It’s been a busy fall for Informatics’ Media team, filled with production on YouTube advertisements, a short-form history documentary and lots of drone video. It also brought us our latest Give Back video project, in the form of a survivor testimonial for the Eastern Iowa chapter of the American Heart Association.
We previously helped the AHA tell the story of Kaden Rogers, their 2021 “Heart Warrior,” and were honored to be asked to help tell another survival story for the organization’s Go Red for Women Experience, an annual event putting a spotlight on heart disease and stroke prevention.
Our latest video focuses on Marie Hunt, a wife and grandmother from Iowa, who recounts her experience with heart disease and the procedure that saved her life on Easter. She is joined by two of her three children, Dave Hunt and Jo Ellen Frommelt.
Here’s an inside look at our video production process, and how we captured Marie’s story on a tight timeline and budget:
Our video production parameters
The American Heart Association asked Informatics to create a short profile of Marie Hunt, who underwent an angioplasty procedure to clear a blocked artery back in April.
She had agreed to sit for an interview about the experience, in the hope that she could convince other women to pay closer attention to their hearts. The AHA hoped her relatable story would move donors to support the organization’s mission and research.
Informatics agreed to produce a 6-7 minute video, featuring Marie and her family members discussing her story in a traditional sit-down interview format. We would shoot it onsite in our video production studio, to save money and time over an on-location shoot. (If you haven’t seen our studio in person, check it out in our new TOPGEAR blog).
The video studio and editing Marie's story
We blocked off a two-hour slot and prepped our video studio with a simple set comprised of a dark backdrop, furnishings and some greenery for color.
Shooting only took about an hour—Marie and her family were great, and natural in front of the camera, so we didn’t have to use a lot of takes. We covered a wide range of ground, including her life on the farm, her family and their health history, the events of Easter weekend and her recovery in the months since.
With our raw interview footage in hand, and a healthy collection of family photos to work with, we set to work in our video editing bay. We had close to an hour of actual footage to work from, but needed to condense Marie’s story to a tight six minutes. That meant restructuring her family’s telling of the story to create a flowing narrative arc, like this one from MyPerfectPaper.net.
Once the rough outline was built out in our Davinci Resolve editing suite, we got to work polishing it with transitions and smoother cuts, different camera angles and an appropriate music bed. The result is a powerful testimonial that hopefully inspires other women to take action when they feel something odd. As Marie told us, “Don’t die of doubt, check it out!”
Watch the finished video below, and reach out to us with your own video production needs—we’re always excited to tell a new story!
Ready to tell your story?
Our video production team can bring it to life, in our studio or on site.
