The Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development of the American Hospital Association, or SHSMD, as we found to be a useful acronym, contacted us back in October 2015. Their request was simple: “20th Anniversary Video” but we soon realized this would not be a run-of-the-mill anniversary video, and we felt inspired.

SHSMD, serving more than 4,000 members, “is the largest and most prominent voice and resource for healthcare strategists, planners, marketers, and communications and public relations professionals nationwide.” And in coming this far in 20 years, they wanted to celebrate their achievements with an anniversary video. This video was to premiere at an annual conference to be held in their hometown of Chicago in September 2016, so it required both engaging yet sentimental elements.

During the initial pre-production, Craig Bass, Creative Director at Motion Source, pitched the idea of a POV-style video, to tell the story of SHSMD from the perspective of a member who has transitioned with the organization over the course of 20 years. This would take the audience on a journey through the eyes of someone they could identify with, watching the growth of the organization through this member’s eyes.

Showcasing the organization’s span from 1996-2016 quickly led us to realize that we were entering “period piece” territory. To accurately portray offices from these time periods, we knew we needed era-appropriate props for authenticity. So we turned to Zap Props who supplied us with vintage office essentials such as a desk, computer monitor, keyboard, mouse, telephone, projector screen, and even a rolodex! This place has it all.

Over the course of three days in the Motion Source studio, we began the journey through time. Utilizing the POV-style and overhead shots, we created scenes in office spaces, office conference rooms, and event locations. While the majority of the scenes were practically captured, we turned to green screen and special effects to transport us to locations we would not be able to capture. And you will see in the video that with a simple click of our main character’s mouse (and some movie magic in the editing room) we are able to quickly move through these spaces.

The concept plays to the audience’s suspension of disbelief to understand that this travel through the years is a compilation of the memories of the main character, as she reminisces on her time with SHSMD through the years. With that in mind, we were given more freedom in the edit to include special effects, scene transitions, and movement through time and space.

On September 12th, the video premiered at SHSMD’s Chicago conference to an audience of more than 1,800 members, and was later made public on its social media channels and website. Both members and non-members alike will appreciate this visual story of one’s own personal growth in the workplace in conjunction with the growth of an organization that has much to celebrate in 20 years.

BTS Fun Facts:

• Two different actresses played the role of the main character to physically show the age difference in the hands as the years passed.

• We played 1990s and 2000s music on set during the scenes that were taking place in those respective time periods to help set the mood.

• The SHSMD logo in the end frame was custom built by a third-generation Swedish woodworker.