement. We ended up showing a lot more scenes of activity in the parks with voiceover of the interviewees than initially expected – and that made for a much more interesting film.

On the other side – what I respected most about the People TV creative team was their patience and desire to educate us about the filming process. They created a positive experience that left all of us feeling good about our efforts.

And that’s what we’ll remember in the end.

Watch a 2-minute promo of the film >

FILM DAY: Chris Martin, an associate photographer with Resonance, worked with me as one of the camera crew.