Wrapping up 2025 with some Lubbock Youth Orchestra and Lubbock Symphony Orchestra Fundraising Videos
2025 has wrapped up and it’s only appropriate that our first project this year would be about the Lubbock Youth Orchestra and the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra. You see, their New Years Gala required a few different fundraising videos and, again, leaned on Hamil Bros Studios to produce them.
Because of that, this was the last project we worked on in 2025 and was most certainly the last project shown publicly.
Out of all of these videos, Training Day was the most difficult to get done because, unlike many of our other videos that are driven by interviews and b-roll, this particular video production was narrative.
A Symphony of Ideas
The 2025-2026 Symphony Season
Within the last year, you have undoubtedly seen several projects we’ve posted about the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra (LSO), but this goes back farther than our connection to the LSO.
Nearly a decade ago, in 2016, we were commissioned to do a promotional video for the Lubbock Youth Orchestra (LYO) which was, at the time, named The Youth Orchestras of Lubbock.
They didn’t have a lot of direction for what the videos would look like except that we would be recording a live concert for television broadcast. Beyond that, they would need something to fill in extra time to meet the allotted timing requirements set forth by the TV station.
We proposed that we would do an additional promotional video where we would interview children in the orchestra and edit those bits into the final video.
That particular production was met with its own challenges, but it went off without a hitch and the final delivery was fantastic.
When we forged our connection with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, we didn’t really expect to reconnect with the renamed LYO, but, through the course of a few meetings, discovered that LSO had rescued the LYO and renamed it to fit under their branding umbrella
We ended up doing another live concert recording, but that was really the extent of it, until the 2025/26 concert season.
New Season, New Video Needs
We sat down with Molly at LSO to discuss their needs for the upcoming season. There would be more round-table concert videos, they were going to recycle the previous year’s Giving Tuesday video with some new voice overs from David Cho, but there was something else that Molly was a little hesitant to bring up: a desire for a comedic promotional video that had been ill received.
We All Need Somebody to Lean On
LSO had a new sponsorship partner with UMC (University Medical Center), specifically their new gym facility, UMC Connect, at the new Health and Wellness Center and the idea had been proposed to shoot a comedic promotional video connecting (pun intended) UMC Connect with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra.
UMC was not keen on the idea, but were willing to let LSO use their facility to shoot the video. They did not think it a good idea to attempt comedy and did not feel like it would be a good allocation of their in-house production to produce something of a humorous nature.
We could tell Molly was uncomfortable even bringing it up and, at first, we struggled with the concept.
Jacob leaned in the direction of, “well, we can try to come up with some ideas, but merging the gym with the Symphony is a tall order and feels like mismatched puzzle pieces.”
Ross was feeling the same way until, as they often do, an idea formed.
LSO wasn’t prepared to pitch a comedy idea on their own, but they had a secret weapon: Hamil Bros Studios. A couple of best-in-class goofballs with ideas so ridiculous, they just work.
“What if…” Ross pondered out loud. “What if we follow David Cho around the gym doing a training montage as he ‘trains’ in preparation for conducting a concert? But, the whole thing is a farce?”
That could work. Write up a script and be ready to pitch it.
Last But Not Least
Before this meeting was over, we had one more thing to pitch: if the recycled Giving Tuesday video was going to be used at the gala, we felt like something just for LYO needed to be produced. The Giving Tuesday video was more for LSO proper and didn’t really touch on the youth program.
To fill the gap, we pitched that it would be a good idea to produce a video, again interviewing students, past and present, in the program, along with conductors, directors, and parents. Let’s shine a light on the value that the Lubbock Youth Orchestra brings to West Texas!
*we’ll talk more about this in the next post
Make it Fun without Making Fun
Training Day
Grabbing Attention Fast
We left the meeting and got back to the office just as quickly as we could. Within a few moments, Ross had cracked open his Slugline script writing software and began cranking on a script for the comedic video we were titling “Training Day”.
Within the hour, Ross was finished. The video was going to be short (around one minute) and that made for quick writing. The only hurdle was Ross’ brain working faster than his fingers could type.
He saved a PDF out and immediately sent it to Jacob.
