Board Member and City Councilwoman Maygen Heatherington connected with us to present her project goals and desired outcomes. Once our proposal was accepted, we coordinated two shoots dates to film 7 different interviews and an intro/outro with board president, Ken Coman. We scheduled interviews in 30-minute sessions at different businesses throughout downtown Snohomish. The key to success in this project was efficiency and helping the interviewees to quickly feel comfortable with a camera.

In order to maintain a natural feel and ensuring the client feels comfortable, we decided to be completely mobile with our gear. We visited each location with just a camera, easy-rig, and mobile lighting source. Each interviewee knew either Maygen or Ken, so we had them conduct the interview. Throughout the interview Brian would ask follow up questions or make observations on what he heard the subject saying. This helped to affirm what they said, and encourage them to continue opening up and being authentic in the interview. In total, we ended up shooting the interviews across 3 different shoot days because some of the interviewees needed to reschedule.

Because of our condensed timeline we first prioritized the compilation edit. This allowed us to select the best segments from each interview and pull one or two quotes per interview. Once that was done, we added narrative structure to the soundbites, applied our standard audio mixing and color grade, and delivered to our client. Our first edit was delivered within 48 hours of shooting our final interview for the project. The client was so satisfied with the first edit, they started distributing it with no additional notes. We then edited and delivered 7 individual edits for each of the testimonials. All told, this project spanned 2 weeks from our first pre-production meeting to the final deliverables.

There were some logistical issues in scheduling the interviews. However, our clients were incredibly collaborative, so they kept us informed throughout the entire scheduling process. Because we only has 30-45 minutes per interview, and the interviews were dispersed between 6 locations, keeping production mobile was a huge priority. This meant pursuing a guerilla documentary approach (limited staging, mobile gear loadout). Despite these challenges we were able to keep to our rigorous schedule while still maintaining a high-quality production.

2 Week Turnaround! (Yup, we're quick.)

Each video has garnered hundreds of views across social media channels and has helped to increase the HDSA's overall online presence.

"Brian and Sam are professional, responsive, accommodating and produce beautiful products. We had a video project with a tight turnaround. Brian was quick to respond to my inquiry, learn about the details, and help us determine a timeframe to allow for edits and modifications. They also prepared a quote quickly and within our budget, very important for us as a non-profit. Brian was flexible, working around multiple people's schedules, came prepared, and was a calming, patient guide for some of our nervous interviewees. Our final product turned out exactly as we had hoped, even better actually! The icing on the cake were the grateful comments from our more timid participants who appreciated the confidence they gained from sharing their stories in the video. A win all around! We have worked with Brian and Sam on multiple projects before and already have more in queue. We can't say enough great things about Snohomish Film Company!" -Maygen Hetherington (HDSA Board Vice-President)