Rural Advocacy
Creative Direction
Working with the Resource Sharing Project, which supports program administrators and advocates for sexual assault survivors, was both incredibly rewarding and offered some unique strategy challenges. The Rural Advocacy course combined first-hand accounts from rural directors, expert-led instruction, engaging activities, yoga and mindfulness practices, and ASL interpretation.
We wanted to tell the story of rural administrators and advocates in an authentic way. Simply providing articles and interviews filmed in a studio wouldn’t be enough to show the audience that we respected and understood their challenges. We needed to be with them in their communities to hear their stories.
Key Responsibilities: Project Lead & Oversight, Art Direction, Remote Set Supervision
Product Online Well-Being Course
SCOPE 4 Lessons, 18 Activities, 18 Videos
Client mPulse Mobile (self-produced)
Creative Direction Paul Conigliaro
Instructional Design, Writing Amy Conger
Design, Illustration Coley Lind
Motion Design, Illustration Julie Van Grol
Additional Illustration Allison Howle
Production Rikshaw Films
Our Approach
Services like the Resource Sharing Project operate mostly from grants and need to make every penny count. So we had to be frugal without sacrificing quality. A nimble two-person production crew visited rural program directors in Michigan, Mississippi, and Iowa. We managed interviews and production oversight remotely in real time from our office Minnesota to further keep costs down while still maintaining the production value we needed.
To connect with the audience, beauty of rural areas like theirs across the country needed to be highlighted. Beyond our interview locations, photography of wide landscapes and close-up details of nature showcased the diversity of rural landscapes in America including forests, mountains, plains, deserts, and costal regions. Soft, vibrant illustrations complemented the photography in activities, animations, and articles.
“The overall visual impact is so beautiful, peaceful, and enjoyable […] this course gets me excited about advocacy again in a new and refreshing way.”
– Kacey, advocate
Program managers and advocates face difficult situations and conversations daily in their work. We provided breaks within the experience to learn yoga and mindfulness practices. This offered the opportunity to ground them both in the course and provided tools they could use with survivors and for themselves in their daily lives.
Unique Challenges
Unfortunately, the day before filming, our yoga and mindfulness expert became ill and couldn’t travel. Luckily we already had another project scheduled to film near her in California. Working with our production partners we were able to scout studio locations and extend time with the local crew. With minimal impact to budget, her demonstrations were filmed in a new location that still blended seamlessly with the rest of the creative. And all while only adding 1 day to our existing travel.
The Resource Sharing Project required ASL interpretation. Instead of a simple inset, we tied in our creative by placing the interpreter against a subtle gradient background within a stylized frame, aligning with the course’s visuals. We assigned interpretation thematically: one interpreter translated our instructor, the other our yoga demonstration, and interviews were shared between them.
By bringing our cameras directly into rural communities and maintaining production quality within budget constraints, we created an authentic learning experience that resonated with advocates. Our course validated the experiences of rural program administrators while providing practical tools for both professional growth and survivor support.
♥︎ Built with love from Minneapolis. Projects are copyright of their respective clients. All others ©2004-2023 Paul Conigliaro.