In December 2021, Rocky View County’s Communications team handed over the County’s Facebook page to the Fire Chief for a week of holiday fire safety tips. Staff gathered common seasonal fire safety questions, and the Chief answered them in a candid, unscripted “Ask Me Anything” style series. I filmed seven videos in locations chosen by the Chief to loosely match each topic, helping give context to the advice while keeping the tone informal and authentic.
Each video was shot in a single take using a DSLR on a tripod, with the Chief wearing a wireless lavalier mic. We intentionally avoided scripting, additional lighting, or heavy editing to preserve the honest, conversational feel. The videos averaged about 2:30 and were released one per day over the course of a week. Editing in Adobe Premiere Pro focused only on sound cleanup and a simple fade to black with the County logo at the end.
The biggest challenge came from maintaining that authenticity while navigating natural pauses and restarts when the Chief got tongue-tied. Because the goal was to keep each response as a single, uninterrupted take, there was no stitching together of multiple clips. The result was a series of approachable, personable videos that felt genuine and relatable, and generated steady engagement from residents throughout the week.
Facebook image promoting the Fire Chief's AMA takeover.
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