In this edition of the Catholic Filmmaking Breakdown, Spirit Juice Studios’ vice president of projects Greg Krajewski revisits one of his favorite video projects that he has worked on during his time at Spirit Juice. This is the trailer for Called to Accompany, a multi-part series produced for the Archdiocese of Atlanta to educate and train volunteer youth ministers on various aspects of effective parish youth ministry programs.

Greg talks about enjoying the logistical challenge of the shoot, as Spirit Juice producers had to schedule multiple interviews with youth ministry experts from across the country and sometimes even shoot their interviews together in the same room. Actors were hired to reenact some shots and youth groups from around Chicago were also enlisted to gather b-roll of what parish youth ministry looks like in action.

One of the blessings of working in the Chicago area is the chameleon-like nature of the city. A variety of shooting locations can be used to get shots that look like they were produced in any number of locations. In this case, Windy City locales stood in for the city of Atlanta.

Spirit Juice Studios produced the individual training videos for the Called to Accompany series as well. Topics include reaching out to Generation Z, evangelization in community, teen ministry, pastoral care, relational ministry, and cultural diversity. This series was a great opportunity for Spirit Juice to take a cinematic filmmaking approach to instructional videos, offering a blend of compelling expert interviews with related b-roll and visuals that complemented the instruction and made the subject matter more engaging. Be sure to check them out or pass them along to anyone you know who is involved in youth ministry activities at the parish level.