Entrepreneur Training Program

This spring Amanda participated in the Entrepreneur Training Program through the Small Business Development Center at UW-River Falls. The Program is 10 weeks and is designed to help prospective and current business owners write a business plan. It was a good way to work on the business and plan for post COVID growth. The best part was meeting other small business owners and listening to their plans to start and grow their businesses.

The 10 weeks included sessions on financial projections, marketing, and digital footprints. One of the most interesting things we got to do was market research. Further honing in on our target market and how many potential customers are in each segment.

We also had to find our competitors and answer the question of what makes us unique. One of the things we discovered was our process. The way we walk our clients through telling their story in a way that will connect with their audience. This comes from Amanda’s background in psychology and television production. Amanda is able to use her education, along with personal and professional experiences to make the process of creating videos easy and fun, while creating a final product that accomplishes our client’s goals.

We are excited to implement what Amanda learned during this training both behind the scenes and in helping our clients reach their audience.

What makes your business unique?
How are you sharing that with your audience?

Dancing in the Kitchen

We were recently hired by a family to capture their parent’s love story. During the interview, a story was told about a time they went to a dance at the White House. We asked about the kind of dances popular at the time. The couple said, “would you like us to show you?” This couple in their late 70s, married over 50 years, were suddenly newlyweds again. Dancing together, sing along to Elvis, right there in their kitchen – thankfully with cameras rolling.

The week before we filmed Home to Sweet Home moving a client into their new space. We captured everything from the empty space to hanging pictures on the wall. Showing what they do for their clients. But nothing was as powerful as when their client came in to see their space all set up for the first time and with so much joy said, “It looks like I’ve always lived here” Hugs and tears were exchanged, again – thankfully with cameras rolling.

For us, this is what the job is all about. And in these moments, when I know we have captured something that is truly going to touch the audience I always get excited and can’t believe I get to do this for a living.

Yes, video is technical and that can intimidate people. But no matter what, every video is really about the story. Sharing something genuine with your audience. And if you are someone who is intimidated by the technical side, please do not worry – all you have to do is bring the stories and we will keep the cameras rolling.

In the field of video production the director of photography does a variety of things from envisioning the framing in the shot to the movement to the camera work. Sometimes they are responsible for choosing how the shot in the camera looks but then you have an entire camera crew to actually do the setup and execution of the shot. At that point the director of photography (more commonly known as the DP). 

With Lead Sheep Productions we are a small crew, usually just two of us. Amanda is the producer. It is her job to control and direct the video content and lead the conversation/interview. She ultimately makes the decisions and approves of the camera shot and framing, but the director of photography – Danie (me) – is in charge of the gear set up and how the shot looks. 

For Lead Sheep video shoots, I set up the gear and start to set up the ‘set’. Any location we are shooting becomes the ‘set’. I start with taking a few photographs of the space to make sure at the end, everything is back to where we found it. Then we pick a place for the subject or client to sit, along with which chair they will be sitting in. We never pick a chair that swivels or moves because it is usually too hard for the person in front of the camera to sit still. 

After we find a good chair that will be both comfortable and look good on camera we place it in the best lighting. Lighting is key to creating a beautiful shot along with helping the viewer stay focused on the subject and not on the space. I set up the two cameras and make sure that they both look visually pleasing. I love to arrange the scene to have tiny pops of color, for example plants, in the background. 

Once the visual is set up with lights and camera, Amanda will approve of the shot/scene. We make sure the client is comfortable and put a microphone on them – we promise it’s painless. We do a quick sound check, final camera check and it’s time to record! Lights, camera, audio and ACTION! 

We hope you enjoyed learning more about our process and roles here at Lead Sheep Productions. We would love to hear from you! What other explanations, definitions or questions would be interesting for you to read about?  Let us know!

Here’s a few more film and production terms:

Slate: [noun] a board showing the identifying details of a take of a motion picture, which is held in front of the camera at its beginning and end. (Definitions from Oxford Languages)

For us it is the board that says the name of the project, who’s project it is, date, interior or exterior, day or night filming and which take we are on.

Take: [noun]  a scene or sequence of sound or vision photographed or recorded continuously at one time. (Definitions from Oxford Languages)

A take is the recording from start to stop, that would be take 1. The second recording is take 2 and so on. We will often split the interview topics between takes.

 

To be completely honest…
a year ago I didn’t know if we would still be around today. Like so many business we shut down completely for most of 2020. But 2021 gave us so many opportunities to capture amazing stories! We started the year off with St. Croix Valley Opera’s New Year’s Eve concert, which allowed us to step out of our typical interviews and have fun creating with singers, musicians, and the technicians at the Phipps. This will be re-streamed this New Year’s Eve – learn more here.

We interviewed local businesses and community members for the Greater Stillwater Chamber of Commerce’s Mad Hatters Ball and heard heart-warming stories about how the community came together in so many ways to still be standing strong.

We captured stories of a beloved family cabin, and the love story of Jack and Diane and only freaked out a little when that song started playing on the car radio as we were leaving, true story.

We moved, but just across the river to Wisconsin. We are still serving the St. Croix River Valley of the Twin Cities and Western Wisconsin.  And we love to travel so if you want to send us some place great, we are game!

 

We are so thankful for all support we have received this year!

We moved, but just across the river to Wisconsin. We are still serving the St. Croix River Valley of the Twin Cities and Western Wisconsin.  And we love to travel so if you want to send us some place great, we are game!

Being part of the St. Croix Valley Community. Amanda joined the Stillwater Rotary and the Women’s Business Bridge Steering Committee. It’s been a busy year.

We are looking forward to all the stories we will capture in 2022.

Video {can be} scary!

In a recent Facebook live video (Follow us on Facebook), I mentioned that another business owner told me that “video is scary.” And it can be. Everyone is nervous! Yes, even me. But like anything else, the more you do it, the better you will be and the less scary it will become. It also helps to have someone to talk to help you be calm and have a conversation. My favorite part of any interview is I can tell the person has relaxed and is just naturally talking to me. 

Before every project, I send out a tip sheet called “How to be Camera Ready.” After the “video is scary” comment, I thought it could be helpful to share those tips with them. Then I wondered “why don’t I share that with everyone?”. Like many business owners, I can get too close to my business and miss the simple things that I know, and my clients may not know. I am now sending a welcome email that includes my Camera Ready tips to anyone who signs up for my newsletter. Sign up!