Making Virtual a Reality
“This must be heaven,” says Shoeless Joe Jackson. “No. It’s Iowa,” writes W.P. Kinsella, in his 1982 novel, Shoeless Joe.
2020 and the Covid-19 Pandemic has blurred the line between virtual and reality in the video production business. Much of my business involves generating content for or actually recording large fundraising galas for various non-profit organizations, businesses and institutions.
Covid-19 changed all that and likely changed it forever. Last spring I watched client after client, cancel their events and fundraising galas and banquets. But then, a funny thing happened. Business began to trickle back in as clients pivoted to virtual gatherings.
An so began a busy summer and fall producing and assembling virtual events for some amazing non-profit organizations like Lutheran Social Services of Illinois, Lawyers Committee for Better Housing, the Northern Illinois District of the United Methodist Church, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, the JCFS Therapeutic School, Lutheran Life Communities, Augsburg University and the Chicago Bible Society.
Each of these organizations needed to move forward with annual fundraising drives and they needed content, properly recorded, edited and crafted into compelling narratives. In my world we call that a TV show and producing those, is right in my wheelhouse.
The big difference is the advent of Zoom and other platforms giving us the ability to safely record individuals from their homes or offices. We also did some safe, socially distanced recording sessions with individuals by creating sets and scheduling individuals to be recorded one at a time. These recordings were then edited together into virtual events.
2020 was also filled with documentary production, including several new documentaries. The York Center Coop is the story of a fair-housing cooperative in my hometown, Lombard, Illinois. This project with the Lombard Historical Society is still in production and will complete a trifecta of historical documentaries that span the history of our community from the arrival of European Americans through present day.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in American commissioned me to create a documentary about two of their missionaries, Mark and Linda Jacobson. The Jacobsons spent most of their careers in Tanzania working to develop healthcare through a missiology known as “Accompaniment.”
Shekinah Chapel is an amazing African American congregation on Chicago’s far south side. They asked me to produce a documentary in celebration of their 25th anniversary. Shekinah Chapel recounts the story of a small group of African American men and women who dedicated themselves to creatively addressing the needs of children in their community amid the gang and drug conflicts of the 1990’s. The result was the birth of a surprising new community of faith that continues to flourish today.
Finally, our Save Your Memories digital transfer service continues to grow. This year we digitized thousands of hours of VHS, Hi-8, Beta-cam, 8mm and 16mm film, 35mm slides and various audio recordings. It’s fun to work with the legacy formats that once were the primary tools of our industry.
To paraphrase W.P. Kinsella, my 2020 production calendar was erased like a blackboard, only to be rebuilt. Thanks to all my faithful clients who do such amazing work, healing the sick, comforting the suffering and defending the defenseless, doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly.
Here’s looking to a bright future in 2021 with new opportunities, challenges and adventures.
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