Supplying Your Own Shots Can Make Your Film Amazing
Ever get scrolling on your phone or laptop and discover that you’ve actually taken quite a lot of photos and video about your work or family life? Professional forester Alex Marcantonio discovered recently that he had a great collection of videos of him planting trees, thinning forests and restoring damaged ecosystems. And he decided to turn all of this dormant media to his advantage. In fact, he tapped in to a strategy that I’ve been using with business clients personal filmmaking clients alike.
Alex and I met while we were collaborating on an episode of the immensely interesting Wildly Successful video series produced by Hastings County. We clicked right away because of Alex’s passion for transgenerational forest management and his love of the great outdoors. With the Hastings video done and dusted, he invited me to have a chat about facilitating a Brand Story for his company, York River Forestry and Environmental Services.
When Christine McLean, the Hastings County Small Business Coordinator, gave the green light for us to dip into the existing interview and b-roll footage, the next move was to re-evaluate the story objectives and take stock of our possibilities.
Alex economized on paying for new location footage by supplying many helpful shots of his work that he took with his cell phone and his GoPro. We created a common folder online to facilitate the sharing and very soon the visuals started flowing.
On my side, some reformatting and colour correcting was needed, but all of this was done in a fraction of the time it would have taken to drive out to one of Alex’s managed properties. And, truly, the variety of images represents work done over many months in a range of contexts. His footage might even be “better” than mine in some ways!
In less than a day-and-a-half, Alex had himself a ready-made and expressive Brand Story for a fraction of the cost of starting with a blank slate.
Curious to see how this ‘hybrid’ project turned out? Feel free to take a look:
Learn more about York River Forestry and Environmental Services on their site.
