Lessons Learned from Unpacking Coffee
Bt the start of 2015, we at Needmore realized that we’d been very focused on working with clients in the coffee industry. In fact, over half the projects we were currently handling were in this industry. We had ceased to think of ourselves as web designers who favored the WordPress platform, and instead started to consider our company to have a certain type of client, for which we would provide whatever services they required.
In order to do the best job possible at this, we realized we had to dive deep into the industry. We had a lot of experience with this in the past, but catching up (particuarly on its ever-changing design landscape) required a greater focus. To get better at branding and packaging, we started ordering and buying as many different brands of coffee as we could.
The concept
Kandace had the idea that if we made a “show” of these coffees, and discussed them at greater length, we would educate others, spread the message about our services, and help to justify buying these insane amounts of coffee.
Once she decided on a name, Unpacking Coffee was born.
The first test shoot
We based this on Linea Caffe in San Francisco, a client, but included all kinds of random footage to get a general idea of the content and run length of an episode.
In this episode, you can see us using examples from our client work, yet we had tentatively decided that we would not actually do episodes based around our current or past clients. (This is a decision we would eventually revisit.)
Going forward, we decided that shooting episode in batches of four might streamline the process. We needed a ton of extra footage for each episode, and rather than have someone get into and out of the “flow” for the shooting and editing of all this media, it seemed to make more sense to batch the work.
The first four
The first thing to note about this round is that the video and sound quality were horrible. Just terrible. We put up some microphones and aimed them in the general direction, attached to chairs with makeshift clamps. We had two HD cameras, which was nice, but at first I’m not sure we were even shooting HD.
We didn’t have a clear idea what we wanted from the editing, so we weren’t sure how to use the two cameras together. In future episodes we would have one camera on each of us, then a third camera capturing the front-on view. But that this point, it seems like we’re just guessing.
We’re also experimenting with the format and how to introduce the episodes. We didn’t have a plan for what we would do to introduce them — I was still planning on not having anything more than a title card or two to kick off the show. We added some music to play in the background, but this wasn’t very significant.
The next four
We now have a new camera setup: a Canon T2i shooting HD for each close-up, and an iPhone 6s Plus shooting the center. What’s nice is that this is a brand-new device that shoots 4K video at 30 frames per second, which is amazing. You can decide later to crop in as much as you want, and you still end up with HD. Plus, if we ever decide to move to 4K, we can probably still use some of this footage.
(The only downside is this ties us to 30fps, but I find that aesthetically more pleasing than 60fps anyway.)
In this batch, we actually had a chance to visit Seattle, and shoot two intro pieces in front of the roasteries we’re talking about. This is awkward, and it shows! We didn’t really know what we’re doing and the lighting doesn’t work out. We just weren’t prepared and it didn’t really make sense.
Our cutaway shots are improving. Now Gritchelle is getting some great shots of the products, and our unpacking has gotten to a good routine.
Yet another four
At this point we start using Motion and add in a professional-looking title sequence. This intro gives us a chance to show off the variety and character of shots we’re getting… but something is missing here.
First, we’re still not quite prepared for our conversations. I had hoped this would have the effect of making us look spontaneous, but in the end, it makes us look ill-prepared at best. While the shows might not require a full rehearsal, understanding the company we’re talking about turns out to make a pretty big difference!
We’re also starting to experiment with adding a “terminology” segment to the program. This is where we would take a 30-second break and talk about something in more depth that we bring up in our conversation. But again, if we’re not prepared well enough, this segment is hard to plan for. This concept morphs into something else later on, but clearly, the terminology bit also isn’t working.
One big step forward at this point is the editing. I’ve gotten a lot better at editing, and stopped worrying about jump cuts. If there is dead air, I just cut it, ruthlessly. It looks odd from time to time, but usually it gets covered up with other footage, and even when it doesn’t it sure beats the alternative.
A last-minute re-evaluation
One day while I was out of the office, Kandace had a call with some folks at Sprudge. We realize that we’ve been a bit too harsh in our conversations, perhaps a little too frank with our opinions. It also becomes obvious that you can’t really tell what the point of the show is. It needs some way to tell you what to expect, and set the agenda for what you’re going to see.
After some introspection, Kandace decides that we need a spoken intro, to play over some music, like this type of show would on television. We keep it short, but it’s what we needed to lay the foundation of a series of episodes.
In the end, it’s clear that we had a better point of view, and that we know what we’re talking about. You know what else? Our sense of humor also started to come out, since we felt more confident. Once you feel a bit more confident and you feel like people will get where you’re coming from, it’s easier to relax and be yourself.
What we learned
A couple weeks ago we were doing a Lunch and Learn here, and the topic was the Sunk-Cost Fallacy, or what we often refer to as “Zero-Based Thinking.” It’s also commonly called Escalation of commitment.
Escalation of commitment refers to a pattern of behavior in which an individual or group will continue to rationalize their decisions, actions, and investments when faced with increasingly negative outcomes rather than alter their course. Their decisions are irrational in their current context but in alignment with decisions and actions previously made, and they can be influenced by a variety of determinants and contexts. The dilemmas leading up to such decisions usually involve the prior choices no longer working or causing personal or group losses. While there are options to either cease current actions or continue on with them, neither has clear outcomes or is the obvious choice. Escalation of commitment then occurs when persistence is chosen over withdrawal.
There were a number of occasions in this project where we’d invested a ton of time and effort (and cost), and the path forward seemed to be to just “finish what we started.” Several times, I just wanted to get some episodes up, figuring they were good enough, and we’d get better over time.
But that was a mistake. The right course of action was to basically throw away the hours of footage and weeks of effort (at least temporarily), and focus instead on filming some episodes from scratch, using all the lessons we’d learned… but none of the actual footage. It was the only way to launch a show we could truly feel proud of.
We hope you’ll go and watch Unpacking Coffee, and let us know what you think.
