Telling a bank’s story through the community’s eyes is much more hearfelt than having executives being interviewed and speaking from a script. Would you actually watch a video featuring corporate “talking heads?” How many of you actually watch some of these corporate videos that talk about how wonderful their corporation is. And it’s all told from people sitting in offices and, in many cases, talking from scripts. Do you make it beyond the 30-second mark? I don’t … which brings me to a recent story-telling assignment that Brian Shipman and myself have been perfecting the past few years.

Brian Shipman (videographer, storyteller) and myself (photographer, narrative storyteller) set out to tell a bank’s story through the community’s eyes. We work much differently than many video/film crews. As a team, we set out to find the story and capturing it by creating and changing our schedule to where the story is.

The fun part of this assignment was to not have a bunch of executives speak about how wonderful their bank is. Instead, we set out to have the community talk about why they bank with this specific bank and why they feel this bank is a part of the community. And yes, this includes having conversations with the bank’s executives and employees, for they are part of the community. And one keyword here is “conversation.” We do not “interview” any subject. We have a “conversation” with them and allow them to speak from the heart and not from a script. This allows our video stories to connect with our viewers.

Brian and I have travelled the world together and have created a powerful partnership on telling a story through video and still photography. The two of us work together as a team and understand when video tells the story better and when it’s time for still photography. When you combine these two elements, you create a very insightful and interesting story. At times we find ourselves side-by-side working together and other times we are going in different directions with a plan to capture the elements that tell the story.

We approach these assignments with a jam packed schedule that we add to and change as the story unfolds. There are so many things you can never plan for. Even with all the time spent on pre-production (conference calls, emails and research). The planned and unplanned elements all come together by being flexible and having conversations with the locals at coffee shops, the bank, restaurants and wherever we happen to be.

These assignments have so many wonderful perks. It always feels good to tell a bank’s story through unscripted and heartfelt conversations. This assignment included sand boarding and our assistant decided to give sledding a try down a huge sand dune at a million miles per hour when it was only 30˚. The laughs are priceless.