Business profile: Devon House Creative

HSJ Online from Devon House Creative on Vimeo.

Earlier this summer when HSJ Online wanted to share exciting news about its online presence, HSJ staff thought, ‘What better way to do so than through video showcased via social media?’

The nearly one-minute long video spot, which offers statistics related to the virtual paper’s increasing online readership and social media presence since its launch in 2015, is narrated by HSJ’s Online Content Coordinator, John Clark.

To make the project a reality, David Webster enlisted Hope native and former 2012 Hauser graduate Daniel Anderson to help.

Anderson, a Ball State graduate, is co-owner of Devon House Creative, a video production company based out of Indianapolis, alongside Patrick Rieth and Nick Rieth, who are also Ball State graduates. The company specializes in video production as a powerful tool for audience engagement with its repertoire including a range of offerings from corporate ads to feature length documentary productions.

During a recent phone interview, Anderson spoke a bit about Devon House Creative and its mission, how he landed in the career he has, and how his company came to partner with HSJ Online for this project.

Q: When did you launch Devon House Creative?
A: We’ve been around for about four years now.

Q: So for those who aren’t familiar, what is Devon House Creative?
A: We are about film and animation. We found our niche a little more in animation because there aren’t a lot of people who do that around the Indianapolis area, at least not compared to video. Since we have two members who are formally trained in animation it has kind of become our area. We do a lot of promotional work and full service video animation.

Q: What brought you to this career field?
A: I went to Ball State for animation for one year and then switched over to telecommunications with a focus on film making for the next three years. I’ve dipped my toes into both sides of the film arena. It has just kind of been, since we started the company, a matter of thinking what the need is in the community and what would sell best.

Q: What was it about animation that captured your attention and imagination?
A: I’ve always liked animation. I feel like people respond to it better and faster than live action. I don’t know if it is entirely true, but it seems to me if you put some information in an animated format versus live action I feel like people will gravitate toward the animation. That could just be my opinion, but I feel like that is the case.

Q: How did you come to be connected with HSJ Online?
A: I am from Hope. I went to Hauser and had Dave Webster as a teacher. We kind of reconnected through his Well House project. I ended up writing a film adaptation for it and that is how I reconnected with Dave. He said there was a grant for doing some video work and so I sat down with him and we talked about his needs and what he wanted to do with the video.

Q: So, tell us about the project and how it unfolded.
A: Whenever I do video projects I address, ‘What is the goal of the video?’ because it is so nebulous. You can do anything. I wanted to focus in on the goal Dave had in mind. And, in this case, he wanted to show readers some of the ways the Hope Star Journal has grown and the way it is relevant to everyone. There wasn’t a huge budget, so we addressed how we would get the information across.

Q: What kind of information are we talking about?
A: He had a lot of statistics that he wanted to get through in the video, such as percentage of unique site visits, page views, and overall visits. We had to be careful about not throwing too many of those numbers at the audience. So the question was, ‘How do we make it interesting?’ And then, somewhere along the line, we had the idea of using a fireworks theme. We thought that would be a fun way to do it, simply have a family looking up at the fireworks and then have the statistics there in the sky. It keeps things interesting while still conveying the information.

Q: Looking back, how would you say the project went?
A: It was a pretty simple project altogether. It was nice to sit down over a couple of days and get it knocked out. And, hopefully, it serves the goal.

Q: What are your hopes about future projects?
A: Any additional contacts we can make are great because we are still a bit of a start-up, so we are still trying to grow our influence. And I always try to help out Hope and Dave whenever I can. Whatever comes of it is great for us.

Q: While working on this project, did it reveal anything unexpected? Any surprises?
A: Yes, I was surprised to see some of the numbers of HSJ Online. I grew up knowing about the Hope Star-Journal and didn’t realize – being in Indy – that it had grown online. I was surprised it was very relevant and thriving for the Hope community and it was nice to see. It was a pleasure to work with Dave and the Journal and I am happy to help in any way I can.

For more information about Devon House Creative, visit them online at devonhousecreative.com.