Behind the Dreams (process post)

Another year at the Y, my 5th this past May. Another Annual Dinner video with a fairly generic theme of "Dreams." This is all I knew about 4 weeks out from the Annual Dinner; that the theme was Dreams. I had nothing else really to go off.

Ok, that's not 100% true. I did have this, via email and a meeting I was not even involved in:

"End of evening video idea: 
Tell the story of the the 2020 Strategic Plan through video. Use Strategic Plan as a guideline.
For Youth Development - possible story about academic performance. Video B-roll of camp, before and after school care, The First Tee, youth programs, etc. Measuring success with on screen measures.
For Health Living - Possible participant story on DPP. Video and mentions about sports, Youth Obesity, health programs and more. Measuring success with on screen measures.
For Social Responsibility - Member story of a recipient of YMCA annual giving or highlight a volunteer or Anthony's Togetherness program. Video B-roll of how the Y impacts the community. Anthony's design team. Measuring success with on screen measures."

My favorite lines are "Measuring success with on screen measures." I have slowly come to realize that I am in this on my own, but nothing says that more to me than that kind of nonsense-talk.

So, I knew immediately that this video couldn't happen in the way outlined above (not only because it makes little sense, but also because we do other videos for financial development that are briefed this way—testimonial-stories). I knew the real challenge was "how to connect a dry corporate document to something visual, inspiring, and dreamy."

Then someone decided to tell me that the CEO had shared and liked this Five Extra Years spot going around (actually from a few years back but I had never seen). I liked it alot and knew immediately it was professional level work. I found out it was a Wieden+Kennedy spot created with Nike.



I had my idea. I would just recreate this for the Y. Nothing new under the sun, right?

The type on screen instantly grabbed me, I had to try that. So I sketched ideas after a chance encounter with strangers running up a hill at Mt. Trashmore. I recreated the shot with my own family (Dylan, Adam, Sarah and Tristan). From there I tried to get as many shots like that as I could for the ending, not totally knowing what the words were gonna be, or how many of the shots would work.

The Preschoolers were all just test shots, hoping some of it would work. The older kids were the same way, I basically spent about two hours at a YMCA after school child care location with kids, having them repeat after me while also asking them, genuinely, "What's your dream?"

Things Learned: You can never start too early. Shotgun mic's shoot in mono and don't work as easily as one would think with the H4N. Only depend on yourself. Stay true to your vision. Don't delete sound files on your H4N until you are done with the project. Don't have a teenager get focus on your DSLR (it will be blurry).

Tech specs: Canon 5D Mark II, 24-105 f/4 lens, 85mm 1.8 mostly. Maybe a 35mm f./1.4.
Edited solely in Final Cut Pro X.

Finally, I think I shot this video in just under 3 weeks and edited it in about 2 days. When you work to a deadline you use everything you have. Below I have attached a screenshot of how the filming went down, etc. I felt like I had to plan it all on a physical piece of paper just to wrap my head around all the filming engagements (I was filming other videos concurrently—mostly short "talking heads" stuff for the annual dinner event as well). *The Annual Dinner was on Feb 5.

Read more about Annual Dinner Videos I have done here.