Tell us a bit about your organization and what your specialty is in the film and video space.
Meridian Arc Communications is a strategic agency and video production company based in Los Angeles, working worldwide. We produce story-driven content for philanthropic campaigns, fundraising, corporate, brand communications, social media, design, and commercials. We specialize in healthcare, education, nonprofit, and technology sectors.
What is your organization’s ethos and how does it set you apart from industry competitors?
Story drives emotion. Emotion drives engagement. Engagement leads to action.
How can people join or learn more about what you do?
Tell us about your Telly Award winning piece. What’s the story behind it?
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute tasked us to create a video to celebrate the culmination of their $2.5 billion, seven-year capital campaign. Screened at a special donor event at Fenway Park, it needed to be grand in its presentation, style, and impact while highlighting groundbreaking achievements, accomplishments, key donors, and leadership.
What are you most proud of about this piece? What was your biggest challenge during production and how did you solve it?
This project needed to serve many interests as the subject matter, the capital campaign celebration, was enormously successful and involved many stakeholders. We had to carefully thread the needle of communicating a dense amount of content very quickly while making sure the presentation rallied, inspired, and energized the audience. When key players are Nobel Prize-winning cancer researchers, trustees, donors, and institution leadership, that needle can get tricky to thread. So, when submitting the first cut to the client, instead of the usual rough edges of temp music, sound, and graphics, we chose to deliver a full-finished presentation in order to get maximum buy-in from stakeholders. Risky, but it paid off.
Do you have any advice to other filmmakers based on your career or your team’s approach to work?
Listen to the client and make sure you’re 100% clear on the goals and messaging of the project. Often, you’ll have to help the client define and refine what they need.
Can you share a behind the scenes story or fun fact about the making of your piece?
Earning the trust of clients and subjects, especially while shooting in sensitive environments, is something we take great pride in. On this project, that approach granted us an abundance of access to capture amazing content.
Tell us about the most memorable response you got from this work.
On the first cut: “OMG, I love it. I got goosebumps.”
Complete this sentence: ‘Great video storytelling is…’
… more than just pretty pictures. It’s about activating emotion.
