Growing up, we had very little sugar in our house. My dad was a dentist, so I think he wanted to set a good example, but I was a person who enjoyed baked goods, candy, and anything with sugar in it. (Maybe that’s why I like the movie “Elf” so much – I can relate.)
A few rare times, we were allowed to buy a treat. For me, it was a package of Twinkies – those two spongy cakes with 3 squirts of cream in each one. I would make this dessert last for six days – one per square of cream! (It should have frightened my parents that it stayed “fresh” for that many days…)
This “saving” mentality has carried over into many other areas of my life. I get attached to things. I’m sentimental. I still have clothes and toys from when my boys were babies. We are in the process of re-decorating our living room, and my heart ached a bit to see our china cabinet go. (Who’s sentimental about a china cabinet??)
But the good news about me being a saver is that it extends to my work. I tend to save the footage we shoot, from every project.
Last summer, we were working on a history and leadership project for the National Association of Community Health Centers, which wanted us to capture several important voices who would be at their annual conference.
We knew we could easily get the interviews, but interviews alone would not make this a good video. The fact that we had filmed at 12 of their health care centers over the past few years – and saved all that footage – meant that they essentially had a custom stock video library! (My friend and colleague Rebecca Drobis coined this term, as she creates amazing custom stock photo libraries for her clients.)
And because we had shot all of the footage – we remembered scenes and shots that worked well with the story. The result was a very moving video that would have felt a hundred times different if we had used generic, royalty-free stock footage for the images.
If you’re a long-time client, a reminder that we probably have most, if not all, of the footage we’ve shot for you. If you’re looking to create new content but don’t have the budget or time to film new footage, please remember this.
And if you’re not a client yet, know that this saver mentality of ours (free of charge) could mean good things for you if you work with us in the future.