Not surprisingly, many of our nonprofit clients are opting for virtual events over their regularly scheduled in-person fundraisers. But before leaping into this unventured digital territory, they want to understand the process to get there. In this post, we walk you through the step-by-step process of creating a virtual gala for the Boys & Girls Clubs of San Antonio. We take you behind-the-scenes at some of our shoots and show you how the show was stitched together to create an entertaining one-hour broadcast for their supporters.
PRE-PRODUCTION
Discussing the event and production schedule
We have been producing videos for the Boys & Girls Clubs of San Antonio since 2017, and we felt privileged when they asked us to help them produce a completely virtual event. After a few Zoom calls to discuss each component of the show and nailing down who would be involved in creating the event, we outlined a production schedule to kick off in mid-January, giving us ample time to shoot and edit what would turn into an hour-long show.
Components of the show:
6x Youth of the Year vignettes
Club Tour
Honoree spotlight
Host/emcee segments
Fundraising appeal made by board member
:15 bumpers (thank-yous and sponsor recognition)
6x Youth of the Year speeches
Sponsor acknowledgments
Winner announcement
Crowd reaction
Winner remarks
Final remarks
PRODUCTION
With less than 90 days before the Youth of the Year UNgala and tens of people involved, we knew we needed to be strategic and schedule as much filming in the fewest days possible, and this is how we broke it all out.
JANUARY
Filming schedule:
Club Tour segment
Youth of the Year interviews
B-roll with mentors and family
FEBRUARY (early)
Filming schedule:
Additional b-roll of Club members at the Clubs
Honoree interview and b-roll
Behind the scenes at the Food Bank and their food delivery to the Club
FEBRUARY 23
Filming schedule:
Youth of the Year finalists competition
Interview with the night's KSAT's Ursula Pari
Special announcement
Board member ask
Winner revealed
Final remarks
POST-PRODUCTION
Creating the rough cuts
This is the production stage, where our team begins scrubbing all of the footage to create comp reels for the client to review. These clips don't have any bells or whistles, no flashy graphics or upbeat music, just the raw compilation of interviews for the client to begin choosing the sections they want to keep.
POST-PRODUCTION
The editing continues...
At this point, the show's elements begin to come together, and the vision for the event is slowly being realized. Our team takes the client's initial selections and begins piecing together the b-roll and soundbites from every interview.
We also put together a thirty-second promo for media partner KSAT to promote the finalists and the event days leading up to the gala.
POST-PRODUCTION
Adding the finishing touches
It's during this phase that the real magic happens with our editing team taking all of the remaining footage through the post-production process, adding color correction, sound mixing, graphics, animation, and music to each segment, and creating a show that flows like a well-produced show on network TV. This is also when we begin creating thank you bumpers to be interspersed throughout the show. We have found that these adverts are a great way to not only break up the show but add entertainment value, recognize sponsors, and another time slot dedicated to important messages and calls to action.
Once more, we will send this to the Boys & Girls Clubs of San Antonio for final review, and then we will package the file for Vimeo Studio on the evening of March 2.
BROADCAST DAY -- MARCH 3
This event was originally broadcast on March 3 at 7 p.m. on the Boys & Girls Clubs of San Antonio's Facebook page and later made available on KSAT.
Are you interested in hosting a virtual event? Contact our team at info@whitecloudmg.com, and let us help you make your virtual event a huge success!