Just imagine, four women tackling a story on an architecture firm without any real knowledge on the inner workings of architecture. Coincidence? One hundred percent, but they set out to produce perfectly curated content for this feature anyways. Little did this team know, the world of architecture is one beautiful center hub that connects art, society, design, and construction. Not to mention there is strategic consideration for rules, regulations, policies, economy, and even sustainability. There is a never ending world of possibilities.
Interface Studio Architects or ISA is an architecture firm located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was founded by Brian Phillips. Needless to say, Phillips was the focal point of what would become a well-rounded story about him as an architect and his firm.
Now it is important to note, at the initial assignment of this story, this journalistic team of women struggled to identify a key angle for both the word feature and the video cut. The turnover time after assignment was limited, and the team was tasked with producing their initial documents before the interview that had been scheduled for the very next day. The team got to work and dove deep into the history of ISA. We’re talking social media platforms, websites, magazine features (Architect Magazine feature), and previous news articles, and it didn’t stop there. One the engagement strategist’s roles included community outreach. This was the true game changer in the first round, because she gathered enough information from community members with a variety of backgrounds to come up with several possibilities for story angles and interview questions. “Wow, it truly is amazing to realize the amount of insight and ideas you can get from simply going out and asking people what they want to know,” Gabriella Salibo said. At this point in production, the feature writer, Grace Pickering, and video producer, Lauren Wright, had enough information to collect their thoughts and put together concise and well-rounded interview questions for Phillips. This feature story was assigned with one primary interview, so it was important for the team to gather enough information, interesting quotes, and detailed memories and experiences in the interview.
As for the interactive element? Well, the team went back and forth on how to create something visually appealing that was correlated to ISA’s world and Phillips’ stories. After careful consideration, the decision was finally settled upon. “I ended up struggling a lot with what to do for the interactive portion, but I talked it over with the group, and we thought it would be fun to have a before and after slide,” Lore Venezuela said. The before slide illustrated an ISA structure blueprint, and the after slide visualized the finished product .
Once the interview questions were set, interactive elements planned, and backgrounder information provided, the rest of the story production process went swimmingly. With that said, COVID-19 has changed a lot for student reporting. Because of the location and comfortability of both the interviewers and interviewee, alterations to the usual routine were inevitable when it came to gathering b-roll, interviews, and photographs. This team was scattered throughout California for the production of this story. Not to mention, their interviewee was based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Nonetheless, they gave each other a virtual pat on the back for accomplishing this feature story with little accessibility and time. Throughout production, they met up for occasional chitchats and exchanged opinions, and a fifty minute zoom interview with Phillips provided each team member with a plethora of quotes to create their content. “I had a great time working with Brian Phillips and creating a story that was both engaging and informative,” Grace Pickering said. Lauren Wright, the video producer, created a clean cut one minute video including some of Phillips best quotes and memories, as well as some modern styled photography and video clips which Phillips gave the green light for courtesy use. There was so much for each individual team member to take away from this experience, and they evidently learned more than they thought they would. “I really enjoyed spending time with the audio and finding quotes! It helped me learn more about the company and the founder,” Lauren Wright said.
Overall, the team felt the feature that they produced was a success. If there is one thing to takeaway from that feature story, it’s that there is more to the ISA than meets the eye.This understanding could only be better put as, “I think I was really motivated by the power of architecture as a leadership pursuit, not just being an artist or pure creatives, but actually being a thinker and pragmatist,” Phillips said.