One type of video that we produce at Infrastructure Productions is training and instructional videos. The main objective when creating a training video is to teach the viewer how to do something. One of the things I like about producing training videos is that typically, training videos are not constrained by run time. This allows us to fulfill our primary objective of creating

The Project:

Habitat for Humanity contacted us because they needed to create a training video in a short amount of time. In addition to building homes for people all over the world, Habitat also builds playhouses for kids. Teams of five people custom build the playhouses for pre-selected families.

Companies volunteer for the playhouse program to give back to the community and as a team-building exercise. When a local company signed up to build over forty playhouses, Habitat realized that the only way to teach that many people how to build a playhouse was with a video. So they called us.

As I mentioned above this project also came with a really fast turnaround.  Our deadline for delivery of the final video was less than one week after filming. Challenge accepted!

The Team:

This was going to be a bigger project for us. Our crew consisted of four camera people and one onsite editor.

The following people worked on this project:

• Chris (me): I was the project manager/lead producer on the project and in addition to that I ran one of the cameras during filming. I am also writing this blog.
• Ray: acted as the primary camera and directed the talent.
• Victor: worked primarily as a camera operator.
• Ryan: manned our safety camera for the shoot.
• Adam: acted as both the on-site editor and the DIT for the project.

Execution:

Our original plan was to film on a soundstage. This would give us the best control of our filming environment. However, for budgetary reasons we ended up filming in the Habitat for Humanity Restore and it worked out great. Filming at the ReStore gave the footage a connection to the client. The ReStore backgrounds also had great texture and depth to them.

Our plan was to film a team of volunteers building a playhouse. We had five cameras of coverage and only stopped filming when moving onto a new section or when the volunteers needed us to cut. Joe, who would be playing our construction foreman, had never been on camera before. Lucky for us Joe had over 30 years of real world experience as a construction foreman. He was also a longtime Habitat for Humanity volunteer having built hundreds of these playhouses. I’m pretty sure Joe could do this in his sleep.  In addition to Joe, two other Habitat volunteers named Natahlie and Jim, were featured in the video.

• Complication: The skylight that filled our location in the ReStore with beautiful natural light diffused by skylight panels, became worthless due to a rare San Diego rainy day.
• Resolution: We overcame this weather related complication by using faster lenses and adding more light.

Favorite Moment:

My favorite moment from this project was the final shot. Jim and Natahlie hid inside of the completed playhouse while Joe closed the video. This moment was hilarious and really showed off the personalities of the people in the video. I love when authentic moments like these happen during a shoot. These moments are the kind of moments that stick with me long after we’ve delivered the final video.