Art of Living — Masterclass

Director Blaine Hogan and I have collaborated on various projects over the years. So I was excited when he came to me with a vision for creating an online ‘masterclass’ for his friends, licensed professional counselors Cyndi Mesmer and her husband, Steve! The project entitled Story Groups: Unlocking You is a curriculum specifically designed to create the structure needed to run a ‘story group.’ Having produced a masterclass before, I was eager to try my hand at a similar project and use ways to improve upon my experience.

I engaged DP Chris Beauchesne and Editor Jonathan LaPointe to spearhead the visual style of the series and then worked hand in hand with Blaine, Cyndi, and Steve to execute their collective vision. Next, my Production Coordinator Katie Kranz and I began to hire the remaining crew roles, created a production schedule that led us from project award to post-production completion, and planned out the logistics surrounding the project. We filmed in their beautiful home, which gave this project a warm and inviting feel to the viewer. It was lovely to have the comfort of a home environment, but it did present a challenge or two. First, the weather didn’t cooperate throughout filming, and it began to rain on our last production day. If we had been filming in a studio environment with extensive soundproofing, it wouldn’t have been a problem, but in their home, our Sound Mixer began to hear the rain on the microphones. After some brainstorming, we devised the ingenious idea to cover the roof with sound blankets to dampen the ‘pitter-patter.’ It was a wild solution, but it was a significant help to our sound problems and allowed us to continue filming with minor interruptions for the remainder of our production.

Once filming was complete, Jonathan Lapointe and I spent weeks working closely with Blaine to dial in the edits and accompanying graphics that would become the online series today. Working with Cyndi and Steve was an absolute pleasure, and creating a course will be a great asset in helping others learn how to understand and work through their life stories.