Client Highlight: Capturing Water For Good’s Story on Video

At DreamOn Studios, telling stories is our passion–whether it is the story of a business adding value to its community or a nonprofit organization transforming a village in Africa.

Partnering with our clients to find their unique voices and unlock a fresh perspective that drives engagement and transformation is what gets us excited to get to work every day.

“I love being able to help clients with their communication by identifying their story and bringing it to light in a way that moves people.”

– Mason Geiger, Creative Director and Co-Founder of DreamOn Studios.

One of the clients we are excited to partner with is an incredible nonprofit called Water for Good. Driven by a passion to end the water crisis in our lifetime, Water for Good not only drills wells to provide access to clean water in the Central Africa Republic, but they also employ local maintenance teams to make sure clean water continues to flow, and strategize plans to scale and reach the entire country. 

Recognizing their unique approach to the water crisis, we knew their story was one that needed to be amplified. So, when Water for Good asked DreamOn Studios to partner with them to capture their story on video to share with their partners and donors, we were honored by the opportunity.

“It blows my mind that there are areas of the world that still lack access to clean water,” says Mason. “We take having water for granted. You don’t even think about taking a shower or how easy it is to get a glass of water. But in the Central Africa Republic (CAR), they are literally dipping buckets in the same river where, just ten feet away, someone is washing their clothes or taking a bath.”

Getting to know the staff and mission behind Water for Good made us all the more eager to get started on this project.

“I love Water for Good’s mission and was excited for the opportunity to capture what they do, how they do it and share the stories of what is happening in the CAR,” says Mason.

DreamOn Studios’ strategy to capture Water for Good’s story is laid out in our three-step process:

• Getting Aligned
• Getting to Work
• Getting Results

DreamOn Studios 3-Step Process to Capture Client Stories

Getting Aligned

The basis of all great story captures starts with listening and asking insightful questions to find the voice and heart behind who they are. We start every project by asking questions to our clients and listening well to make sure we are aligned in our understanding of their mission, passion, and goals.

Listening and asking insightful questions, while important at the front end of every project, is also just as integral to the entirety of the process, especially when we’re on the ground interviewing people who’ve been impacted by the organization.

“When we arrived in the Central Africa Republic, we’d drive through villages and see tap stands there that were broken down,” says Mason, who observed a bigger picture of the problem the people there were facing.

“People can’t use them, so Water for Good does maintenance on the tap stands and also installs solar panels to make more tap stands accessible in the village. These solar panels power wells that fill a water silo that feeds these tap stands that take care of the entire village.” 

During our time there, we interviewed several different people in villages that have been touched by Water for Good’s work.

One of the most moving interviews was with a disabled woman who now has a tap stand right outside her house, which means she no longer has to pay someone to go get water for her!

In another interview with Pastor Walker, we learned about the impact the solar panels and these additional tap stands are having on his village and his church.

Watch his inspiring story below.

Unfortunately, some of the stories we heard painted a very hard reality, but one that highlighted the need to expand the mission of Water for Good.

One of the most heartbreaking stories is of a 14-year-old girl who has to wake up at 4:00am to walk three miles to get water for her family. What this means is that she is late for school every day, making her miss out on a valuable education.

What’s worse is that the water is not even clean water, it’s dirty water that is making her and her family sick. “I don’t think people really can grasp the reality people are facing until they’ve seen it,” says Mason.

Getting aligned both at the front end of a project and while on the ground often means diving into something with an open mind and heart. Mason shares a unique perspective from his time in Africa that illustrates the joy in this experience.

“I was in the middle of a running streak and wanted to keep it alive while I was in Africa. It was cool to get out and experience the village as I ran through it. Every day, I started to notice one boy who would come out and watch me run, getting closer and closer as I’d run by. On the last day, he came out with his flip-flops and ran alongside me. Even with the language barrier, being able to share that moment and joy together was really special,” says Mason.

Getting To Work

Getting to work involves an extensive pre-production plan that helps guide production and capture stories on the ground so we can transform vision into a finished product.

Following our time of listening and asking insightful questions at the front end of a project, our next step of diving into pre-production sets us up for success. 

In this step of the process, we learned that of the things that Water for Good wanted to be sure to capture was the “why” behind their plans to scale growth by installing solar panels to make tap stands more accessible.

With our mission set before us, there was still nothing that could quite prepare us for the poverty we were about to experience. What we discovered was that the “why” became even more real on the ground.

“I was surprised by the level of poverty,” says Mason. “It felt like going back in time. I compared it to a trip I took to the Dominican Republic, where there were resorts and nice areas and then poverty on the outskirts. But in the Central African Republic, poverty is everywhere. There were no haves and have-nots. It was a very unique experience to see that level of poverty. But what surprised me most was the level of joy I witnessed. They didn’t know what they didn’t have, this is just life. The smiles, the joy, the people coming up and saying hi. It was beautiful to see how much joy they could have when they have so little.”

After seven days on the ground capturing interviews, footage of the villages, and learning about the impact of Water for Good, it was time to come home for the next stage of the project!

Getting Results

Getting results is where the fun begins for our clients! This is where our clients see their stories come to life while driving engaging results.

After capturing hours of footage during our week in the Central Africa Republic, we created five videos so far for targeted campaigns in 2022, including this fun back-to-school promo video, which generated $52k+ in donations to date, exceeding their goal of $30k to help provide students with clean water this year!

Our desire is for Water for Good to have fresh footage of their amazing work and the ability to utilize these stories in their marketing and campaigns to move people to action.

As much as we love the results our clients receive in additional donations or engagement, some of our favorite results come from our clients themselves.

After building a relationship and deep understanding of our client’s stories, we delight in the response they get from seeing their own story from a new perspective or viewpoint.

“So many nonprofits don’t realize the stories they have because they are so in it every day,” says Mason. “But to come in and offer a new perspective and capture something that makes them proud of and inspired by the work they do is so exciting. I love the opportunity for people outside of the organization to experience the stories too, whether they are inspired to donate or be a part, or even just give them a new perspective on the way that they see things.

Everyone has a story, and I’m driven by how I can partner with clients to capture their own story.” 

If you’re a nonprofit or business who wants to explore how DreamOn Studios can partner with you to capture your story on video, we’d love to hear from you!