The Reformation Project — Masterclass

I was hired by Matthew Vines’s to produce two masterclass courses for his organization, The Reformation Project. The content covered during filming was extensive, so it was a huge endeavor that took months of planning and nearly a year to complete. While Matthew was busy writing his scripts, my Production Coordinator Katie Kranz and I started putting together an incredible team of artisans. Filmed on four sets and in two stages at Resolution Studios in Chicago, these courses took a week to film.

I brought on my friend and incredibly talented DP, Mike Bove, to head up our camera department, as well as the wizard of lighting himself—our Gaffer Lamar Bloodworth. I also asked my dear friend, Hannah Leadley, to lead an art team along with Shannon Lewis and Beth Swanson, all of whom brilliantly brought our multiple sets to life. Of course, filming was only one part of the production. These courses required a large amount of text to appear on-screen: queue our Editor & Motion Graphics Artist, Jonathan LaPointe. Once principle photography had wrapped, he spent countless hours, weeks and months editing, designing and motion tracking the content so that each course was user-friendly and visually appealing.

One of the text elements were markers we referred to as “key points” that would occur a number of times in each module. Associate Producer and Web Designer Luke DeBoer was able to program anchor points for the motion text that triggered a key point function on the course website. Lots of prep and open communication between our DP, Art, G&E and Post departments allowed everyone to work together harmoniously. In fact during production, our DIT was sending footage in real time to Jonathan, who is based in Toronto, so that he could send back motion graphic samples of how and where text would appear on screen. Mike and the camera team would then reframe or adjust to match the desired final creative. It was a truly gargantuan task that required a dynamic team effort, and I am very proud of what we were able to deliver.