Over the last two weeks, On Motion Media and the Joseph M. Katz School of Business joined forces to produce a new element to be included with the Katz annual report, one with a unique, innovative twist.  To compliment the literature Katz will publish, the University turned to OMM to creatively implement seamless video components into their traditional print materials.  That decision, for all parties, was a success.

Last Tuesday around eight o’clock p.m., OMM and the Katz School of Business wrapped three days of green screen interviews with intelligent, articulate, and fun to work with students, faculty, and staff.  These interviews (which focused primarily on international business, supply chain and product management, and faculty as mentors for students) allow first-hand sources to explain the school’s accomplishments and development over the last year.

The Katz annual report will still be available in print.  However, once finished, these video interviews will be available both on DVD and online to better reach the school’s target audience, as well as deliver a creative solution to this annual project.

Today, as post-production work begins, the charismatic performances from the Katz interviewees can be heard resonating throughout the editing studio.  While the final product begins to take shape, one thing’s certain: this annual report is going to be something to be remembered.

Stay tuned for updates on the finished video.

About an hour north of Pittsburgh, off the beaten path of West Sunbury, lies a peaceful and tranquil property. On it you will find a few cabin-esque buildings, a small pond filled with coy, a dog, a few cats, and most likely Padma, the caretaker. What I’m describing is the Datta Retreat Center (DRC), a facility built to function as a spiritual healing retreat and on April 1st will be the new home of one the largest crystals ever found as it receives the blessing of DRC founder, His Holiness Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Swamiji.

Last Thursday I was given the opportunity to visit and tour the center. After finding my way down the winding, snow covered roads, I discovered the property nestled amongst an alcove of trees. The whole drive there I was thinking heavily about what I was going to experience during my visit. “What if I do something completely insulting? How do I greet Padma? Do I shake her hand or do I bow?” were all questions running through my mind. I had never really researched Indian culture before, nor did I know much about the spiritual or religious rituals, so I didn’t really know what to expect.

Once I found the parking lot I made my way through the deep snow to the office. Padma, who quickly ushered me inside, greeted and welcomed me into the restaurant-sized kitchen of the office/house. After introductions were made Padma informed me a bit about the property and how it came to be. As we walked down the main drive to the temple, we occasionally took turns throwing the dog’s ball as Padma described how Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Swamiji (Sri Swamiji) decided to build the Datta Retreat Center (DRC) in this spot. She said he visited the site in 1986 and found 3 large sacred rocks on the property. Sri Swamiji had previously seen these rocks in a dream and knew at this point that this is where the DRC (then Datta Yoga Center) would be built.

“The rock is like a powerful Crystal. I don’t call it a rock. Now it is a powerful soul. There is a good vibration here.”

-Sri Swamiji

As I threw the dog’s ball, she continued. In 1988, the construction for the temple began. The temple was built around two of the rocks, Vishnu and Shiva, which already had deities previously installed on them. My first thought was, “A temple? How big is this place? Did I miss something on the way in?” Let me assure you, any image of a temple you may or may not have just envisioned in your head is most likely wrong. As we rounded the corner of the outdoor recreational hall, a small, hexagonal building emerged. Three sides of the building were glass panels, and the other three were wooden, aside from the large rock that appeared to merge with the wall.

Inside the temple rested a large rock in the center, along with the rock from outside protruding into the back of the room. The center rock was covered with various statues and ornaments Gods of various religions; among which were Datta, Shiva, and Jesus. Padma told me that this is because Sri Swamiji has stated, “The Center is not a religion. It is not Hindu, Christian, or Buddhist. It is a nature center, a healing center … a natural healing center.”

Shortly after we lit some candles in the temple, we replaced our shoes to our feet and headed up to the prayer/meeting hall where Sri Swamiji has held many ceremonies. Padma informed me that the upper floor of the prayer hall is also a sleeping quarters for families who want to stay overnight at the center.

After peeking into the prayer hall for a moment we made our way over to the construction site of the Crystal Chamber. The room is being painted like the universe. The rendering and quality of the galaxies had me wondering if it was even a painting at all. Padma told me that the crystal was found in the East, and then moved to Canada, and finally met its resting place here, at the DRC. I was quite shocked to hear that the crystal was already there and I was already bursting to ask if we could take a look at it. Thankfully Padma had planned that to be a stop on the tour.

She showed me to the outside of the building and headed into another door. Even though it was dark I could tell the room was small. Padma shuffled around for a moment and then light beamed down from above. The crystal itself was massive. It lay on the floor in a thick, wooden frame with Styrofoam bracing it. Padma encouraged me to touch it, and when I did it sent a shiver down my spine. She explained to me that the base for its stand was currently being built, and would hopefully be completed in the coming weeks.

After taking in the sheer size of the crystal, she assured me that I could come back down and take pictures. We made our way back up the main drive, going further into detail about the Sri Swamiji’s visit planned for April.

“The Center is not a religion. It is not Hindu, Christian, or Buddhist. It is a nature center, a healing center … a natural healing center.”

