Last month, Amaniac Design had the opportunity to collaborate with Local Story, a production company owned by Lee Cohen, that marries video, still photography, and authentic narrative with hands-on training. Local Story uses non-traditional storytelling tools to turn “likes” into inquiries, and inquiries into advocacy for global NGOs, community organizations and local leaders. Together, we worked on an interview-based piece for one of our clients, Educate Tomorrow. ET is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to paving a successful path towards education and employment for foster youth that are “aging out” of the system. ET has worked with over 1,000 youth in Miami and is expanding nationally. Local Story has documented educational issues around the world including Haiti, Africa, and Bangkok, and is currently working on a series of pieces for Educate Tomorrow. Amaniac got an inside look on this project and had the opportunity to exchange ideas, technical points and thoughts for the production.
The focus of this series is on the youth of Educate Tomorrow and their stories, as well as a behind-the-scenes perspective from the executive team. Interviewing the youth and gaining insight on their lives was extremely impactful. From a video production perspective, Amaniac Design was thrilled to gain a better understanding on the art of authentic story-telling. Making the subject comfortable and allowing them to openly talk about their past (usually very painful), how ET helped them, and where they are now, is not an easy process. Relating to the subject, fine-tuning interview skills, and paving the path for them to let their guard down are all important for successful authentic story-telling.
Amaniac Design is looking forward to putting our new knowledge to work and can’t wait to share the result. Our in-depth look into the management side of our client and their youth are invaluable to our working relationship. We can’t wait to collaborate and exchange more with our clients, learning from each other and strengthening one other along the way! As Helen Keller once said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
Watch the behind-the-scenes video on our YouTub channel, click here!
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Learn more about Educate Tomorrow and follow them on social media: Facebook, Twitter
Learn more about Local Story and follow him (Lee) on social media: Lee Cohen Photography, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo