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6.0.A SWCSR 11-18-20211 Sherburne Wright Cable Commission Production Report November 15, 2021 A 2021 Production Update Hello All, for those who haven't met me yet, my name is Jackson Groskreutz, and I am the Production Coordinator for SWTV. While my official degree is a Bachelor 's in Digital Video and Media Production from the Institute of Production and Recording. My background extends much further into live sound, graphic design, and I.T. dating back ten years (as of Thursday last week) when I started volunteering with SWTV. While I've been officially hired on for a little more than two years, that background comes in handy for the variety of environments, equipment, and issues that arise in the field. This can include portable operations directed live like parades, concerts, coronations , on-the-fly gimbal operations for event promotion, and general promo material or more advanced productions that rely on good lighting and post for effect. Between my college's hands-on training, video courses, master classes, and my obsession for technical details/gear. My background in technology has helped me continue to improve my work. So whether you need an employee recruitment video, city promotion, or event highlight captured, I hope to be your go-to creative professional. Dassel – Museum Project Word of the Cokato museum promos made it to Dassel, and it wasn't long before a request was made. Taking what I learned from doing the Cokato project, we started Dassel off with a day of B -roll and a sit -down with their Museum Director. While I was able to piece together a promo with the B -Roll. The staff is working to give me a few ideas of what they'd like to see next . Once we get those interviews in, we will be able to start merging b -roll over the top. 2 Buffalo – Kites on Ice Promos Reusing the material captured last year, both the original footage and the original edit. I 've created three types of videos and repurposed the one for Buffalo's Social Media Pages. While these videos are broad in style, some being longer, some being shorter. The statistics from these videos on social media will help me narrow what performs the best —allow ing me to better tailor videos to other events such as movies in the park, concert promos, city festivals, and so on. Monticello – Community Center Promo Yet another new type of video production for me, Monticello installed a new system that lets users choose from a wide selection of workout classes. While Monticello 's Community Center will control what classes are scheduled for now. They wanted the public to be aware of this new feature. The goal was to create a short interview and a short promo to grab people's interest. Having completed this project, I learned a lot about filming fast -paced videos, along with new lighting, color, and camera details that you'll see applied to other videos. 3 All Cities – Sump Pump PSA As I 'm sure, many of you know when sump pump water is d rained into the sewer system. The city treat s extra water, which raises the price for everyone, treating ground water that is arguably already clean. I've put together a more "modern" type of PSA t o help get the word out as to why you would not want to do this. With some stock footage I pay for and some extra shots I couldn't find stock footage for. While I have a long way to go in mastering wording, I could use suggestions to polish it. I look forward to receiving feedback to better my PSA 's like this in the future. Cokato – Fire Station While the COVID -19 pandemic continued to flourish, it became apparent to the Cokato Fire Department that they could not celebrate their 125th anniversary as planned. The Museum director had already planned a surprise exhibit and decided to add a historical video for them. Our work on the Akerlund Documentary became paused as we switched gears to do a doc on the Fire Department 's History. This hour-long doc will feature narrated history from its formation in 1896 through the 1970s before switching to taped interviews from its current firefighters. It will cover various topics, from Cokato's big fires to firefighting today. This project has led to a lot of growth in lighting, color, and interviewing. As I interviewed, you can see the lighting gradually improve with some significant changes applied to Buffalo's Employee Recruitment Video. (Uncolored -Flat Profile) 4 Buffalo – Strong Response (Allina Health) Following the tragic event in Buffalo , I wanted to step in and do my part to help support the community. So, I reached out to Laureen Bodin, who quickly arranged a meeting with some prominent community leaders. Together we were able to record and release some words of encouragement to the community. The video now sits both on our YouTube channel, viebits, and on the front page of the Buffalostrong.care Website. Buffalo – Kites Touched on earlier in my report , we now have the results of the promos. While the goal of any promo is to promote, I was not fully prepared for the videos to go vertical. On the SWTV Facebook page alone, the data shows we reached almost 6,000 people, while I can't see the complete data from other pages. I can still see enough to calculate nearly 16,000 views, which means we likely met an even broader number. The hope would be to use footage captured at your local city events (movies, festivals, etc.) to promote/grow your attendance in the future, as we've done here. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic and the -40-degree weather that day. There were fewer kites and attendees than hoped. Thankfully, after fighting some equipment freeze-ups and dead batteries. The more giant kites took flight later in the day, and I still managed to get some excellent footage. Maple Lake – Parade 5 Last year, Maple Lake was one of the first SWTV events canceled when the lockdown went into effect. We had actually just finished unloading the trailer and were on our way back to Buffalo when the call came out ; the event would be canceled. Nonetheless, even a pandemic couldn't stop Maple Lake from hosting its beloved St. Patrick's day celebration this year. Though, instead of the business driving their floats through the town to comply with state guidelines. Parade attendees would drive past stationary "floats". While this may have negated the use of our trailer, it provided me with an excellent opportunity to try a different approach. I instead walked the route with my gimbal to create a candid recap of the event and material for promotion next year. But fear not, we were still able to capture the infamous puppies who usually walk the parade route and pose for us. Maple Lake – Coronation Due to the pandemic and written in bold on my parade notice. The Maple Lake ambassador program was disbanded due to a lack of candidates and support. However, as later discovered while walking the route. A different group restarted the program as Royalty rather than Ambassador. After a quick dash to Buffalo and a quick setup as doors opened. I was able to capture the coronation. 6 Buffalo – Employee Recruitment O ne of my proudest pieces of the year (though, still room for improvement), the City of Buffalo reached out to create a recruitment video for potential candidates considering applying to the city. This is also a good sample of new color, camera, lighting, and interview techniques. _________________________________________________________________ Big Lake – Movie Promo This is the first of many "movie promos" you'll see scattered throughout this document. Since the day I was hired , my goal has been to use social media to help spread SWTV 's reach. While this doesn't mean I wish to stop any of the coverage we are known for, I want to do what I can to attract a new generation of volunteers while helping grow your city's events. An example of this could easily be Buffalo's Kites on Ice Promo, which accrued over 16,000 views. 7 Delano – 4th of July Parade Delano's 4th of July Parade is one of our biggest when it comes to volunteer turnout , given the variety of positions we've filmed from over the last ten years. We have met attendees both old and new along the route. While it seems we've found our home down by city hall and Joe McDonald 's photo studio. Our veteran volunteers walk the parade route and track us down. This year we said goodbye to one of those veterans as he stopped to say hi and lent a hand before leaving the state for Colorado. Some years see us with as many as ten volunteers and this year brought us five. Elk River – Buddy Holly and The Winter Dance Party We do a lot of concerts over the summer, and one of those is the Riverfront concert series in Elk River, which provides a variety of music for multiple age groups and g enres, new and old. As you move through this document, you will see some screen grabs from each concert. In this case, Buddy Holly was that early rock and roll era music. 8 Elk River – Junk FM Among my personal favorites from the Riverfront series of music, Junk FM had the crowds moving both up close and at their seats. Not only was it fun to listen to them perform, but we have some excellent material that can be used to promote the event next year. When I say footage can often serve more than one purpose, I mean it, and in this case, I even made notes with timecode for later reference in editing. Monticello – Mitch Gordon Concert Just across the river on Wednesdays instead of Thursdays, we have Monticello's Music on the Mississippi with even more variety. In this case, Mitch Gordon is a country singer who mixes his concerts between originals and covers. 9 Rockford – River Days Parade This is another event where we park next to city hall and have the opportunity to live-stream over the cable channel. Thankfully, the local church allows us to park in the corner of their lot to keep the trailer out of the way. Though, we are sad to see some of our toughest movie volunteers (Rockford 's 2019-2020 Ambassadors) leave their crowns behind. Although, we've been told to expect great things from this new group! Rockford – River Days Coronation This is another excellent example of owning the mobile cam system; the River Days Coronation follows the parade, which is a fast turnaround for us. Thankfully, while we packed up the trailer, I had set up what I could the day prior, so we didn 't have as much to do when we arrived. This allowed us to film both events without comprising speed or quality. 10 Big Lake – Freedom Rock Promo/Event When it comes to events, I 'm usually providing sound or capturing video. Sometimes, however, I can dual-wield my roles with thought -out positioning or extra hands from volunteers. In this case, I ran the sound system and operated cameras to capture the event. I also took a separate day and grabbed an interview with the artist while he painted the freedom rock. The group is then able to promote the project with this material, w hich generates awareness. Delano – History With Tom Delano While not as large as some of the other projects on this list, I still wanted to include it. Tom Delano, the great great grandson of Francis Delano, whom the town is named after. Came to city hall and presented Francis's legacy, family history, and naming the town. Complete with an accompaniment of a two-piece band. 11 Big Lake – Rockin' Hollywoods While COVID was able to throw everyone off their norm, as the world restarted, one of our first events of the summer was The Rockin ' Hollywoods, which Bill will probably say he's recorded enough of. While we were just a few shows over their 7,500 performance , we still captured one of their first concert s back in two years, both on our mobile setup and by ronin for later promotional use. Delano – Levy While setting up for a candidate forum in Big Lake, I had a chance to talk to their community education director about the referendum presentation taking place before the event. In our conversation, he mentioned they'd be opening the video with a four-minute referendum video they paid $11,000 to have done. As with any job, my goal is to provide the commission with as much value as possible. In this case, I had the chance to test new efficiencies balancing time/quality to meet a faster turnaround. I also had the ability to make some animated elements and caption the video. So if your city or school needs to get a project passed, this is an example of one way to get the facts/needs of the project out there. 12 Elk River – Mick Sterling From Barry Concert Another example of that music variety, this show brought us into more of the '70s and '80s with a huge band. Thanks to one of our volunteers, we could operate a camera close to the band for a large variety of coverage. Monticello – Riverfest Parade One of the many events I remember covering in my younger years with SWTV was the Monticello Riverfest Parade. While I 'm told the vendor turnout at the park was smaller this year with the uncertainty of the pandemic. The parade turnout didn't seem to blink an eye with a friendly crowd and hour-long parade. 13 Watertown – Rails to Trails Parade As with some of our city events, when it comes to the parade, downtown is usually shut down. However, when it comes to Watertown, both the parade/carnival happen on Mainstreet , which doesn't leave a lot of space to maneuver or even park the SWTV trailer. Thankfully, the ability to operate with the mobile setup allows us to set up shop anywhere. So we tend to bounce around from year to year, depending on where they think we'd fit best. Dassel – Red Rooster Parade Dassel's Red Rooster Day parade is our last parade of the year and one of the last events of the summer. It is a welcomed but bittersweet end to a long summer after covering so many events with those late nights and early mornings. For this event, we set up the trailer next to the elementary school and , after cleaning up, visit ed the ice cream stand , which is so conveniently parked next to our trailer every year, as a thank you to our volunteers. 14 Big Lake – Spud Fest Parade As an avid lover of all spuds, you can probably imagine what I buy after the parade ends. However, as with our other events, we capture the parade and bring it to those who can't make it themselves. I cannot tell you the number of citizens who stopped us at this event to ask where they'd be able to find a copy. After filming the parade, we fought off the rain while packing up and rode a scooter over to city hall with a police escort to upload the file to the channel/viebit. Maple Lake – Enrollment Videos From my conversation with the Superintendent, Maple Lake is the smallest school in Wright County. However, they see that as an advantage and want to make sure kids, and their parents are aware. So I shot a series of interviews with Maple Lake's staff and students and am now