A DAY WITH ALICE
Sometimes a once in a lifetime video shoot comes our way. A chance to use our passion and creativity in service of a greater good. We relish those opportunities, and we wanted to tell you about a recent project that allowed us to do so.
We met a great group of people working on a solution to a problem with such gravity, they needed the perfect video to educate the public. That company was Navigate 360, and they are a conglomerate that works to educate schools in how to plan for a plethora of disasters and events. One of their most important training modules is named A.L.I.C.E and it stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate. The program educates school officials on how to act in a live active shooter scenario. With the recent uptick in school shootings in the US, this information is more valuable than ever, and can save lives if followed correctly.
Farmore was brought in to create an emotionally-charged video that would work to educate school boards into adopting this plan for active shooter situations. The video would be shot at West Liberty Salem High School in West Liberty, Ohio. The school had recently experienced a non-lethal active shooter situation and was able to use the A.L.I.C.E method to deescalate the situation.
Being that this shoot carried so much weight, and was to be shot on-location in another state, the planning and crew selection were of utmost importance. We decided that creatively, we were going to shoot this documentary-style and keep the tone both somber and hopeful. To ensure that the final deliverable was exactly what we envisioned and what the client needed, we had to be careful in selecting just the right crew. We needed each member to understand the gravity of the content and the creative vision we needed to bring this video to life. As always, we started with our leads.
Lance Cashwell, our in-house Director, was the obvious choice to lead the team. We also decided on all in-house leads (DP, LP) for the project which left just a few outside needs for local crew.
Hiring solid, local, crew members can be a challenge with projects like this. The need for compassionate, professional, reliable people is always important, but when the subject of the shoot is so heavy, that need is compounded exponentially. You don’t want an errant insensitive remark or unprofessional behavior to affect the mood of the interviewee when you are trying to capture all of the emotion involved with the story being told. Moreover, you don’t want to have disagreements about direction with crew not familiar with our process.
We were so lucky to find two local gaffers out of Ohio to assist on this shoot. Not only did they perfectly embody the attributes we look for in our crew, but they came with a host of equipment that we were unable to ship and did not have the budget to procure locally. With the right creative collaboration and the additional equipment, we were able to create something truly magical.
As with every project we embark upon, we learned a lot from this one. Lance even said; “[I am] proud of how the end product looks, vs how it looked in my mind. I saw it one way and we exceeded those expectations.” We feel like we were true to the nature of the project and that we “embraced the mess and made an impactful and great-looking piece.”
The clients agreed, and in a rarely seen response had absolutely no feedback. “It’s literally perfect”, they said. We are so proud of the people that put in the sweat and tears to bring this piece to life, but we will let the work speak for itself.
