10 of Our Most Memorable Projects
As we continue our 10th-anniversary celebration this year, we want to highlight some of our past projects, clients, and milestones. Of course, we’re grateful to the hundreds of clients we’ve had in the last decade and wish we could highlight everyone, but that would make for one LONG blog post! In no particular order, below are 10 of our most memorable video production projects.
1. Our Longest Client Relationship Since we Began our Video Production Company
One of our first clients–and the longest-running–is the Chanda Plan Foundation. Michael met Chanda Hinton, executive director, in 2014 and we created the first video in 2015 to help raise money for the organization’s capital campaign to build the Chanda Center for Health.
We’re inspired by the mission of this organization and how they continue to break barriers for individuals with long-term physical disabilities. Plus, Chanda is always fun to work with for any type of video (even if she treats Michael like an annoying little brother)!
2. First Travel Experience as a Videographer
In 2014, Michael made a video for Benjamin Edwards financial planners in Denver, one of the first times he ventured into corporate video production. They shared it with other Benjamin Edwards team members and a planner in Arkansas wanted similar video content. Michael, who was doing all the filming and video editing himself then, made a quick overnight trip to Arkansas to film. “It was definitely an interesting experience traveling with my camera gear, lighting and filming everything myself, and visiting a state I’d never been to,” recalls Michael.
3. First Celebrity Sighting
Early in his career, Michael was producing videos for the JCC Denver. One of their events, the Hall of Fame Breakfast, highlighted athletes in a promo video. As a devoted Broncos fan, Michael was thrilled when he learned that John Elway was coming into the J to film a message for the video. “I was so excited that I invited my friend, Kevin, to help as a production assistant on our creative team so he could meet one of his heroes!” Michael remembers.
4. Overcoming Obstacles
One project stands out in our memories for some obstacles we had to overcome. We worked with a writer to create a voiceover script for a Denver Hospice video in which a portrayal of a family member was writing a letter to her loved one using hospice services. Michael didn’t think the letter came across as genuine, so he re-wrote it, undertaking scriptwriting duties himself. Michael was also serving as the video’s producer and director, doing all the pre-production work including casting, shot listing, and coordinating logistics. Michael recalls, “On the day of the production, I was super sick and couldn’t go. Fortunately, I had a trusted Director of Photography on my video production team who had worked with the actress before and had a good rapport with her. He also took over as the director and was on the phone with me checking how everything looked and going over the shots.” Luckily the video turned out great, but it was a stressful situation!
5. More Celebrity Sightings and Slam Poetry
We worked with Jewish Family Service of Colorado (JFS) to produce successful fundraising videos for several years in the early days of our company. When Michael had an out-of-the-box idea to work with slam poetry artists to portray four client stories for the 2017 JFS Executive Luncheon, they trusted him and gave him the creative freedom to build an impactful message for their target audience. “JFS was a great client for many years,” says Michael. “Not only did they have a great mission that I believed in, but it was also cool to meet celebrities, including Mandy Patinkin, Peyton Manning, Al Pacino, and Magic Johnson, at their luncheons each year.”
Transitioning to Seattle
6. When One Door Closes, a Window Opens
When Michael moved from Denver to Seattle in 2016, it was tough to know where to start building relationships and getting video production clients. He has many memories of attending events, networking with event planners and consultants, and helping out on small projects to meet other production and filmmaking peers. He responded to a request for proposal (RFP) for a non-denominational religious organization looking to create a promotional video to raise awareness about its new facility. It was a lengthy process that included teaming up with a communications contractor to create the proposal and several in-person meetings with the potential client. “We didn’t end up winning the contract,” reminisces Michael, “but I was tenacious and I reached out to the initial communications company that put out the RFP and asked to meet with them about other upcoming client projects.” It turns out that the company had another RFP for Friends of Waterfront and the Seattle Aquarium, which 6162 Productions bid on and won! We’ve continued our relationship with Friends of Waterfront and it was a good reminder that when one door closes, a window sometimes opens.
7. University of Washington Connection
When Michael was living in Seattle, he worked toward a master’s degree in the Communication Leadership program at the University of Washington (UW). The Center for an Informed Public (CIP), a multidisciplinary research center at UW, was founded in 2019. Before it launched, the founding director spoke about the project in one of Michael’s classes. Michael reached out to him to suggest creating a video to raise awareness about the new CIP as part of their marketing strategy and its mission to “resist strategic misinformation, promote an informed society and strengthen democratic discourse.” (Center for an Informed Public website). The school contracted with 6162 Productions to produce a video! Michael says, “I enjoyed creating this high-profile educational video. It’s so important to spread the word about misinformation.”
8. Use That Alumni Network!
In late 2018, Michael was mining LinkedIn for alumni from the UW Communication Leadership program and reached out to a Comm Lead alumnus at Safeco Insurance. They had a meeting and worked together on a project that highlighted an independent agent in Colorado’s partnership with a local nonprofit, as part of Safeco’s Make More Happen Award program. Then in the fall of 2019, we produced a creative brand video that showed how working as an independent agent allowed them to give back to their community by partnering with local nonprofit organizations. “At the time, I was working in a co-working space with other creatives and someone there did projection mapping,” explains Michael. “We were brainstorming ideas and formats for incorporating that technology into a video and then I had the idea to use it for Safeco, showing a person in an office seeing beyond that office into the community.”
From there, a long-term relationship was born and we continue to produce videos with their independent agents around the country to showcase their community partnerships with local nonprofits.
9. Pandemic Pivot
In 2020, when the pandemic hit, we partnered with other AV production experts to help nonprofits produce online fundraising campaigns and livestream events. One of the first clients we served in this way was Pioneer Human Services in Seattle. We created a three-part campaign; we teased the fundraising event with two videos of client stories showing what their lives were like before they found Pioneer Services. Then during the live-streamed fundraising event, we showed a video about how the nonprofit organization improved those clients’ lives with real testimonials included. We helped many nonprofits with various aspects of virtual fundraising campaigns through 2022 and still offer that service to this day.
10. Large-Scale Project and Collaboration Opportunity
Finally, one of our favorite projects was the SketchUp for iPad launch video. Rather than simply showing the features and benefits of this new app in a typical explainer video, we used our human-centered storytelling approach to create a hero character and story arc to show a person using the product. “I got to put together a great creative team for this large-scale project,” says Michael. “I went to film school with a Director of Photography whose work I’ve admired for years. I finally got to collaborate with him to produce this video!” Read more about this project and see the final video.
Thanks again to everyone who helped us achieve this anniversary milestone. To celebrate, we are offering 10% off any new projects! Contact us to get started today.