In the wake of Father’s Day, Spirit Juice Studios executive director Rob Kaczmark looks back on a project that gets at the heart of the father-daughter relationship for our latest Catholic Filmmaking Breakdown.

In 2017, we worked with musician Rebecca Roubion to create a music video for a song she wrote as a tribute to her father. We at Spirit Juice love producing music videos, as it offers a unique opportunity to tell a compelling story and evoke emotions through visual imagery and the crucial selection of key shots to match the lyrics of the song. Sometimes you can even give the song more meaning when the visuals are particularly strong.

For this piece, we filmed a full day with Rebecca in various locations across the Chicago area. We started out in an AirBnB apartment rented for this shoot, and filled it with a haze that provided a dream-like aesthetic for the video. It may have given the neighbors a reason to worry that the apartment was on fire – it was a lot of haze.

Rob recounts the story of capturing a crucial shot with Rebecca in an open field, and how it was a matter of timing to get the sun hitting at just the right angle.

The footage of Rebecca was supplemented with footage of real fathers and their daughters from a number of sources — iPhones, VHS tapes, home movie camcorders, and professional footage from our archives. We liked the look of mixture of material from various sources, and we sequenced these pieces to show the progression of the father-daughter relationship as the daughter grows.

It all leads to a crescendo at the end of the music video when Rebecca shares a father-daughter dance with her own actual father in a gazebo the Spirit Juice team rented and prepared with special lighting for the shoot. Lacking any footage from her actual wedding, they recreated the scene of a father-daughter dance, and Rebecca’s family was even present for the filming of this special moment.

We were very pleased with the finished product, as it is a wonderfully artistic representation of the eternal bond between a father and daughter. Don’t say we didn’t warn you if it brings a tear to your eye!

Spirit Juice Studios thrives on creative storytelling through multimedia — whether that is music videos, documentary films, short web videos for social media, or longer feature productions. We are blessed to work with a wide variety of clients who allow us to share their stories and spread our Catholic faith through storytelling, from our camera lens to your screen.