Tell us about the whole team that brought the video to life. 
Catie: Each CommAgency team consists of a director, producer, and 3 video staff (videographer/editors), as well as one student executive who helps to oversee and mentor the team. Then I’m there as faculty manager to assist with trainings and review work before clients see it. For this project it was Beatrice Gauthier (director), Jami Brady (producer), Nasir Pitts, Alex Osman, and Zhilin Tan (video staff), and Abby Tarpey (student exec).

What was the production process like?
Catie: The team met with Clara, Adisa, and Brittany the second week of the semester for the kickoff meeting. They gathered information about what the team wanted and developed the creative approach and pitched over a couple of weeks. Once that was approved, they jumped into production, which lasted about 4-5 weeks. Then it was post-production, which is typically the last 6 weeks of the semester consisting of a rough cut and fine cut screening with the clients. Then the video was delivered by the end of the semester.

What was one of the biggest challenges you had assembling the story?
Student Team: One of the biggest challenges was determining what to include and what not, because there was a lot of great material, as well as what stories/anecdotes would make it into the video. It was also a challenge to remind ourselves that the video was not to showcase the collection, but to highlight what it took to create the exhibit. But Adisa and Brittany gave us so much amazing content in their interviews that we could have made a piece twice as long and still have more to add.

This season, we’re celebrating connection through all forms of communication. What creative risks did you take to connect with your audience at Penn State and beyond?
Student Team: We really wanted the viewers to understand that exhibits like this, or any in the library, take so much work and time from usually a very small group of individuals with the passion to make it happen. Not unlike video storytelling and production teams. We decided it was important to feature Adisa and Brittany as characters, and were thankful they were okay with it and trusted us. We could have simply kept it factual with how an exhibit is created, but we felt the people behind it were as important to the story as the material, so we wanted to make sure to see them on camera. We hope people connected to their passion and therefore the exhibit.

How do you and the students at CommAgency define creative success?
Catie: For us, the definition of creative success is tied directly to the experience. Did the student take risks and try new things? Were they able to create the client’s vision and go beyond what the client thought was possible? Did the team learn, grow, and enjoy the experience?

The Communicator Awards shines a light on the best creative work like CommAgency’s documentary. Your final chance to have yours evaluated by experts is Friday, March 14th. Enter now.