Negotiation Role Plays

A project came my way that was outside my usual scope but very interesting nonetheless. Jim Golden, an attorney in Chattanooga, TN, asked me to produce two short role-play videos to demonstrate his signature negotiation method for early, humane, and reasonable settlement of accident and commercial disputes.

Jim calls his method the Negotiation Counsel Model®, and it involves in part opening up a second track of negotiation alongside the conventional litigation track. The hope is that the party that has been injured or offended can come to an agreement with the company early in the process – helping them save legal costs and move on with their lives, and helping the company avoid potentially years of depositions, document production, meetings, and/or a jury trial. When real empathy is involved – rather than threats, escalation, and manipulation – both sides’ humanity can be preserved and a mutually beneficial resolution reached.

Playing opposite Jim, as Claimant’s Counsel, was Tom Babson. When he introduced himself, I was sure he was an actual lawyer. Then I realized he was just a good actor, and fit the part – not to mention he played Sam Malone’s lawyer for six years on Cheers.

Dutch Sax Quartet Plays Indian-Influenced Music

I was in Amsterdam last week and went to a great concert of the Amstel Quartet with guest Niti-Ranjan Biswas on tablas. The theme of the evening was the inspiration of Indian music – ragas, Bollywood music, Satyajit Ray’s music. There was a great atmosphere in that beautiful, historic hall (Felix Meritis). It amazes me what a thriving audience there is in Holland for creative music.

The Amstel Quartet is a very rigorous saxophone quartet coming from a classical background but playing a range of musical styles. My husband Jorrit Dijkstra played along for Shruut (clip above), a piece they commissioned from him that includes a plastic Shruti box droning along with the live music.

We also enjoyed a couple of weeks of biking over the canals and through the charming streets of Amsterdam (a bit too often in the pouring rain, I must admit). How I wish more of America’s cities were so bike-friendly.

Salvation Army Day Care Center piece

The Cambridge Community of Realtors has just posted a video they asked me to make a couple of years ago about the Our Place Day Care Center for homeless children run by the Salvation Army in Cambridge. CCR supports Our Place in many ways. You can see the video here.

Traditional Chinese Wedding

I donated a day of videography to my daughter’s Montessori school auction last spring, and it was given as a gift for a couple here in Quincy for their wedding day. I don’t normally film weddings – I don’t normally like to film weddings – but this one was special and I had a great time.

It was a traditional Chinese wedding in Quincy’s large Asian community. Lisa Chiu was marrying Hong Chao “Frankie” Zhong on a beautiful October day. I got to spend the day documenting the preparations, door games (the bridesmaids refuse to let the groomsmen through the door unless they complete a series of embarrassing tasks), Chinese tea ceremony (tea offerings and present exchange with all of the older relatives), photographs, reception, games, and dancing.

My colleague Shondra Burke edited the piece together into a 40-minute video for the family. It felt a little more like a documentary project than the usual cheesy wedding video. Lisa and Frankie were fun to work with, and let me post a little of the final result here.

BU Production I Screening

Last night my Production I students at Boston University screened the short films they made in the second half of this semester. I am quite impressed with how quickly students progressed from knowing almost nothing about photography and filmmaking to confidently conceiving, writing, planning, shooting and editing compelling fiction films.

The fifteen pieces included Justin Geldzahler's comedic One Night Friend, about young man who goes home for the weekend hoping to bond with his little brother but finds himself making friends with an unlikely stranger instead; Michael Halpern's Crossing Paths (pictured above), about two men who pass each other every day without realizing their connection; and Danny Lim's Dreams for Sale, about a young man who seeks an unusual diversion from his job frying noodles in a Chinese restaurant.

Six Videos for Outside the Classroom

This fall we produced six short outreach videos for the Alcohol Prevention Coalition run by Outside the Classroom. The videos incorporate Coalition member interviews with footage from their Annual Research Summit to explain the value of Coalition membership to higher education institutions.

It was a lot of fun working with this very well-organized group. And they were very pleased with the result. According to Brandon Busteed, Founder and CEO of Outside The Classroom, “Julie has an amazing vision for storytelling. She was able to connect with our clients, make them comfortable on camera, and capture incredibly thoughtful testimonials about partnering with our organization. The videos that she produced for us were viewed hundreds of times within the first few weeks of posting them on our website. They are more valuable than any piece of marketing collateral.”

Shifting the Public Health Paradigm

We have recently completed a long-term documentation project for the Center for Health Equity and Social Justice at the Boston Public Health Commission. We spent over a year filming communities across New England in their work to decrease the disparities in health outcomes among residents of different ethnic and racial groups.

Our final video presents the Center's unique approach to collaborating with communities. Going beyond traditional "behavior modification" strategies, this approach includes an emphasis on mobilizing residents, addressing racism and the social determinants of health, and advancing long-term policy and systems change. It's about promoting social justice to improve public health.

Earlier this year, we also produced a trailer for the Center, with highlights from this video. Congratulations to the Center and their grantee partners for all their important work!