Rock Shore Supports 2021 Changemaker Challenge

OVERVIEW

The United Way of Central Maryland’s Changemaker Challenge aims to showcase innovative programs that are addressing obstacles in our community. With the Changemaker Challenge, Changemakers have an opportunity to share their ideas for social change to make a difference in social issues such as education or public health. The competition allows for award funding which will further support their individual projects and overall help the community. Rock Shore traveled throughout Howard and Anne Arundel Counties as well as in our own studio filming participants to help highlight their ideas and get their visions across through video. Rock Shore also assisted in their live virtual event where we celebrated their ideas and congratulated Changemakers in their journey and new funding.

APPROACH

Rock Shore was selected to work with United Way because we are able to provide full production services. Our producer, Mei Lin Lau Mann, led the project structure and overlooked production. Rock Shore partnered with Wide Angle Youth Media and Storia Films to complete the project and was supported by a live production team for the five live events. After months of planning, we began production by filming b-roll of finalists across Howard Country and Arundel County. We then moved into our studio and built three custom made sets for each production company to film their respectives counties.

This project also gave Rock Shore a wonderful learning opportunity especially with it being the first time we used our newest studio for filming! In its very first job, our studio was used as a space for 50 final videos. Our goal was to create content that showed how innovative and uplifting each project was as well as work with the Changemakers to get the strongest image of their idea out through our lens in video. Throughout this entire process, natural PR was generated for everyone involved with the social content from the filming and the videos created. What we created together hopefully can continue to be used to help promote the finalists even past the competition.

CHALLENGES

"The Changemaker Challenge was really a challenge in itself. I remember on that very first call I had with United Way of Central Maryland in March of 2021, I kept thinking throughout the entire call, “this is going to be a massive project”. And at the same time, my mind was racing with ideas on how to make it work.

The first and most obvious challenge was that previously, this event used to be in-person. Changemakers would pitch live on stage, in front of an audience and decisions would be made in real time. Now, in the COVID world we live in, sometimes this doesn’t translate well on a streamed event since people would just be sitting at home, waiting for announcements to be made. We still ran into a bit of waiting during the deliberation process but we had an amazing Streaming Coordinator that understood the technology and capabilities that we needed in order to pull this off mostly remotely.

Another challenge was the sheer volume of videos we would produce and manage for the entire event, there were 5 counties participating, each with at least 10 Changemakers, which would be 50 videos total. We also edited 5 introduction videos and 5 highlight videos, one for each county. And finally, we also created all the animations and graphic elements for the live event. It was a ton of footage and assets that our Post-Production Manager, Matt Winter, organized and oversaw."

Mei Lin Lau Mann // Producer

A Great Collaborator

We have worked with Rock Shore in the past and chose to work with them again because of your communication and video production expertise. Mei has always been a great collaborator and we idolize her organizational skills.”

- Katie Truitt, Renee Beck, Jarnell Swecker & United Way of Central Maryland

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Unforgettable Experience

“I would describe my interaction with Rock Shore as a warm yet professional experience. Each member of the team did a wonderful job in making both my colleagues and I comfortable during the recording process. Everyone was friendly and asked for our input and thoughts throughout the process.”

-Kayon DePina & Improving Education

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Rock Shore Elevated Our Event

- Katie Truitt, Renee Beck, Jarnell Swecker & United Way of Central Maryland

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THE RESULTS

We wanted to look into the overall reactions of those we filmed and worked with during the project. It was great to hear back from them and get comments to help us going forward! Thank you to our team and everyone involved who helped make this entire project possible!‍

How would you describe your interactions with Rock Shore while filming?‍

“The team was pleasant, accessible, professional, and supportive!”
-Sonia Su & Kits to Heart

“My experiences were great, the team was super friendly and very welcoming!”
-Marcus Alston & Alston for Athletes

‍What part of your experience with Rock Shore was most memorable?‍

“The most memorable part of the experience was Mei and her words of encouragement throughout the process.”
-Kayon DePina & Improving Education

“Filming in the studio was an unforgettable experience."
-Sonia Su & Kits to Heart

“I would say going into the studio to record the pitch live; shooting the B roll was pretty memorable too.”
-Marcus Alston & Alston for Athletes

‍What was the strongest thing you took away from this entire experience?‍

“There is something to learn from everyone- positivity and passion goes hand in hand.”
-Kayon DePina & Improving Education

“I am very grateful for the monumental efforts needed to run successful live events. Bravo to all involved!”
-Sonia Su & Kits to Heart

“The confidence to record live in front of a camera!”
-Marcus Alston & Alston for Athletes

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awards

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Behind the scenes

Rock Shore traveled throughout Howard and Anne Arundel Counties as well as in our own studio filming participants to help highlight their ideas and get their visions across through video. Rock Shore also assisted in their live virtual event where we celebrated their ideas and congratulated Changemakers in their journey and new funding.