In this Catholic Filmmaking Breakdown, Spirit Juice Studios’ Creative Lead Chris Weingart takes us behind the scenes of a fundraising video we recently produced for the Diocese of Providence in Rhode Island.

The diocese needed a video call to action to grow support for a capital campaign to preserve the towers of the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, the spiritual center of the diocese. But how do you make a compelling video when your main character is a building? That was the challenge we faced in producing this piece.

Fortunately, we knew the breathtaking beauty of the cathedral would provide some stunning visuals and that our interviews could fill in the cathedral’s rich history and explain the need to preserve it.

We did Drone shots to give the viewer a rare vantage point of the impressive towers and reinforce its place as an important physical structure within the city of Providence. We also did Hero shots wherein we lowered the camera and shot upward to make the subject look more dominant and powerful—to emphasize the scale of the cathedral and show the intricate details of the craftsmanship.

Passionate sound bites from the bishop, the project architect and parishioners conveyed the importance of the cathedral as a spiritual home and explained its place in the religious and cultural history of Providence. Finally we kept the b-roll in motion to bring the building to life and the viewer intrigued.