That’s what drew me to filmmaking—capturing what lies within us and motivates us to have a positive impact on those we serve.

I look forward to sharing more of these inspiring stories in 2013 to continue informing, engaging and entertaining.

The post Ready to tell the world who you are? appeared first on Natalie Halpern Productions.

First of all, let me just say what an amazing project this was to work on: telling the story of how 17,000 Nielsen employees spent the day improving the lives of people in communities all across the globe. Right up my alley.

Seen by associates at Nielsen offices all over the world, the goal of the video is to celebrate the positive change they created in the cities where they work and inspire volunteerism throughout the year.

Here’s a little bit about how we went about producing this.

With FlipCam footage provided by associates in more than 30 cities around the world, Natalie Halpern Productions created a video for Nielsen’s Intranet and external website that told the story of volunteer projects such as organizing a day of activities for special needs children in Accra, Ghana and packing food for hundreds of needy families at a Chicago food bank.

The footage, like most consumer-generated video, wasn’t the greatest, but Stephanie’s animations really made the piece sing.

Does the video make you want to spend a day, an afternoon or a couple of hours making a difference in your community?

My family and I recently decorated a room for a new resident of transitional housing at Community Connections to make it feel cozy and inviting. It’s not exactly global volunteering, but it did make a big difference to a woman trying to turn her life around.

If you’re looking for a volunteer project to do during the holidays, visit the Community Connections website or one of my favorite area nonprofits, HandsOn Jacksonville, which offers dozens of opportunities to changes lives in our community.

The post When global volunteerism is a core part of your brand appeared first on Natalie Halpern Productions.

That’s one of the key takeaways from the client and employee testimonials Natalie Halpern Productions created for The LBA Group’s new website.

The best way to provide clients with the tools they need to help grow their businesses is to ask lots of questions and listen carefully to what their goals are. It’s an approach that’s central to every video and film we produce.

In creating corporate video testimonials for LBA, I not only learned that a fun and flexible work culture promotes productivity, I also reaffirmed some important business lessons.

Watch the testimonials here.

The post Wow, these people really love accounting appeared first on Natalie Halpern Productions.

Business has been good in 2012 and with some new clients, 2013 will be even better.

If you can spare a few moments, kindly think of 2 or 3 companies, nonprofits or individuals who have indicated an interest in or could benefit from a video that captures their unique story and the difference they are making for their clients.. (And email me back)

Here are some industries I’m well-versed in:

•                market research (think Nielsen)

•                nonprofits (MS Society of Northeast Florida)

•                healthcare (Community Hospice of Northeast Florida)

•                education (Academy for Educational Development)

•                professional services (The LBA Group & Stop at Nothing)

•                travel and tourism (Amelia Island TDC)

•                don’t let that limit you, this is just a starting point

But wait…there’s something in it for you too!  For every referral that leads to a project, I will donate $50 in your name to the Cathedral Arts Project.

In addition to the warm feeling of helping an up and coming entrepreneur, you get the satisfaction of sharing the arts with a child.

Thank you for your support and guidance.

The post Would you take a few minutes to help? appeared first on Natalie Halpern Productions.

In an age of viral videos and tweets that travel around the world in seconds, I’m still surprised by emails like the one below from a woman who’d purchased one of Nathalie’s paintings to David Engdahl.

Here’s the email:

“In 1972, I purchased an oil painting, ‘In Wildness is the Preservation of the World’ done so beautifully by your mother, Nathalie. It had been part of a display of her work at Lebanon Valley College. I was taking a night course at the time, saw the painting, and had to have it. Oh! How I have cherished its beauty!  At the time, your mother wrote me 3 letters describing her technique, her new farm, Stillmeadow near York, and how nature gave her inspiration to paint.

My husband and I were painting our bedroom a few weeks ago. Since I had taken the painting down from above our bed, I decided it was time to attach those letters to the back of it so our 3 children would know about the artist.

Forty years have passed since I acquired the painting and I commented to my husband that Nathalie had probably died. Then I had an ingenious thought, ‘Why not Google her?’ Days ago I was thrilled to read about your 96-year-old mother and appreciated the video Natalie Halpern created.

I do hope your mother continues in good health and that if possible you could send her my message to you, to somehow thank her for her talent that has so warmed my heart over the years. My particular painting is of woods in Spring and reminds me of a walk we had taken as a family in 1971 in a state park in Maryland. I glimpsed a pileated woodpecker there for the first time in my life. The walk in that woods, on such a perfect day, is always relived when I see your mother’s work.”

Films bridge distances and time, building emotional connections with people we’ve never had the chance to meet or haven’t seen in decades. They bring to the surface feelings and defining moments in our lives.

Having a hand in that is a big source of inspiration.

The post Art Affects People, Even After 40 Years appeared first on Natalie Halpern Productions.

