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CLIENT: LifeQuest Transitions
STATUS: Completed
PRODUCTS: Photo, Video, Live Event
TIME FRAME: Summer 2011
PROJECT
I have a lot of respect for our nation's military veterans so I was excited to receive a call from CW Conner, founder of LifeQuest Transitions, a non-profit organization providing empowerment programs to help veterans transition to civilians. CW was putting on a live event for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 to raise awareness about the issues today's veterans face. He wanted my help directing and creating all of the visuals for the live event and telling the story of LifeQuest. To tie the event together he was putting on a Music Camp, gathering famous country singer songwriters together with veterans to write songs to be performed live. Neither of us had ever put on a live event before and 9/11 was only two months away. But CW is a risk taker and a dreamer . . . and so am I.
We identified the important themes and produced a mini-documentary around each issue: traumatic brain injury, post traumatic stress disorder, transitioning home, impact on the family, Music Camp and the vision of LifeQuest Transitions. We created short music videos to introduce each song performed live that showed the making of the songs and told the veterans’ stories behind the songs. We storyboarded, helped write a script and enhanced the entire event with additional videos, stills and slideshows to provide context, movement and visual interest.
CHALLENGES
We had to cover a lot of ground and produce a lot of material in only two months. Yes, there were many 18 hour days! The other challenge was to create an intimate feeling in a large stadium and get the audience to care and ultimately, to donate.
APPROACH
To complete such a large project and in such a small timeframe I teamed up with the talented editors & videographers at People Productions. To hold the audience’s attention we kept the videos short and they were always followed by a live segment. To personalize the event, the videos focused on the stories of individual veterans. And to give the event an intimate feel, I conducted a live interview, or as I like to think of it, “girl talk,” on a couch on stage with Combat Photographer Stacy Pearsall, the main subject of one of the videos.
RESULT
Faces of Freedom premiered to a live audience of over 3000 people at the World Arena in Colorado Springs. This 2.5 hour live event consisted of 14 videos, 6 slideshows, live interviews, live musical performances, a military ceremony and color guard. There is talk about bringing it on tour. LifeQuest Transitions gained an archive of videos and still images for their marketing, web and fundraising, along with an archive of in-depth interviews and behind the scenes footage - enough for a full length documentary. The videos and event resulted in an increased awareness about the issues facing today’s veterans and the invaluable work of LifeQuest Transitions. For me, the best result was the standing ovation the soldiers received.
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CLIENT
LifeQuest Transitions is a non-profit organization serving our nation’s wounded soldiers by providing empowerment programs to help them successfully transition to their next phase of life. Started by CW Conner as an adventure race company,in 2009 they received a request from the military’s Warrior in Transition Battalion asking if they can develop a program for the wounded, ill and injured soldiers transitioning out of the military. Realizing then that their calling was working with veterans, LifeQuest Transitions has been helping veterans and rapidly growing since. www.mylqt.org
CREDITS
Creative Director: Dana Romanoff
Co-Producers: Dana Romanoff & Don Poe of People Productions
Director of Photography: Dana Romanoff
Videographer: Antony Cooper of People Productions
Editors & Post Production: Dana Romanofff, Ethan Berringer & Nate Rich of People Productions
Additional Photography provided by Stacy Pearsall, Brien Aho, Kate Burgess, Mike Morones