From any project, big or small, there is always a unique strategy for each. Here is my approach to creating and executing one of my projects, "Coach K." a monologue with more ambitious beginnings as a motivational speech for our Team members with my current employer.
The First Step: Initiate & Define
Ideation is a crucial part of the process that takes the passion of the ideator to sell the rest of the team on the project's success. For our Coach K. example, the idea came from watching old sports movies and the feeling of motivation that arose when I got to the halftime speeches. I thought if our seasoned Team Members had it rough during holidays, so would the seasonal employees. By creating this, I was hoping to inspire the Team Members to face challenges as a team. This goal aligned well with brand requirements, and my ability to illustrate this gave my team confidence in my abilities to deliver. Once the scope was defined and the resources needed were determined, we could define the project and move on to the next process step.
The First Step: Initiate & Define
Ideation is a crucial part of the process that takes the passion of the ideator to sell the rest of the team on the project's success. For our Coach K. example, the idea came from watching old sports movies and the feeling of motivation that arose when I got to the halftime speeches. I thought if our seasoned Team Members had it rough during holidays, so would the seasonal employees. By creating this, I was hoping to inspire the Team Members to face challenges as a team. This goal aligned well with brand requirements, and my ability to illustrate this gave my team confidence in my abilities to deliver. Once the scope was defined and the resources needed were determined, we could define the project and move on to the next process step.
The Next Step: Plan & Schedule
Three important questions for the planning stage are: What are we doing? How are we going to do it? How will we know it is done? To answer these questions, collaborations with supervisors, managers, and team members were had to research the pain points in the audience's experience (in this case, the target was the Team Members at the Customer Support Center). Knowing what to focus on allowed us to determine how it will be done, in what space, and with what keywords. This project would be finished when the viewer feels inspired to work during the holiday season as a team.
Three important questions for the planning stage are: What are we doing? How are we going to do it? How will we know it is done? To answer these questions, collaborations with supervisors, managers, and team members were had to research the pain points in the audience's experience (in this case, the target was the Team Members at the Customer Support Center). Knowing what to focus on allowed us to determine how it will be done, in what space, and with what keywords. This project would be finished when the viewer feels inspired to work during the holiday season as a team.
The Third Step: Prep & Execute
Execution in this example begins with the scripting of the scenes. Using famous quotes from sports movies as inspiration, I made alterations based on the pain points gathered from the interviews of the target audience to build the character one of our supervisors would play. Once the scripts were finished, I met with the actors to do a read-through to get their notes and finalized scripts to begin the script breakdown for efficient use of time while filming. During the filming process, very close attention was paid to everything from audiovisual quality to compositional consistency. The beginning preparations made the rest of the process smoother for me.
Execution in this example begins with the scripting of the scenes. Using famous quotes from sports movies as inspiration, I made alterations based on the pain points gathered from the interviews of the target audience to build the character one of our supervisors would play. Once the scripts were finished, I met with the actors to do a read-through to get their notes and finalized scripts to begin the script breakdown for efficient use of time while filming. During the filming process, very close attention was paid to everything from audiovisual quality to compositional consistency. The beginning preparations made the rest of the process smoother for me.
The Unavoidable Step: Adapt & Pivot
This step will be found in all projects, called adapt and pivot. In this project specifically, I was creating a script that included an audience of team members like in the movies I was watching. If you see the attached project files, the script has Team Member roles scripted, but the video does not reflect the script. This is simply because, to save time and keep our team members on the phones, we pivoted and made Coach K. the sole character, addressing the audience directly. We found that, ultimately, it maintained the same effectiveness in delivering the message while requiring less effort overall.
This step will be found in all projects, called adapt and pivot. In this project specifically, I was creating a script that included an audience of team members like in the movies I was watching. If you see the attached project files, the script has Team Member roles scripted, but the video does not reflect the script. This is simply because, to save time and keep our team members on the phones, we pivoted and made Coach K. the sole character, addressing the audience directly. We found that, ultimately, it maintained the same effectiveness in delivering the message while requiring less effort overall.
The Final Step: Finish & Deliver
It will most likely be everyone's favorite step, finishing the project! To know when we are done, we thought back to the mission we set out to accomplish. To inspire the Team members going into the busy season of the year. After checking in with the respective stakeholders, we made a few final edits and were done!
It will most likely be everyone's favorite step, finishing the project! To know when we are done, we thought back to the mission we set out to accomplish. To inspire the Team members going into the busy season of the year. After checking in with the respective stakeholders, we made a few final edits and were done!
The Scripting:
The Breakdown:
The Final Product: