We are going to Mexico! While we’re sad to miss the lovely warm beaches on this particular trip, we’re excited to go to the the mountainous region of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, which straddles the states of Mexico & Michoacan.
Author: eidolonfilms
Tale of Two Cities: Marville’s Paris & my DC
One of the great fortunes of living in Washington, DC is being able to walk down to the National Gallery of Art, enter at no cost, and wander the grand halls to view a rare Van Gogh. I did that on a recent Saturday and after viewing “Green Wheat Fields,” I happened upon an an exhibit of the photography of Charles Marville, a relatively obscure French photographer from the mid-1800s. Click to read more about how Marville’s photography photography captured a changing Paris.
Documenting Social Media Interactions In “The Walking Gallery”
Social media saturates our everyday lives to the point of ubiquity, yet its visual role in film and television is still evolving. A few years ago, if a character were to receive a text message, email or tweet, the words would appear in large unrealistic text on the screen of their iPhone. But now, media makers are being more bold and pronounced in their depiction of social media interactions on screen. Click through to learn more about how we integrated social media into our latest piece.
Music Direction for Documentary
We tend to remember music, even tunes we’ve heard for only a brief moment. Their melody sticks to our memory, and while we may not recall where we heard it, we do remember how it made us feel. That’s what’s so magical about music, and it’s what we hope to achieve with our films and videos. Our audience may not remember the names of our characters, what they wore, nor exactly what they said. But if they remember how that story made them feel, we’ve met our goal as filmmakers. Just as strong characters, a good story, stunning visuals and immersive sound design helps to accomplish this goal, so does well composed music. Click through to read more about how music is used as a narrative tool and to hear about process from composer Doug Kaufman.
A Branding Video with Heart
This Fall, we teamed up with German based NGO Malteser International to produce an identity video that would introduce their organization to an American audience, just as they open new offices in Miami, FL. Click through to view the video and read more about our approach.
Bringing Together the Community
There’s a lot of exciting news to share about our latest independent film, Fate of A Salesman! We premiered our film to the DC community, and followed that with a local broadcast premiere on WHUT, all with fantastic reviews in the press. We’re looking forward to a national PBS broadcast in late winter and upcoming screenings at the St. Louis International Film Festival & The Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum! Click through to see photos and read more!
Taking a Different Approach to University Videos
This summer, Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business commissioned us to produce a video campaign to complement their recruitment efforts. We started by evaluating the recruitment videos of the top 25 MBA programs, which tended to follow a similar pattern: telling and not showing.
Documenting the Indirect Impact Of Your Nonprofit’s Work
One of the biggest challenges our clients face is documenting the human impact of the work that they do, especially when they are policy-oriented. As opposed to a direct-service organization, it is harder for them to demonstrate the impact of their work. They feel inclined to resort to programmatic videos explaining what they do and how they do it. Yet those have little emotional appeal and often fail to use the medium of film effectively.
From a Child’s Perspective
It’s late afternoon on a beautiful day in Southern Israel. The children from Kibbutz Kfar Aza barrel into the classroom where after-school activities are held. Their teacher struggles to wrangle them as they peer into the lens of our camera, making goofy faces. Ben presses record all the while, capturing the joy of their childhood.
Crowdsourcing The Production: A Case Study
This November, we were tasked by Georgetown University’s Office of Advancement to conceive of a short video that would be sent to alumni at the end of the year to thank donors for their support and encourage others to consider Georgetown in their end-of-year giving. As alumni of the University ourselves, we look back and remember our experience at Georgetown as a series of moments, big and small.
Year in Review: Our Top 5 Highlights
It’s been an amazing year for us at Eidolon Films, now in our fifth year of business (3 years full-time). It really seems like yesterday that the idea of running our own business making documentary films was just a dream. But I’m proud to say it’s been our fortunate reality. We feel truly lucky to come to work every day to be creative, to meet fascinating people, to travel the world and to advocate & educate through story.
Don’t Just Document Your Subjects, Empower Them.
We recently produced a short video for the Washington Home & Community Hospices to highlight their “Caregiver Relief Program”. The program supports primary caregivers by providing home care relief, so the caregiver can continue to work outside the home. For Alvin, a Prince George’s County Fleet Mechanic, the program provided “peace of mind” that his dear sister Arlene was taken care of while he worked to support them. This was a delicate and challenging story to film because Arlene was dying from cancer and these were her last days. Alvin could have readily said no to filming, and we would have very easily understood. But instead he saw this as an opportunity to share his story as a way to help others. Aside from the fact that he’s an especially brave person, I think one reason is because felt empowered. He wasn’t just a “subject” in this video; he was a part of our mission on behalf of Washington Home & Hospice.