You can’t hold on to preconceived notions. You might think a video is going one direction, but you have to be willing to go with the flow if things don’t go as intended.

I got a good reminder of this while completing a project for Yellow House Children’s Services. It’s a terrific non-profit raising money for kids with disabilities in Kenya.

We knew we weren’t going to get great b-roll since we weren’t going to Kenya to shoot. The organization had a few amateur videos shot there, but after viewing them we decided they didn’t really add value.

So… we had some photos we could use and we had a fundraising party we could shoot. Based on that I thought we’d focus our efforts around the party, and figure out a way to base the video around that.

During most shoots, I get into a rhythm. The story just seems to come together. Not this time. I didn’t like my original plan. I liked it even less days later as I logged the sound bites.

That meant shifting gears… and it worked. Once we created the script and started editing the video, it all came together. Instead of focusing the video on the fundraiser, we used it as a jumping off point to draw people to the photos.

I was really happy with how it turned out. We didn’t have much to work with, but thanks to being flexible the story came into focus.

–Tony Gnau

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