I submitted this video for a CASE award earlier this year and my fingers are still crossed as awards will begin to be announced in June. I bring this up because while I was submitting the video some of the questions I had to answer where quite interesting. It asked: how much money did it cost to produce? How many people did it take? To answer those questions, I wrote down zero.

I didn’t have any extra cost for this video and I shot all the video used. I’m not sure if that fact will help or hurt at all during the judging process, but the questions made me curious.  They actually go back to the reason why I wanted to start this blog. You don’t need a crew or a huge budget to produce quality video that is effective at communicating your message. Now, I will say that it sure as heck doesn’t hurt to have a crew and a budget. Things can go a lot smoother and quicker. But most of us do not have that luxury.

What I think makes the video, is the focus on real people and real stories. These days viewers are expecting a certain amount of authenticity in their videos and it is up to us to deliver that. With the goal of producing video that highlights UC Davis and it’s students, these girls hit the head on the nail. They are in demanding majors, still finding time for a demanding hobby, creating opportunities where there wasn’t any, and give back to the community. I couldn’t draw up a script that was as good as these girls were in real life.

Keeping it simple can produce the results you want, and sometimes that can be best. Also, there are tons of stories right in front of you, and while there is a time and place for scripting out a video, sometimes you just need to go with what’s given to you – it might be better. Enjoy the video (and cross your fingers for me)!

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I shot this video with the Nikon D800 and various lenses. I rely heavily on the 24-70mm F/2.8, but also used the 80-200mm f/2.8 and 50mm f/1.4. I also use a juicedlink pre-amp to get better audio. I used Davinci Resolve Lite to convert the footage to black and white and FCP to edit it.