Full Duck Productions

Eye-catching statue at the door of the Denver DHS building

When the Denver Department of Human Services needed to get more information out about their process of Family Group Conferences, they called on Full Duck to make three videos for three different audiences. The first showed administrators how the Conferences impacted other organizations in the Department and how Conferences helped the clients. The second focused on the Family Group Conference staff and illustrated the steps they take to set up and conduct a Conference. The final video presented an enactment of a Conference with a client family and department professionals.

Challenge: Tell the story of how the Denver Department of Human Services conducts Family Group Conferences, including the impact on the administration of the Human Services Department, the team that conducts the Family Group Conferences and the families themselves. Illustrate all processes with actual footage taken at the DDHS office and family homes. Finally, document an enactment of a Family Group Conference, reproducing the emotions and issues that occur during the Conference. Use the actual Family Group Conference team and department managers as talent for the productions.

Solution: Working with an outline provided by the DDHS, Full Duck Productions produced three separate videos, linked together by the design of their introductions, conclusions and a narrator. First, Full Duck wrote three scripts and then videotaped administrators from the Human Services department as they described how conducting Family Group Conferences enhanced the services of their departments. Actual offices and meeting rooms served as backgrounds. Full Duck also videoed members of the Family Group Conference team as they worked at the tasks of planning the conference and as each explained a part of the complete process. To recreate a Conference, the Human Services department located volunteer families to act as DDHS clients, and Full Duck located actors to play key parts. Full Duck had them sign release forms and coached them for their roles. Full Duck then organized and videotaped an actual Family Group Conference, enacted by professional social workers, lawyers, Human Services coordinators, the volunteer families and actors. Full Duck also met with the volunteer families at their homes and at the DDHS building to videotape cutaway material. Full Duck gathered further cutaway material from inside and outside of the DDHS building to illustrate all the points in the script.