My team made many videos / powerpoint / slideshows.

It is preferable to write the objective in clear language.

Then the program is designed to achieve your objective.

I/ we worked in 3 areas, different teams.

1. Fire Officer or Recruit Training.

2. Service Employee Training (hospitality, hotel, bar, restaurant, etc)

3. Masonic type education.

I will expand on item 1. We (a team of 6) designed the courses for a 16 week (one week every 4 months) officer training program.
It was very obvious to all of us that there was a huge resentment factor to having to take any training as their peers got there by seniority.

Thus the initial day was to get these people to buy into the whole program.

Imagine a bunch of macho guys walking into a building, not understanding the ...is it really...flower scented candles. Then dim lighting, classical music, louder, images, slideshow and video, a disaster from a large fire dept. that lost a bunch of guys. Why.? But the music was selected based on how it affects you, the volumes ebb and flow with the slide show. We met our objective, for after 1.5 hours of a program none of us spoke. The images, the video and the music did their thing.

Rachmaninoff, Mahler, and others were all part of the program.

In a video editing suite (Avid or Pinnacle are what I a familiar with) you can pull up or down the levels. It is good to boost them first and then pull them down when you need to. Any Avid or the Pinnacle program will let you do this, a voiceover, and 2 sound tracks.

We called a break after the intro and it was rare to see a dry eye. Guys who thought it was BS realized that they were going to put other people's lives on the line, that it could kill people who were brothers and friends. In fact, not one word of introduction or orientation took place for over 2 hours, it was music, and images. Change images on the beat. The whole thing was a canvas.

Once we got the concepts right it was extrapolated to all our programs, and turned into a huge positive. The Training Department went from a joke to a respected and cutting edge organization, all because we fought budget cuts by demanding high end technology. They took 250 k out of the budget and we got 55 of it back for cameras, computers, software, etc.

Never sell short your ability to use music as a lever. Our approach was classical oriented, but depending on who is you audience, it can be anything relative.

Pay very close attention to dynamics. Eschew modern attempts to make everything loud, music has far more impact with the proper use of pianissimo and forte.

Even if you are aiming for lighthearted, music is the key. Life without music is an unimaginable tragedy that I hope I never meet eye to eye or ear to ear.

The sad thing is that as the music dies your brain makes up stuff you never wanted to hear. I have been thinking of making a recording of that, for it should wake some folks up, and make them take care of what they have, rather that heading to that of which they know nothing of. (the latter phrase with a tip of the hat to William Shakespeare.)

TC and remember, all the world is a stage, a canvas, go work on it. Write the script, get help to polish it, and unleash it. Great Fun. Don't forget the soundtrack stuff PG put forward a few years ago, with a Ketron that stuff is great.

If you get stuck with an idea and the music you might use, shout out here. Lots of good help.

John Conley
Musica est vita