Documentary-style videos help North Carolina DHHS onboard new social workers
Video Objectives
Authentically capture personal stories of a variety of people involved in the child welfare system
Provide evergreen onboarding video assets for use across channels and county departments
North Carolina’s child welfare social workers do an important and challenging job. So as North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services welcomes and trains new workers, they want to do all they can to prepare and support them. In 2023, they partnered with Clean Inc. to make a new and very different style of onboarding videos to do just that, and Clean, a frequent collaborator and friend of The Grid, looked to us to bring their vision to life.
NC DHHS and Clean wanted a series of documentary-style videos that showcased people from across the child welfare system - from veteran social workers to foster parents to youth - in a way that authentically captured their different experiences, insights, and advice for the state’s newest social workers.
To help them tell these important and personal stories, we aimed to combine thoughtful interviews, candid conversations, and a peek into a day in the life of social workers to create videos that portrayed a spectrum of perspectives.
During pre-production, we worked closely with Clean to plan the multiple shoot days, which used several locations in Raleigh, Charlotte, and Asheville and were spread over several weeks to accommodate the interviewee’s schedules. This partnership in planning was essential for thinking through the variety of videography techniques we wanted to use to tell this diverse collection of stories.
After the last interview was wrapped and the collaborative post-production process was complete, the result was a compelling and versatile set of videos: two video shorts, interviews with a foster parent and birth parent, a roundtable discussion between two foster youth, and a 20-minute documentary-style video of three child welfare social workers walking viewers through a typical day and discussing the challenges and rewards of their work. We also cut three short “trailers” for this longer video (shared below).
Now DHHS has several video assets they can use on their website, internal channels, and in their training for new social workers. And unlike typical onboarding videos, these give a real snapshot of lived experiences and the honest lessons that come from those experiences – something every new social worker can benefit from.
Project Highlights
Video Format: Expert Interview, training
Production Features: On-location shoot, unscripted shoot, multi-camera interview
For every participant, getting them comfortable in front of the camera was key, so we prioritized creating a relaxed environment on set and supported the Clean team as they built rapport with them throughout filming.
To capture the on-the-go footage of a day in the life, we used three cameras: one handheld, one on a Steadicam rig, and a drone. This setup allowed us to move easily around the workplaces of the social workers and follow them into the community, while providing a sense of place for each of the multiple locations.
And to support the many people and moving parts involved in the project, we relied on our collaborative and iterative pre- and post-production processes, ensuring both the project and the final products exceeded expectations.
"Working with Kyle and The Grid on the DHHS onboarding videos was a great experience. From pre-production and planning to being on location, to post-production and final files, the team was so professional and easy to work with. Most importantly, the videos turned out awesome and everyone involved in the project was super pleased."
Jay Keim – Head of Project Management at Clean
Do you have an important story you want to tell? Contact us and we’ll help you craft videos that hit the mark and give you real results.