Each year, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago selects students from the Chicago nonprofit’s clubs who exemplify leadership roles in their club and community.
The theme for this year’s event was “Courage Through Perseverance”. As part of the Youth of the Year competition, each candidate writes three essays about specific topics. We came up with the idea to take excerpts from those essays that speak to the event’s theme. Then, we’d film the candidates carrying the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago flag through the neighborhoods where their specific club is located.
We filmed for two days with a small video crew, which included a Director of Photography with our new Sony A7Sii camera & 3-axis gimbal (Ronin), Grip, and aerial drone video crew, which is licensed for commercial operation, with the Inspire 1 drone.

On a separate day, we recorded the audio soundbites from each of the candidates reading their lines. Post production services included editing, sound design, and coloring. The video was shown at the Youth of the Year Event at Navy Pier in Chicago to 1,000 attendees.
After the event, the video was posted online. The video received 2,000 views in less than 24 hours! Here is one of the comments made on Facebook, which demonstrates the power of video:
