The 2017 Production Reel

Written by PAUL GENZINK // Director & Editor

I officially joined Practical at the beginning of the year and my first major task was to spearhead putting together a new production reel. Over the years, Practical has collected a plethora of amazing footage to choose from so when I sat down to take my first crack at the edit, I felt a little overwhelmed by how intimidating this task was proving to be. So I took a step back and asked the question, “if Practical was Practical’s client, then what would Practical make for Practical?” or more simply, “if we were our own client, what would we produce?”

That’s where “This Is” came in. Derived from the Practical URL and usernames on various social media platforms, thisispractical, I began writing a script that coincided with the images that were in front of me. “This is imagination, this is collaboration…” were not only adjectives associated with the action on the screen, but also are associated with our filmmaking process. After all, this reel is to show off who Practical is, and after 90 seconds, you’ll have seen exactly who we are.

In the early stages of the edit, we had talked about how we wanted the voiceover to come across. The overly processed, movie trailer voice just didn’t fit the mood for this piece and we struggled to put into words what we wanted to hear. Until I came across this old iPad Commercial that continually gives me goosebumps. The audio from Dead Poet’s Society is a perfect partner for that piece. As an audience member you don’t focus on the production quality, but you’re focused on the words, the delivery, and the passion that’s driven into each sentence by the late Robin Williams. This put something tangible to the feelings we were unable to express.

Unsure of how to adequately capture this sound, however, we set up 4 different microphones, including an iPhone on my kitchen table to capture the voiceover. This made it easier in the edit to be able to switch between the different microphones to be able to isolate which one suited our needs the best. Again, wanting to avoid the movie trailer voice, we pushed for a simpler, more sincere delivery and allowed for the words to blend in the music and the footage without being an overwhelming force in the piece.

And so, after late night after late night, debate and deliberation, it is with great honor that I, on behalf of the entire Practical team, present to you our 2017 Production Reel.