Jacob opened the script and began laughing. Not just laughing; wheezing and struggling to find his breath.
We knew we were onto something.
In the coming days, we were scheduled to come into the Lubbock Symphony offices and sit down with most of the decision makers.
Scripts were printed and passed out at the top of the meeting.
At one end of the table, conversations about what the production would need to look like. On the other, Maestro David Cho, reading the script and cackling out loud.
Once everyone was settled, we read the script and it was decided that this was the only way to go. This was the perfect melding of the Symphony and UMC Connect, and it was going to be hilarious.
The next step was going to be scheduling a day to go look at the workout facility and formulate an actual production plan and shot list.
Scouting, Planning, and Not-So-Smooth Sailing
The day came for the location and tech scout at UMC. By this time, some of the individuals at UMC Connect had read the script and, having found it a good idea, they decided to recant on their initial desire to be uninvolved.
From the get-go we had laid down one very simple requirement in order for Hamil Bros Studios to take on this comedy-driven video production: we do this our way, or not at all.
Sounds kind of harsh, but it was for one very simple reason: funny is funny and kind of funny is not funny at all.
We have years of experience writing for comedy, be it dialog, slap-stick, inferred jokes, etcetera.
We have yet to enter into a video production based on a comedy script, where individuals who have no experience with comedy want to start writing the ideas and it works out.
The jokes fall flat and leave the audience feeling annoyed. Writing comedy at all is a skill set that has to be developed.
The script was locked, we arrived, and were met with shots and ideas that were not in the script, or even the concept at large, in any way shape or form.
For the rest of the scout, we put our heads down, found the information we needed and planned the shot list.
A couple of more meetings were held where more requests were being thrown into the mix that would not sit with the comedic pacing and we had to shoot them all down. We knew what we needed and we knew that adding any extra ideas into the mix would push us over the time limits and would dilute the video.
We stuck to the “our way or no way” condition for the sake of the integrity of the project and to maximize its potential to the viewing audience.
Putting Words into Action
The Training Day Production Days
UMC Connect
Finally, in early October of 2025, production commenced.
We arrived early at UMC Connect and loaded in a minimal amount of gear.
Shooting with 2-3 lights maximum and our Blackmagic Pyxis with no sound requirements, we were able to make quick work of the shoot.
Our first set up was at the squat station. We got our spray bottle and soaked David. After all, he needed to look like he was working hard.
We coordinated with some extras in the background to get some background action to help things feel more natural.
The biggest challenge with this shot was that the entire wall behind the squats rack was a mirror and Ross had to position himself where the mirrors could not see him, even though he was shooting David straight on.
A few takes and 3 angles later, we got the timing down for the up-and-down motion for the squats. We were off to the races. The first shot was done.
We wheeled our lighting over to the next station where David would be working his arms with barbells, while being coached and yelled at by our trainer, Eric Allen.
For this shot, we had to build our Dana Dolly, underslung, and rig our Tilta Nucleus Follow Focus system because this specific shot had a pretty far focus throw.
This was also going to be our main VFX shot (more on that later).
It was then time to break for lunch.
When we returned, we were onto our next scene (there were 5 in total for this production day).
This was going to feature David on the treadmill, again being pushed to his limits by Eric.
This scene deviated ever so slightly from the other scenes in that David would use a wristband to set up his personal experience with a tap-and-go system that helps record your progress.
Beyond that, it was yet another set up and joke format.
Finally, we moved into our last workout space, which happened to be a yoga and meditation type room where David would be getting in his situp reps.
This section was knocked out fairly quickly and we were onto the final shot of the day, where David is so tired that he can’t even bear the weight of a towel.
One of the first takes happened to produce an even better gag. David was simply supposed to collapse under the weight of the towel, but he accidentally fell into the door of the women’s locker room. We lost it. This had to be a part of the final gag.
So, we made sure the locker room was clear and we got it in one more take.
From there, we packed up and got out.
We had to be clear of the building before about 4 and we made it out with time to spare.
Big Dreams in a Big Room
The Buddy Holly Performing Arts Center
The last bit of the video production required getting footage of David directing the orchestra so we could tie the whole thing together.
