Mission Overview Video - Think Dignity
Client: Think Dignity
Project: Mission Overview Video
Deliverables: ~5 minute documentary-style mission overview video delivered in 4K and 1080p, with 4 social cutdowns and a stills library.
Use Cases: 20th anniversary gala event premiere, website, donor communications, social media, ongoing organizational outreach
Overview
Think Dignity is a San Diego nonprofit that has spent 20 years serving people experiencing homelessness. WaveMark Media partnered with them to produce a mission overview video for the organization's 20th anniversary.
The video premiered at the anniversary gala event. It commemorates 20 years of progress and serves as a foundational asset for the organization going forward.
Beyond the gala night, the video needed to act as a virtual business card. It is the first piece of video content many people will see to learn about Think Dignity. Each chapter was built to stand on its own, so the video works as one flagship piece and as shorter videos.
Objectives
Educate the community on Think Dignity's three branches, Impact, Legal, and Advocacy, and how they connect into one unified mission.
Communicate the organization's reach and impact clearly to donors, funders, board members, and community partners.
Describe each program in accessible language, covering who it serves, how it works, and how community members can get involved.
Create an evergreen asset built for wide distribution across the website, donor outreach, impact reporting, email campaigns, and community events.
Pre-Production & Planning
Pre-production began with a conversation about the key information Think Dignity wanted to convey in the video. We identified the impact data to include, built the outline, and aligned with Think Dignity's Communications & Development Co-Chair to get messaging approved before locking talking points, speakers, locations, and production dates.
Interview prep was heavy from there. We built and iterated interview guides separately for each shoot day, organized by speaker and content area.
Production
Production spanned three shoot days across three locations. Crew included Kevin Horton directing and filming, with second camera operators alternating between Jackson Arnold and Mobi Raad.
Headquarters: In-office interviews were filmed on location at Think Dignity's headquarters, using three different rooms for five interviews. Our team worked around their normal office workday, so staying efficient with everyone's time was critical. Interviews were built to let each speaker talk openly and freely about the organization and its work, while a few intentional soundbites were captured deliberately to support the edit.
Same Day Solutions Fair: We spent a few hours filming at a recurring service event called the Same Day Solutions Fair. An interview station was set up at the edge of the event. Interviews were filmed there while a second shooter moved through the fair capturing b-roll. Ethical storytelling is a standing priority on WaveMark projects. Faces of the people being served stayed out of frame, keeping their privacy intact. The goal was to show Think Dignity's team in action, with enough context to convey the work, without identifying anyone receiving services.
Transitional Storage Center: We spent a couple of hours filming on-site at their Transitional Storage Center and on the streets of downtown San Diego. We utilized the same two-person setup: one interview station, one shooter on b-roll. This kept setup and breakdown quick. Afterward, the team captured supporting footage around the nearby area.
Post-Production
Some topics, like the Basic Dignity Coalition, couldn't be filmed on site. Sensitivities around filming, and the need to protect an open, honest atmosphere for participants, called for a different approach. We filled that gap with archival photos and video. We also used archival photos towards the end of the video to honor key events and figures in Think Dignity's history.
We delivered the initial edit within 2 weeks of the final filming date. Think Dignity's initial feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Once the edit was approved, we moved into color grading and audio mixing. From there, we cut the video down into standalone social pieces. Every cutdown was delivered in both horizontal and vertical formats, with captions on and captions off. The final video itself was delivered in high-quality 4K and a smaller 1080p file, for versatility across different use cases.
Results
The video premiered at Think Dignity's 20th anniversary event in early October 2026. Beyond the premiere, this project has become their flagship video. It is the first piece of content most people will encounter when getting to know the organization's work, on the website and across future donor and community touchpoints.
The full content package, the flagship cut, the social cutdowns in both formats, and the stills gallery, is built to extend the reach of this single production well past the gala itself, giving Think Dignity ongoing material for:
Website and digital platforms
Social media across vertical and horizontal formats
Donor outreach and fundraising campaigns
Annual reports and partner communications
