SSK Behind-the-Scenes: Adventures in the Studio!

What a wonderfully exciting time for our team! We have not slowed down since last month’s trip to South Africa, where we had the opportunity to educate teachers, children and government officials in South Africa about child sexual abuse and prevention tactics…there are simply too many meaningful opportunities to protect children coming our way to even think about sitting still.

In the spirit of November being National Education Month, our most recent adventure has been the filming of kindergarten, fourth grade and fifth grade videos for Safer, Smarter Kids. And boy, has it been an adventure…

At 8:00 a.m. on Monday morning our day was officially in full swing. Hair was done, makeup was applied and scripts were reviewed while the production crew began their preparations. As all this was happening, our team was informed that there was a tornado warning in the area but not to worry because we had generators for backup. Wait, What!? I don’t know about you, but in my book, tornado + me = definitely worry!

As the shock from the tornado warning wore off and filming began, I noticed that I was really REALLY cold! Like teeth-chattering, blue-lips kind of cold. I tried to warm up and the video professionals told me that the production lights often make the room warm and it’s standard to keep temperatures low for a studio shoot. That is extremely thoughtful; however, my blanket became my best friend in between takes.

In spite of all the hurdles we overcame, I am so glad to report that everything is on schedule and we have completed the initial filming of the kindergarten, fourth and fifth grade videos. Next up: the voiceover phase of this production!

Reflecting on the week of production, I realize that the best thing to prepare someone for keeping elevated levels of energy for long periods of time in front of a camera is being an elementary school teacher. If I did not have a background in education, a great team and pretzels and M&M’s, I don’t know if I would have survived Day 1 of production! Oh, and Diet Coke and coffee – don’t forget Diet Coke and coffee.

Now, I tell you all this because it is what makes these long days interesting. However long these days may seem sometimes, I honestly would not rather do anything else in the world than this work to keep children safe.

Something extremely special to me was that our production crew for Safer, Smarter Kids is the same crew that worked on the 30-minute TV program “Intimate Crimes.” During that earlier taping, the crew saw survivors of child sexual abuse and heard their stories. This week, the same crew got to see the other side of what our team is doing: working to help educate children and parents to prevent abuse.

As you can see, we are a determined team here at Lauren’s Kids, and we work with wonderful people every day – Nothing can slow us down! I would like to personally say thank you to each and every person making this video production work so successful – without you, we would be lost!