Reets Drying Academy Uses 16x9 Cinema to Tell Their Story

Reets Drying Academy IICRC WRT/ASD Class

Reets Drying Academy Student Testimonials

About These Videos

Recently, I had the pleasure of producing a number of videos for Reets Drying Academy - an education facility designed to train professionals in the water damage industry. They conduct multiple classes each month, and are booked solid for each class. Jeremy Reets, the founder and CEO of Reets Drying Academy, invited my crew to document each of the main courses they offer. After spending time in the class room and in the field, I can now see why Jeremy's classes are so popular.

We filmed a number of "talking head" shots of the instructors talking about the class offerings. We also filmed a number of student testimonials. The remarkable thing about filming the testimonials was how spontaneous and enthusiastic the students were. None of this was canned or scripted. You could tell that the students really valued the classes and bonded with their instructors.

I used a Canon 5D Mark II camera for capturing video. The reason I prefer to use the Canon 5D Mark II is twofold: 1) it produces beautiful, cinematic footage, and 2) it has superb low-light sensitivity. I'm able to film in locations with available light that I would not be able to with other video cameras. A lot of the filming took place in the "flood house" - an actual house built on the Reets Drying Academy's premises that is flooded. The students use the flood house to put into practice the principles and techniques they learn in the class room. I was asked to follow the students around as they went about their excercises. The quarters were very cramped, and the lighting was dim and contrasty. It was a challenge to find the right angle and exposure with available light. Yet, using the Canon 5D Mark II allowed me to capture great video in a subpar environment.

One other advantage of using the Canon 5D Mark II is that I can also take still photos, too. You can see several shots I took of the flood house on Reets Drying Academy's Flood House Tour web page.

The videos shown here are representative of the several we produced. This week (March 24, 2010) the videos will be used at tradeshow exhibit to show cases Reets Drying Academy's offerings.

As you can see, the videos convey in just a few minutes what students can expect in attending a class at Reets Drying Academy. It's hard to convey that experience in paragraphs of text.

If a picture is a thousand words, then a video is a novel! Why not consider video to tell your story?