We arrived at the Buddy Holly one evening before a small performance and David was gracious enough to dress in his show blacks.
We set up and got a shot of his face that was a call back to the very first shot of David at UMC Connect.
The problem was that the Buddy Holly was completely empty and the house lights were on. This wasn’t going to look like a live concert at all. The shots were quick enough that it might not matter, but Ross had a plan.
We got the two shots of David, packed up and left so they could get to their rehearsal.
The following morning, we arrived early to shoot the final shot (aka. “The Martini Shot”).
This was from the main walkway about two thirds back from the stage in the Buddy Holly. All we needed was David raising the baton at the beginning of a song.
We got that shot quickly and got out. We had to get the video done.
Making Something from Nothing
Training Day Post Production
All of the UMC Connect footage was edited within a couple days of getting it, if not the very next day.
Finding Music
A challenge that always arises with any project is finding the right music. When you don’t have the luxury of having a composer on staff or having the budget to pay one, stock music is the only way to really go.
For the Training Day video, we knew that the only real option was going to be 80s keyboard and synth music that anyone who ever watched a Rocky movie would understand.
As luck would have it, the first song Ross listened to was exactly the kind of terrible hairspray and leg warmer inspiring tune that made you feel like you would be invisible in the right wind suit blowing huge bubble gum bubbles while wearing too much makeup.
The Edit
Like we said, the edit actually came together very fast.
The timing on the UMC connect jokes were edited to perfection and it was time to do a test run. We rendered out the workout sequence and brought it to our mom to watch.
Yes, we still get mom’s approval on most jobs. She earned that privilege by making us our very first sand bags… I digress
We cued up the video and pressed play.
By the end, she was laughing so hard she was in tears.
The ultimate stamp of approval
Making Movie Magic
Out of this whole video, there were 3 shots that required visual effects.
If we did our job correctly, you wouldn’t have even noticed them.
The Visual Effects
Your Arm is Our Canvas
The first shot was the barbell shot with the massive muscled arm in the foreground and David in the background fighting for his life to lift a 2-pound weight.
The effect was subtle, but a big part of the shot.
Have you guessed it?
It was the UMC Connect Tattoo on our muscleman, Zeke, who also makes an appearance in the Lubbock Youth Orchestra Promotional Video.
Tattoos are an exceptionally difficult effect to pull off. It’s often easier to just get a temporary tattoo made or have a makeup artist draw one on. However, we had neither the time nor the budget for either of those to be viable options. So, we cracked open the old After Effects, and away we went.
Crowding an Empty Room
The next two shots were different angles of the same thing.
Remember earlier when I said that the Buddy Holly was empty and the house lights were on?
Yeah… We needed to fix that.
Fortunately, we had a plan for that. While we will spare you the grueling details, suffice it to say, it’s nice having the assets to build a crowd.
There were some really popular videos from Ted Lasso in the past few years where you could see the crowds getting built into the soccer stadiums. That is effectively what we did.
We took a crowd asset pack from ActionVFX and built an entire crowd into the Buddy Holly.
The next step was to rotoscope David and any parts of the stage out (rotoscoping, simply put, is cutting them out of the foreground).
The next step was to darken the room to approximate how bright it would be in real life.
While that seems like an easy step, a couple of things needed to be considered. Any floor lights for illuminating walkways and exit signs can’t be darkened. Their brightness doesn’t change with the house lights. So this took recreating these lights to match the room.
Next, darkening the crowd to match the exposure of the room and, again, there were some considerations: people closer to the stage would be brighter than the people in the back of the room. Not to mention the same is true for focus: those closer to the stage would be more in focus than those farther away.
All of this for a couple of shots that weren’t even on the screen for more than 2 seconds.
This is one of the things that separates Hamil Bros Studios from the rest of the West Texas video production companies.
Coming Soon! More on the 2025 LSO Season End
In the next post, we’ll dive into putting together the promotional video for Lubbock Youth Orchestra and how we salvaged an interview that was nearly lost to a technical malfunction.
In the meantime, if your business or organization is in need of, not only eye catching video production, but a way to stand out against the competition, contact us today. We’re always good for a laugh!