Producing Two New Tourism Videos in Southwest Colorado
Over the last few years I’ve accumulated a library of still images from amazing hikes and met a lot of great people in Southwest Colorado. While finishing up a series of video edits for a client in the area, we chatted about a concept for a set of two videos that would focus on the communities of Mancos and Dolores, two nearby towns here in the Four Corners.
Wilkinson Visual recommended that the content for these videos would be best delivered through testimony from locals, rather than a scripted voiceover, to enhance the personal connection made in the video, but also because that speaks to the kinds of towns these are: small, friendly, and community focused.
For the Mancos video, I interviewed Chelsea Jones, the Economic Development Coordinator for Mancos, and she spoke about the local artisan scene and "Country Western" style that Mancos embodies.
Capturing the spirit of a community represents a challenge, as that is something typically experienced through personal interaction, more so than it is seen in a video clip! Lucky for me though, the people I met and asked to videotape were very friendly and often gave me big smiles or laughs to work with. I used slow motion to further emphasize the “slower pace” that Chelsea spoke to in her interview, and we were able to get Rim Rock Outfitters to supply a few horses to stage a shot in town one evening.
Here is the final video for Mancos:
For the second town, Dolores, we were presented with a similar, but different challenge on the approach. We interviewed two people instead of just one, and the content we got from those led us on a journey to capture lots of different footage. Mountain biking, kayaking the river, hiking trails in town, going to the microbrew pub (yes!) but also including the library and a cultural center.
Finding a good vantage point of the town was tricky, but after a day of scouting I found a view from the south that revealed the rocky valley that Dolores sits in. Jakob Skogheim flew in from Michigan and assisted on this shoot, and we got some pretty good timelapses while camping out overnight.
The weather played a role since many of our shots were outdoors, and waiting for just the right light was pivotal for capturing compelling shots. We used all sorts of gear, from cranes to motion controlled timelapse rigs.
In the end the client was very pleased with how these two videos turned out and will be promoting them in local visitor centers as well as on their social media networks.
Here's the final video for Dolores: