Before
When COVID-19 shut down schools throughout the nation, Playworks found themselves in a unique situation: how can you teach kids how to play, when everyone has been forced into quarantine?
Without missing a beat, the team at Playworks Minnesota decided to create a series of videos that not only teach new games virtually, but also incorporate CDC-approved social distancing practices. They had limited resources and an extremely tight timeline, but their drive and their passion to provide meaningful content was inspiring. I had no doubts that we would be able to bring it all together.
During
Knowing in advance that this was going to be a continuing series of videos meant we needed to think of the project as a template. Each game has its own set of unique rules, but they all had to fall under the same formatting. So, as with any professional project, you have to start with a plan!
We built a bare-bones script template that looked something like this:
PLAYWORKS PLAY AT HOME SCRIPT TEMPLATE - DRAFT COACH Hi, I'm Coach [name], and today we're playing [game]. What's the name of the game? PLAYERS [repeat game name] COACH All you need for this game is/are [amount of players] and [equipment]. The goal of the game is to [goal]. [teach the game step-by-step] COACH And that's it! For more resources just like this, head over to Playworks.org. Let's play!
Then, we set up a camera and filmed a quick test version for a game called “One Step Back.” Within a few hours, I had it edited together in a very, very sloppy rough cut for the team to review.
The team was ecstatic. They thought it was a great start to the project, and immediately jumped into finding coaches and players to film the other games. (Note: this was before Minnesota was starting to see cases of coronavirus, so we were still within the “gatherings of 10 or less” guidelines.)
Problem
Unfortunately, the demo was hosted by someone with significant on-camera acting experience—me. The other coaches who were available did not have the same performance training, so they had troubles delivering lines comfortably to the camera. They couldn’t replicate the bright feel of the test video, and the videos suffered for it.
On top of that, the audio quality was significantly worse as well. The only available locations for filming each game were very echoey and had lots of external noise interference. Heating systems, traffic, passersby, etc. It was difficult to get a good audio and good video to match.
Sometimes you have to change the scope of the project to fit within your skillset, and there is nothing wrong with that!
Solution
We reworked the script so that all of the content would be delivered by an off-screen narrator. Ian and Maria of Millennial Voiceover donated their time and their talents to give us high-quality recordings, and I went back to work on a new animated intro template…
For inspiration, I visited Playworks.org.
The parts of the website that stood out the most to me were:
Those two pieces became the centerpieces of my custom animations.
With the new template approved, the team began filming on their own, while I stayed home to edit each new batch of footage. We churned through as many as we could before the Governor’s shelter-in-place order sent everyone home.
After
Only 3 weeks later, the Play at Home videos are already climbing up to the Top 10 highest viewed videos in all of Playworks’ 7 years of YouTube content! Nice!
The initiative started here in Minnesota, but the energy toward Play at Home spread across the nation. The company has been uploading daily warmups, recess games, and cooldowns from the Playworks Facebook Page, and students all over the company are tuning in to get their daily dose of play and exercise.
And as it turns out, Playworks Minnesota was very appreciative too! Not only did I get a great review from Program Director Abigail MacLaren, but even board member Marc Gorelick chimed in—and it’s not every day you get recognition from the President and CEO of Children’s Minnesota!
Reviews
Thank you, Marc & Abigail, for the kind words! I couldn’t be more proud to have such a major impact during these trying times.