For three days I listened to the stories of employees whose loved ones had received the compassionate care that enabled them to live their last days with grace or the experiences of families who received so much support and comfort in caring for their children with life-limiting conditions.

Instead of sadness, the commitment of so many people to improve the quality of life for patients and families dealing with advanced illness inspired me.

I not only gained great insight into a subject that most of us shy away from, but I also realized that Hospice is not a place where people go to die but rather one which helps people live with beauty and dignity.

If you’d like to hear how Community Hospice’s compassionate care impacts our community in the words of employees and volunteers who dedicate each and every day to this noble cause, click on the following links.

http://www.communityhospice.com/About-Us/EmployeeTestimonials.aspx

http://www.communityhospice.com/Our-Services/Childrens-Services.aspx

The post I Was Wrong About Community Hospice appeared first on Natalie Halpern Productions.

Empathetic

Good listener

Responsive

Trustworthy

Attentive

Knowledgeable

Inquisitive

Engaged

We know this subconsciously, since that’s what we expect when we’re sitting in the customer’s seat. But as with trying to understand where your interview subject is coming from and how difficult it may be to share his or her story, we need to walk in the customer’s shoes to know how to best meet his or her needs.

And to do that—attitude is key. Whether it’s communicating on the customer’s level, being a trusted advisor or being an active listener, wanting to do whatever it takes to build a good and trusting client relationship is the foundation for your business’ success.

The post Spielberg Would Make a Good Customer Service Rep appeared first on Natalie Halpern Productions.

Nielsen is widely known for its TV ratings. But it does so much more than measure what people watch. It also tracks what people buy through a variety of new technologies.

Nielsen’s innovative spirit was what the company’s Chief Operating Officer, Mitchell Habib, wanted to capture in a high-energy video for an audience of corporate executives in India.

In collaboration with Harrington Design Company, I filmed interviews with some of Nielsen’s lead inventors and produced four 90-second videos, each highlighting a different innovation.

It was some of the best work we had done for Nielsen and we were excited to show Mitchell the culmination of three weeks of work. So we flew to New York to make the big presentation to Mitchell at Nielsen’s headquarters.

Ten minutes into the meeting, all four videos were killed.

We had 72 hours before he boarded a plane to India to come up with a totally new concept and put it together. After several deep breaths and some reassuring self-talk, we began working on a completely new piece, which weaved together short clips of Nielsen’s innovation stories with a funky beat and animations to match.

Here’s what adrenalin helped create, in addition to a very happy client.

The post How Nielsen Innovates appeared first on Natalie Halpern Productions.

One of the movie industry’s biggest surprises of 2011 is the silent film, “The Artist,” winner of a Golden Globe for Best Picture, Comedy, a Best Actor award at Cannes and a likely contender for this year’s Oscars.

In the film, directed by Michel Hazanavicius, silent movie idol George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) mourns the arrival of talkies. Refusing to adapt to the new genre, Valentin’s career falls apart.

Like Valentin’s career, Jacksonville took off during the heyday of silent films. The site of the country’s first full-length feature film in Technicolor, “The Gulf Between,” Jacksonville almost became Hollywood with more than 30 movie studios operating in the city by 1916, including Metro Pictures which later became known as MGM.

Unfortunately, residents disliked the vulgarity of the films, and local government support for the film industry waned. That in addition to advances in technology, which made indoor filming and studios less dependent on the Florida sunshine prompted the film industry to move to Hollywood.

With its strong connection to our city’s filmic roots, “The Artist” brings back the nostalgia of an era where stars were born on the silver screen and the magic of movies helped people escape their everyday lives.

The post There’s Beauty in Silence appeared first on Natalie Halpern Productions.

York Painter Nathalie Engdahl from Natalie Halpern on Vimeo.

When Jacksonville sculptor David Engdahl commissioned a film about his 96-year-old mother who’s been painting for more than 40 years, I jumped at the chance to explore where David and his sister, watercolor artist Ellen’s artistic talents come from.

Nathalie uses a palette knife to give people a glimpse of nature raw and untouched. She paints images of places where the family lived or spent vacations, sometimes combining several into one painting.

During filming one of the main challenges we faced was bringing the paintings to life.  Cinematographer Gareth Paul Cox used a Cineslider, a small dolly that attaches to a special tripod head, to add some movement and guide the viewer through a scene in the woods or a patch of colorful flowers.

Being able to capture Nathalie’s creative spirit, energy and zest for life was incredibly meaningful for me. But even more fulfilling was the opportunity to create a legacy piece that tells the story of the Engdahl’s artistic roots that the family will enjoy for many generations to come.

A big thank you to David and Nathalie Engdahl for giving me this opportunity and allowing me into their lives.

The post 96 and Still Painting appeared first on Natalie Halpern Productions.