The ceremony is planned to be one the biggest events the DRC has ever seen. Granted, any time Sri Swamiji visits the DRC (about once or twice a year) is a big deal, but this ceremony is a keystone in the history of the DRC. Over 1,000 people are estimated to attend, all from every corner of the world. This event is something we plan to document, and documentation has already started. I encourage you to make some time for this event, and if not the event I recommend you head out to the Datta Retreat Center and spend even just a few hours there. I guarantee you will immediately feel the warmth and love of the people there and you will want to return. Remember, it doesn’t matter what religious background you are from, or if you even make claim to a religion at all. In fact, Sri Swamiji encourages his supporters and followers to remain in their respected religions and to worship the God(s) they were raised to, “It is a nature center, a healing center.”

Please keep a watchful eye here, as in the coming weeks we’ll be providing more information, as well as videos/pictures, about Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Swamiji and the Datta Retreat Center.

For more pictures please visit our FLICKR.

Please take the time to visit the DRC Website.

Behind the scenes information about this project.

Here is an excerpt taken from the Westinghouse Electric Company Management Foundations I training video.

 
 
Behind the scenes information about this project.

The Making of UPCI’s “Power of Partnership”.

By Patrick Sehn

Recently UPMC and UPCI (University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute) held a grand gala to celebrate the generosity of its donor communities. The evening celebration brought together a vast group of diverse individuals who donate their time, money and resources to a very worthwhile cause, finding a cure for cancer. On Motion Media was brought on board to produce four “pillar” videos for the event.

The theme of the gala was “The Power of Partnership,” and UPMC/UPCI was celebrating the authentic partnerships that exist between UPCI and the community, between patients and physicians, and between the physicians and researchers. These are the partnerships that make it possible for UPCI and UPMC to do their real work, to help make cancer a chronic illness and not a life threatening disease, working ultimately to find a cure. This power of partnership played a major role in the production of four “pillar” videos – from concept through delivery.

When you are awarded the opportunity to work on a project like this it makes your job all that much more rewarding. Not only was the project meaningful in that the videos we produced would help inspire people to give, but it was also meaningful for us at On because we were forming a partnership with some amazing people at UPMC. And even though the videos were just a small part of the evening’s event, everyone at UPMC/UPCI treated us with the most professional respect, acknowledging our contribution at every stage of the process. We felt like real partners, not just partners in theory.

We believe that video is always the medium to choose when you want to evoke emotion and in turn move people to act. Our concept revolved around having each participant speak directly to the camera and tell his or her individual story. These stories would then be woven to tell the big picture story, so first we needed the source content. We had an initial meeting with our clients at UPMC and they conveyed the messages they wanted to be delivered. We were then given a list of the individuals to be interviewed, and what their connection was with the UPMC/UPCI story. Our executive producer, Bill Medica, created interview questions to evoke both information and emotion from the interviewees. Our goal was to ask each participant questions, but to have them respond directly into the camera, thus speak directly to the viewer. This created an emotional, almost one-on-one connection between the person speaking and the viewer.

With a little coaching from our director Tom Schneider, and using a two-way teleprompter setup so that each interviewee could actually see Bill as he interviewed them thus not talking into the cold lens of a camera, these non-professional talents delivered the most amazing and emotional performances. With the help of our clients, we were able to secure some truly outstanding people. We interviewed cancer survivors, physicians, and community leaders; each had their own story to tell, each delivered sincere messages that conveyed their enthusiasm and gratitude. With everyone’s dedication and input we were able to stage one of the most successful shoots in the history of On Motion Media. Check out our Flickr page for some behind the scenes images.

UPMC then gave us free-reign. Bill and I went through the interview footage, eight hours of it, to find the best bites to tell four complete stories that would convey both information and emotion. An additional challenge was that each story needed to be told in under three and a half minutes. It was a tall order, mostly because there were just so many amazing sound bites.

The next significant undertaking was the music. Music underscores the emotion of the piece, and really moves the piece along. We knew from the onset of the project that library music wouldn’t do and we knew which composer we would bring on to do the job. We called on Sonji Woodruff to compose original music to give the project the emotional impact it deserved. As always, she delivered. It was her brilliant work on four unique tracks that helped give each video the emotional feel we were looking for. She has done amazing work for us in the past and it was our pleasure to continue our partnership with her on this project.

Once the stories were cut together and the music was in place, we were able to follow through with our goal of keeping the art direction and design simple. The design team for the gala supplied us with a beautiful logo, details of which were used throughout each video. The logo is simple and elegant, exactly what the art direction called for.

Once all of the elements were in place: the sound bites, the music and the art direction, it became apparent to us that through all the hard work and dedication of so many people and the partnerships formed, we were able to deliver a beautiful, elegant and moving product.

We were truly humbled to be a part of the celebration gala and happy to help the folks at UPMC and UPCI celebrate the philanthropy of their donors and their tireless resolve in battling cancer.

Please take a moment and watch one of the videos. Also, please take a few minutes out of your day to visit UPCI’s website and consider donating.

Here’s an example of how easy it can be and why there is no need to fear. A 12-year old kid who wants to be a music video star but has no resources. What does he do? He wonders into the Apple store, opens a youtube account and he is off to the races. You can see the bewildered and amused expressions on the shoppers behind him as Nicholi unabashedly takes advantage of technology. How can you use your creativity to make these technology tools work for you?

Nicholi is now a youtube sensation and is headed to LA, Oprah and who knows where else. Stay tuned.