The St. Anthony Village Police Department believes in community-orientated policing. Initiatives like Neighborhood Watch, Watch Your Car, and Operation Identification are just some of their efforts to reach out to the community. The Department wanted to reach residents on social media with the “Off Duty with Jim South” project. This ten-minute video offered information to the community members in a casual way.

The Challenge:

The St. Anthony Village Police Department works to build strong ties with their citizens in a variety of ways. As part of their strategy to engage with the community through social media, they wanted to create a video that would put a friendly face to their officers. The Department chose to feature Officer Jim South, a 13 year veteran of the Saint Anthony Police.

The Approach:

CTV conducted an “off duty” interview with Officer Jim South at a local park. The scene produced by Jared Wiedmeyer is light and casual. In keeping with that theme, he used a pared down C100 camera with a steadicam stabilizer. Jared also used a hand-held approach to create a dynamic intro sequence.

The Solution:

A conversational, candid interview made for social media. Graphics were minimal and kept the focus on the substance of the conversation. The video became one of our most watched on our Facebook and website.

The Stats:

As a result, the video for the St. Anthony Village Police Department reached 2.2 K people on Facebook, and got 68 Reactions, Comments & Shares.