Did taking a chance pay off?

Note: Apologies to the early few who were unable to see the videos.  They are working now :). 

I wrote two weeks ago about taking a chance on producing two corporate videos for Guidewire and am happy to be able to finally publish them.

The goal of each video was to:

1. Communicate how Guidewire partners with its customers for success
2. Convey the company culture of integrity, rationality and collegiality
3. Do it in less than three minutes so it fit within the overall agenda of the user conference

The first video illustrates how Guidewire uses agile development to rapidly flow customer requirements into its software.  Ironically, the production initially began using aspects of agile development to facilitate collaboration with the marketing group but I determined that the process was not fitting of the production time lines.  Ping me if you want to know more.  The video itself is mostly still motion, utilizing several hundred images.  The intent was to juxtapose the rapid pace of development at Guidewire relative to more traditional development environments.  In the process, a lot of subtle (or possibly dry) humor is intertwined.

The second video illustrates how Guidewire's professional services group implements and delivers success to its customers.  Like the first video, an entire storyboard was created.  Unlike the first, the original story was scrapped for a number of logistical issues, least of which was lack of time/budget.  Plan B was a hasty thought in my head the week before all the employees flew to headquarters for an annual meeting.  What you see is the result of half a day of filming, mostly between meetings, which, while far from perfect, seemed to have come together coherently.  You can be the judge.

Overall the videos were well received both by Guidewire and its customers, but I'm guessing that has more to do with the collegiality part of the company than anything brilliant in the videos.  I'm proud to have created these videos for a company that views its own success as dependent on the success of its customers - a virtue that's really influenced how Phat Baby Photography is run.  Working with some of the best and most fun colleagues and clients has been a blessing.  So you tell me, did taking a chance pay off?  Stay tuned for some behind the scenes footage...