We initially embarked on our Smiles video series mostly for our own pleasure - it was nice to compile a montage of happy faces!  We shared it and people seemed to enjoy the video as much as us. So we have continued. If you really feel the need to get an extra dose, feel free to go back to previous versions (and let us know which is your favorite): 2016 Smiles 2015 Smiles 2014 Smiles 2010...

Silent Spring is an organization that researches the causes of cancer (versus the cure), with a particular focus on breast cancer. The founding of the organization was inspired by Rachel Carson and her book, Silent Spring. Carson was one of the first scientists to study the environmental causes of cancer, especially the chemicals we are exposed to in our everyday lives that are carcinogenic. (Think:...

Have you been considering dipping your toes in the water of 360 videos? I recently attended a presentation on this topic by Jenna Lebel, Head of Digital Marketing at Liberty Mutual Insurance. Here are three great tips that I learned from her experience: It often takes the viewer 5-10 seconds to get oriented to using the 360 degree view, so make sure that you wait until 15-20 seconds in for your...

Several years ago we produced a series of videos for Communities for Restorative Justice (C4RJ).  The idea behind restorative justice is that addressing certain crimes outside of the courtroom can have beneficial outcomes for all those who are affected by the crime - the victim, the perpetrator, their respective families, and the community at large. Frequently, a case is referred to C4RJ by a police...

“Grief is not an illness from which we recover. It is a life-changing event that happens to all of us.” Last week I attended a poignant memorial tribute ceremony in honor of Dr. Phyllis Silverman, hosted by her colleagues at the Brandeis Women's Studies Research Center. A prominent researcher in the field of bereavement, Phyllis was also the co-founder of The Children's Room. Her research was vast,...

Kedi ("cat" in Turkish) is equal parts a meditation on the quirky nature of cats, the people who love them, and the city of Istanbul. Seen through the eyes of the filmmakers, the cats are full of character and are charming, living in happy co-existence with the humans who dote on them, in a city that glows with Old World charm. A cynic might say that it's not a true representation of things....

Recently, I attended a webinar hosted by CCS Fundraising about campaigns and how to avoid the dreaded lull period. According to CCS, organizations typically see a 65% increase in fundraising during campaigns. However, the post-campaign period can fall into a lull, which can lead to a bit of a tough time to get through. Through this webinar, CCS identified 4 campaign models that could possibly help...

Animation is a fantastic tool to explain things and to tell stories.  Recently I’ve come across two animations that I absolutely love…I wish that Reflection Films had created them! The first is from Drive80, and it focuses on the HB2 law passed by North Carolina’s legislature, denying transgender individuals the right to use government-run bathrooms corresponding to the gender in which they...

We're now entering the fourth year of creating our "Smiles" videos. Above is Smiles 2016. We have a lot of fondness for the folks we work with, often because they are a great deal of fun. So it's not hard to go back through a year's footage and find plenty of nice moments to splice together and create a happy, joyful montage. Previous versions were 2015, 2014, and 2010. We hope this will make...

It’s hard to know what the filmmakers’ intent was in making Before the Flood, a documentary about climate change. For those of us who already believe scientists’ claims of climate change, we don’t really need to see the rising waters in India or shrinking glaciers in Greenland to be convinced. For those who believe that 97% of climatologists are engaged in a grand conspiracy and that climate...