Lights, camera, action...behind the scenes prep for the Annual Meeting

By Meredith Houck, Creative Services and Production Coordinator at the Municipal Association of SC
Every year, the Municipal Association sponsors its Achievement Awards to recognize and encourage innovation and excellence in our cities and towns. I spend close to a month on the road every spring producing a video that showcases all of the award-winning at the Association’s Annual Meeting.

This is one of the best experiences of my job at the Municipal Association. I get from away from the desk and experience the successes of South Carolina hometowns.

Well before we arrive in a town with the film crew, the planning had started with a detailed production book and script for each winning municipality. While the scripts describe the overall story, the best storytellers are the people directly impacted by the project.

But most of the folks involved with these projects aren’t pros at interviews, and an on-camera interview can be intimidating. The room is quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Bright lights are set around you that make the room feel ten degrees warmer. The next thing you know a fuzzy microphone appears that you, of course, are told to pay no attention to as is hovers above your head.

All of these concerns disappear once the storytelling begins on camera.The excitement for the project can be heard in each word.

In Rock Hill, I interviewed a teacher whose students participated in a city project to develop a civil rights walking tour. The project gave the students the opportunity to learn local history from relatives and residents who relayed historical events first-hand and developed a brochure.

The teacher was brimming with pride as she shared stories of her students’ ownership of the project. Her students poured over each detail of the brochure. After 16 revisions, her students were finally ready to send the brochure to the printer.

As she answered my questions during the taped interview, her students looked on and listened intently to their teacher. It was their turn next to be interviewed. 

The video Meredith is producing will debut at the awards breakfast at the Municipal Association’s Annual Meeting in Charleston on July 12.