Partner Profile

El Ranchito is a not-for-profit summer camp that offers a nature immersion experience for young people who may not otherwise have opportunities to discover the natural world. Campers spend a week living in tents on the historic Shield Ranch in the Texas Hill Country, as they explore nature, swim, stargaze, ride horses, and learn about ecology and life on a working ranch.

The Concept

El Ranchito wanted to make a video that would teach prospective campers, staff and donors about the camp. Parvt of El Ranchito’s mission is to provide “an extraordinarily fun” immersion experience for campers, so we felt that the best way to convey this to viewers was to show the fun in action. Rather than producing a traditional “promotional video” with voiceover, formal interviews and static establishing shots, Live Oak Collective recommended a more vibrant, documentary style that gives viewers a strong sense of what it’s like to be at the camp, from a camper’s perspective. We also shot still photographs at the same time in order to create strong images for El Ranchito’s website and other promotional materials.

The Result

The El Ranchito film premiered at an environmental education conference for an audience of 400 people, who responded enthusiastically to the film. Afterwards, we began working with El Ranchito to redesign their website and integrate the video and the photographs into a web-based media campaign.