combing the captured content into an enrollment video. So when parents check out their website or are considering open enrollment, they know the advantages of Maple Lake. Whether it 's an enrollment video like this or a levy/bond video. I want to be able to support your city and school with productions like this. 15 Big Lake – Shane Martin Concert I 'd argue the biggest events besides our parades would have to be our concerts. Sometimes with the trailer, sometimes with our portable mobile system, we often work to record these with a group of volunteers. This allows us to capture the action from multiple angles and keep up with the talent on stage. Buffalo – Buffalo Days Parade I can say with a bit of certainty when I think about filming parades over the summer, I don't expect myself to bump into Santa. Nonetheless, this was one of our first parades of the summer and we had quite the crew for it and another reason I say we operate in a variety of locations. In this case, we park at the water treatment plant and tuck our trailer in as the parade goes by. But when it came to an end and our announcers brought things to a close, we started packing up, only to be stopped by Santa a few moments later. He asked when the parade would be up and where to find it, before being on his way. 16 Cokato – Corn Carnival Parade Usually kicking off on a Monday evening, the Cokato Corn Parade is a volunteer favorite. Other than the amazing golden hour we normally expe rience, following the parade we are no strangers to getting our hands on lots of corn. Nonetheless, as with most of our parades, we have the ability to upload the parade and sometimes Livestream it as we are parked right next to city hall. Delano – 4th of July Events Throughout my report, I 've made reference to new methods for event promotion. One such example is the event videos made for Delano's 4th of July. For this, I worked with Alex Roeser who is chairman of the whole event. On the first day of the carnival, after I had finished filming the coronation, we walked around the event pausing from time to time for him to tell us about everything going on. These videos gathered about 8,200 views a cross the couple days of events, and while it 's hard to say what was COVID and what was promos. The overall event had an extra 30% in attendees and doubled the profit from prior years.. 17 Delano – Old Fashion Christmas While originally filmed back in 2019 for Delano's Old Fashion Christmas, this project will actually be revived in the next few weeks and rebranded for the 2021 promotion. Unfortunately, the 2020 event was canceled due to the pandemic, but we are hoping this can pull people back in for the festivities. Elk River – Revue While these events usually take place outside, on occasion we do have to move indoors. Thankfully with our mobile system, it 's not the end of the world when they decide to change locations a few hours before the band goes on. In this case, I got to work with a few students from the local high school and they may volunteer in the future. 18 Elk River – Sherburne County Fair Parade While most of our cities have their own parade, we help Elk River's video production team capture the county parade which runs throughout Elk River. Just don't mention the 2021 marching band to this year's parade announcer Bill Bruce. Monticello – Sweet Siren Concert Another diversified band Sweet Siren mostly focused on pop music but dipped into both country and rock. It was a treat to one of our biggest volunteers Dan as I ran a camera while he directed. Since he knew the music, he was able to cut the songs to the beat and tell me what he needed f or shots. 19 Rockford – Rocktoberfest Event/Promo (Four Concerts) Rocktoberfest is our biggest series of the year, with four bands, and two stages. The music never stops and neither does our production, to support this. We need big crews and lots of setup, as we park our trailer outside the festivities. Day of, you can usually find us running lots of cables to the middle of the park and setting up platforms for our cameras to pivot on between concerts. While the crowd enjoys the night, rain or snow, warm or cold, we film on to do our part in helping the historic society raise money. While our volunteers usually start out on camera, when possible, I like to allow them to take control of the directing while I oversee operations or run graphics. This gives them the opportunity to try something new and in the case of our volunteer Taylor, a very fun evening. This also allowed me to step away to capture B -Roll of the event that can be used to promote it next year. My goal is to take advantage of that and help it grow. Which is why this year, when able to step away from directing. I was on stage and in the audience to capture what I could of the mood. That way they have something to show/advertise when the time comes next year to draw even bigger crowds. 20 Monticello – Warehouse Promo My goal as a cinematographer is to constantly improve the quality of my image, while maintaining a balance between time spent and quality. This video is another new type of production that went through the paces. From new lighting techniques to different styles of color correction, I walked away from the productions have learned a lot. The scope of the video was to promote a new series of classes the Monticello Gym was offering. As the public was unaware of the new gear and this was an opportunity for a social media post. Dassel - Red Rooster Coronation Taking place on the Dassel/Cokato Saints Field, this is the one coronation unaffected by COVID as it happens in early September. In normal years, like this one, it takes place just down the road a few hours after the parad e. Given the size of the trailer, we usually just bring the portable system and setup right on the field. Since the program uses the whole field between dances, walks, and speeches, it helps to be out of the way for the audience but beyond the baseball net for the action. 21 All Cities – SWTV Promo to Attract Volunteers SWTV handles a large variety of productions and most of the events cannot be filmed alone. That 's where our volunteers come in and is how I began. When you take something like Rocktoberfest or a parade, where you need multiple cameras and the action never stops, that 's when our volunteers shine. While times may be changing, when you start operating eye catching cameras, it 's not long before someone asks a question and that 's usually how we get someone to join our team. This summer, I had help capturing footage/pictures of our volunteers. I 'm hoping to use that content to recruit some new more help through social media and on our cable channels. Delano – Movie Promo This is the first of many promo videos shot this super on a special low -light camera called the A7S III from Sony. It allows us to capture the action without the "grainy" image quality normally found when filming such dark scenes. The main benefit is this material can then be used for social media blasts to get the word out about the event. 22 Cokato – Virtual Expo Towards the beginning of the year, as COVID restrictions remained in effect. It was decided the Dassel/Cokato expo wouldn't be held. So the Chamber Head reached out and asked to hold a virtual expo instead, so we spent a day interviewing all the businesses in Cokato just like the usual expo. Cokato – Photo Studio Promo While the Akerlund video documentary was put on hold, I was still able to take advantage of the B -Roll by using it to create a promo for the museum. As we came out of COVID, the museum was able to use the variation to promote itself. 23 Big Lake – Expo While SWTV has recorded Expo's for many years, I wanted to maintain that while improving it slightly. Instead of simply recorded an interview, I also recorded B -Roll, which is simply footage that shows anything but the person talking (A -Roll). By using B -Roll, the video is more interesting to watch and I can cover awkward pauses. It can also be used as promo material for next year's expo. Delano – Coronation Delano's coronation is one of the harder events to produce as it cannot be done with the portable video system. This is because SWTV usually provides sound for the event, which makes it harder to operate a camera while I 'm focusing on sound. Nonetheless, I took two cameras one for safety and the other for zooming when I was able. While not perfect, merging it in post will still yield a recording. Buffalo – Coronation This was the first year we've filmed a Buffalo coronation in a long time. After speaking with the coronation coordinator, it sounds like we use to film them every year. Although after some time, communication was just lost and they never knew who to contact. One of the things I would like to work on is developing a list to keep track of usual programming and contacts. I'd also like to figure out a way to make event coverage more requestable by the public. 24 Big Lake – Coronation As with many events, being the first real "normal year." I learned a lot about what worked and what didn't work for me. One such method was recording without the use of a mobile system. In the case of Spudfest, immediately after recording the parade we move into the tent to record the coronation. While this year I did it with two cams, I wish I would 've used the mobile system or trailer. Although both would 've involved either pre-setup or longer cable runs, which can't be fully protected outside with no supervision. Nonetheless, something to consider for next year. Cokato – Corn Festival Promo As the summer season started coming to an end, I had experienced several events like the Cokato Carnival. Which meant I could apply new efficiencies and recording techniques to better capture and promote the event. 25 Rockford – Movie Promo Similar to the scope of the last Rockford movie project, I use what I had for free time to capture the event. Although, a bit smaller than last year's crowd, I still have some very usable footage. Buffalo – Legion Movie Promo Another repeat event, as this was one of the few movies allowed to go on at the end of 2020's summer. While this year's legion movie was a lot smaller to do the scale of the Buffalo Day's event. I was able to capture footage and will likely combine it with previous b-roll to make a stronger advertisement and better promote for the summer 2022 movie. Buffalo – Band Shell Movie The bandshell was a new location for me and a different type of movie setup. Instead of inflating the usual two-story-tall movies screen. We set up the "indoor frame" so we'd fit under the bandshell and spectators could sit on the hill. It was also close t o the carnival, so we had a large crowd natural filter in. 26 Cokato – Corn Carnival Coronation This event is where SWTV gets itself some serious advertisement, shortly following the parade, you can find us pulling the trailer down the road and positioning in the center of the coronation stage. Which happens to be at the top of the hill, with our logo easily visible across the entire fairgrounds. We usually catch up with a lot of old volunteers and commission friends at events like these. Buffalo – Carnival Promo Being as the bandshell movie took place at the carnival, I had the opportunity to capture a few shots before coming back the next day for more. Being my first carnival of the year and a completely new element for me. I tried a few different things to capture widen how much content I captured and got stopped a lot to be asked who I was with. Delano – Carnival Promo 27 A new precedent was set at the Buffalo Days Carnival and I wanted to do what I could to promote other new events. While I was stopped a lot less in Delano compared to Buffalo, I still captured a variety of shots. Big Lake - Carnival Promo While Spudfest started with a busy day of parade/coronation for us, the real challenge was operating the camera between the rain as it fell off and on all day. Thankfully as the day turned dark the rain really slowed and we were able to capture more footage. Watertown – Carnival Promo For those who don't know, Watertown's Rails to Trails takes over the downtown for the few days it 's on. They have events inside and outside of business with additional venders/stages/activities packed alongside the street. As with many events, theirs a lot to see, eat and do. So I wanted to capture everything to help promote this one next year. 28 Cokato – Fire Department 125th Anniversary Doc While the COVID -19 pandemic continued to flourish, it became apparent to the Cokato Fire Department that they could not celebrate their 125th anniversary as planned. The Museum director had already planned a surprise exhibit, and decided to add a historical video for them. Our work on the Akerlund Documentary became paused as we switched gears to do a doc on the Fire Depart ment's History. This hour-long doc will feature narrated history starting from its formation in 1896 through the 1970s before switching to taped interviews from its current firefighters. It will cover various topics from Cokato 's big fires to firefighting today. This project has led to a lot of growth in lighting, color, and interviewing. As I interviewed, you can see the lighting gradually improve with some significant changes applied to Buffalo's Employee Recruitment Video. (Uncolored -Flat Profile) 29 Big Lake – Concert Promo Just as with Monticello, when our cities offer free concerts in the park and I have an extra volunteer on set. I want to do what I can to capture more footage outside of just the stationary cameras to help promote these concerts. Given they are free, the only reason someone may not come is lack of knowledge, and seeing the quality of concerts may just be that driving reason! Monticello – Movie Promo Just as with concerts, SWTV wants to do what it can to help promote movies in the park. As we don't charge the city anything for use of the equipment the only real cost is the licensing fee. Which is usually paid for by the city or a group using the movie to fundraise. So by helping advertise with the impressive look of our screen and audiences, attendance is likely to go up if we help spread awareness for the event. 30 Cokato – Arkerlund Doc Cokato also has a historic photography studio that operated between the 1900s and 1940s. All of the original gear is still inside along with Akerlund 's collection of about 14,000 glass pictures (the method used at the time). I was a bit honored to work in a space with such history and take advantage of the studio's natural lighting in my interviews. While the doc was put on hold due to the pandemic, we are hoping to interview one of the women who had her portrait taken there. They then want to use this video to apply for national landmark status, one of the rarer delegations given to historic sites.