We thought we’d take a few minutes and look back at what a fun, interesting, challenging year 2018 was. Think of this as our annual Christmas letter but without any mention of the kids.
The year started with the opening of our new production studio in Herndon, Virginia. Bigger, better, faster, brighter, quieter and right across the street from the soon-to-be Herndon Metro. We’re excited about the possibilities the space has to offer for our projects and our clients. We’ve been super excited to welcome back our pal Writer/Director Martin Spitznagel and his creative approaches to courses for the Defense Acquisition University.
January also launched the start of an exciting project for NASA, featuring the space agency’s approach to encouraging small businesses to bring their tech innovations to NASA for funding. We seem to have become experts in telling the stories of small business innovations. Other 2018 projects include stories about EksoBionics – a California-based company using external skeletons to aid industrial workers doing repetitive tasks, but also helping stroke and spinal accident victims learn to walk again. Our other small business innovation project was a profile of the outdoor company MSR who are working to create the world’s best portable water purification systems.
Speaking of water, 2018 saw more great projects with the EPA’s Water Security Division. This year’s shows included a promotional video to encourage small water utilities to join their state’s Water and Wastewater Agency Response Networks; a short documentary highlighting the Los Angeles Water Authority’s efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change; and an educational video about the hazards of cyanotoxins to drinking water supplies.
Springtime in Poland – both Steve and Tim took trips to Poland with Defense Logistics Agency Producer Nutan Chada to document preparations for joint military exercises in Poland and the Baltic States. As an encore Tim, traveled with DLA to Trondheim, Norway in October to film the US Marine Corps’ participation in a NATO exercise.
But let’s circle back to summer fun. We made a lovely little video for Camp Ton-A-Wandah that got more than 20,000 views in less than forty-eight hours – definitely the most since the video of Tim base jumping from the Washington Monument.
Summer also saw the start of long-term studio support and editing for Amazon Web Services. In July we were super excited to welcome Braun Film and Video as cohabitants in our studio space and office warren.
So, Ben Franklin once said, “An investment in education pays the best interest,” and we’ve been working hard in class. We’ve been busy creating stories for the Virginia Tech Adaptive Brain and Behavior Destination Area; Carnegie Mellon University and The National Science Foundation’s programs for policy makers; working with the Hatcher Group and the National Assessment Governing Board to create a series of short videos on the importance of national educational assessments; and CINA – George Mason University’s DHS Center of Excellence; but the A+ experience was definitely filming Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan for the series of videos we’re producing for the National Constitution Center on the First Amendment.
And then…winter came. For three brutally cold days in December, we provided production support and crew for Full Frontal with Samantha Bee on a story they were creating about undocumented workers in the Christmas tree industry. We also followed Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, an inspiring young hip-hop star and environmental activist as he prepared for and participated in Senator Bernie Sanders’ Solving Our Climate Crisis National Town Hall.
Whew! Thanks for taking a minute to look back with us. 2018 was a great year and we’re really stoked about the challenges and opportunities headed our way in 2019. Get in on the fun. Bring us your next challenging, inspiring project and we’ll be happy to put our productions skills to work for you.