storymine is a women-owned
production company
that creates video stories
for health and science organizations.
Our approach to video storytelling is focused on uplifting critical perspectives and learning priorities to not just tell the audience what they need to know, but to transform their understanding of the issue.
When we’re not collaborating with health organizations we’re collaborating with conservation organizations, social justice organizations, and consulting for institutions and media organizations on story approach and strategy.
who we are
StoryMine is led by co-founders Elena Rue and Catherine Orr. We started StoryMine in 2011, after spending two years working side-by-side in grad school. We wanted to create work that took the style and approach of video journalism and documentary film and bring it to organizations doing the critical work that drives change.
the heart of our approach
In the video and storytelling world, there is a lot of emphasis on coming up with a story that will grab people’s attention or communicate a desired message. There are many habits associated with doing this well; developing hooks, noticing storylines, cutting the non-essential…
These are all important, but an often overlooked yet essential skill is the listening and processing that is crucial to fully understanding an issue to be able to tell a nuanced story. Before anyone on our team picks up a camera, we talk to as many people as we can, read everything there is to know about a topic, and spend hours talking about it with each other.
This practice of listening to as many voices as possible, prioritizing those who are most impacted or in closest proximity to an issue, is the cornerstone of our success as storytellers. And more importantly, it brings the people we have learned from into the process of storytelling in a collaborative way, rather than us wielding the power and control of someone else’s story.
In a recent video interview, a doctor made this observation about the medical field. She said, “The easiest thing to do, when you don’t understand what’s going on, is to blame the patient.” Obviously that statement carries a lot in itself. But this concept can also be applied to many different fields.
In storytelling, this is important to think about when creating a personal, narrative-driven story. If there are systemic issues at play in someone’s story, but they’re not addressed or acknowledged in any way, the audience tends to fill in those gaps-in-knowledge with assumptions and stereotypes. This can often lead to blaming the person in the story for any issues they’re facing. When this happens, we are perpetuating harmful narratives and assumptions rather than shedding light on someone’s experience.
This process of engaged listening is how we create compelling videos that inform and inspire.
Our teams are built for each project, drawing on talented collaborators around the world, all of whom are experts in their craft.
what it looks like
to work with us
our strategic perspective
It won’t surprise you that we bring a strong perspective on the critical role video can play in furthering your goals. But we also bring a background in multimedia journalism coupled with a decade of experience working with communications teams at media outlets, national nonprofits, and large and small purpose-driven businesses.
Our teams are built for each project, drawing on talented collaborators around the world, all of whom are experts in their craft.
video strategy
We work with organizations to step back and look at how they are using video. We create alignment between their videos, their goals, their values, and their communications strategy, uncovering opportunities for amplifying resources and impact along the way.
And we give an expansive look at how you can take a video project and repurpose the content in smaller videos for audience segments and targeted goals, but also in blog posts, email campaigns, awareness raising toolkits, and more.
Video stories can not only make your message vivid, real, and memorable, they can also inform your other communications tactics and channels, and we’ll show you how.
story design & story discovery
We dive deep, ask big questions, and find out what your video really needs to do and be. This first session begins with the main collaborative team, with thoughtful discussions about strategy and story as well as assumptions, harmful narratives, and stereotypes that exist and should be challenged.
We go away, taking all the insights we’ve gleaned and start to plan timelines, conduct pre-interviews, and plot the direction this video will go.
Then we share back our story recommendation, like a blueprint for moving forward, with collaborative input before we keep going!
production & post-production
Filming, editing and internal review, this is where our team creates your video.
We go out into the field and into the editing room, with the blueprint we’ve created together to let this project be what it should be and to see what it becomes.
With a deep understanding of your goals, we stay open to the story that can unfold, finding moments that will surprise all of us, and make the video stronger.
We see all our story contributors as co-authors, we have intentional check-ins throughout the process to ensure their voice is accurately represented.
review & delivery
Honest feedback from clients and story contributors is crucial to our process and to elevating the final product. We also know how important structure and ease are to encourage productive collaboration.
Our review process fosters that experience. We send our collaborative team a review guide with questions in advance, then we meet to talk through comments, questions, and solutions.
Final delivery not only includes your Core Video, but supporting visual assets: stills, social media excerpts, and optional Specialty Videos so you can extend the impact of your video and the rich content it brings forth.