Milwaukee Women's Center » Milwaukee, WI

Organization Profile

The Milwaukee Women’s Center agency began in 1980 and is now a division of Community Advocates. It provides comprehensive services and treatment for women, men, and children whose lives have been affected by domestic violence, substance abuse, mental health issues and poverty.

Video Purpose

  • Create a testimonial appeal to present at annual fund raising dinner.
  • Integrate theme: “Where Abuse Ends and Hope Begins”.
  • Showcase Milwaukee Women Center “success stories”
    and encourage support from potential donors in the
    community.
  • Video will be used as a marketing and development tool.
  • Compress video for possible posting on website.

Process

Life Productions, Inc. of Milwaukee, WI met with Milwaukee Women Center directors for a pre-production consultation. The directors of Milwaukee Women Center requested that a video be produced in a non-scripted testimonial style so that their message could be effectively communicated. A variety of questions were asked to determine the specifics of the organization, their audience, the message they wanted to have delivered and the video’s intended purpose. Through supplied worksheets, Life Productions, Inc. helped them articulate their message, select interview candidates and create a timeline for project completion.

Life Productions Inc. toured the facilities to identify sites for interviewing. It was important to find a quiet and large enough environment to conduct the interviews. Milwaukee Women Center coordinated the taping schedule for testimonial interviews at an undisclosed location. In addition to scheduling on-site tapings, off-site interviews with Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn and Sherman, a recovered domestic abuser, were also scheduled. Life Productions Inc. of Milwaukee supplied preparation forms that gave advice on what interviewees should wear, sample questions and what one could expect from the interview process.

How Life Productions, Inc. Completed Project

Life Productions went on-site with their crew to tape testimonial interviews in high definition resolution and went off-site to get additional high definition footage of interviewees interacting with their families. On a separate day, LPI taped Milwaukee Police Chief Flynn at his office and Sherman, a recovered domestic abuser, at a downtown park in Milwaukee. The Milwaukee Women Center provided additional archived photos and digital graphics of the Milwaukee Women Center’s logo. Once all footage was logged and captured, Life Productions began the edit process; first building an unscripted narrative from the collective voice of all interviewed. Then footage was added to support the sound bites. Finally, graphics were layered to give the video its finishing touch.

Life Productions Inc. of Milwaukee presented video to the directors of the Milwaukee Women Center for review. Alterations were made to the video, and once the video was approved, the process of mastering and packaging the final draft of the high definition video was put into action.