Get to know Michele a bit better with our quick Q&A interview.
Introduce yourself! What’s your role?
Hi, I’m Michele Dennis and I am so happy to be Slow Clap’s ‘Senior Producer’, meaning I have been a producer longer than most! I’m a native Californian with a love for this earth and all its people and creatures.
What I love about the work I do as a producer with Slow Clap is the goal and mission to find the heart and the truth of our subjects within the context of their story and to utilize the amazing talents of our team to do it. We work together as a finely tuned machine to make this happen. We all love what we do.
As the ‘senior’ in the group, I often have opportunities to be a mentor and to introduce new ideas that are outside the original scope of the project, finding magical locations, using thoughtful casting, guiding the art team, planning the shoots for the best light and circumstances to give us the very best ingredients for delivering a show that surpasses any expectation on budget. I love the pre-planning stage, learning new technologies and the puzzle of procuring all of the pieces for great success.
What made you gravitate towards this craft?
As a kid growing up in LA, I was always writing humorous little scripts that my friends & I would rehearse and then perform for the parents and whoever else would watch. I always had a high awareness of commercials and the little story they told successfully in such a short time frame, so often these scripts and performances were marketing household products and foods like sunflower seeds and Ajax cleanser.
Later, when I saw “Born Free” a docu-drama about a couple in Africa who raises a lion cub, to later be released, it changed my outlook. I wanted the world as my office, and to make movies that told genuine stories.
What’s your prior experience?
From my first job in this biz in my early 20’s as a scheduler and manager for a small production studio video editing and duplication business to my work in creative boutiques as a producer and later as a freelance producer, I have produced everything from multiple day large-scale union shoots with actors, animals, and big crews to small intimate docu-style testimonials, documentaries, feature and short narrative films, and dazzling marketing pieces for dozens of major players including Google, Apple, Cisco, and Salesforce.
What made you interested in joining Slow Clap?
This mighty little company can do anything. This team can do anything. Working with teams who think outside the box, using imagination and experience to stretch budgets and abilities to get amazing results beyond anyone’s initial expectations, is my joy. That’s who Slow Clap is.
Favorite Film? What am I watching?
Too many films to name, but they are all films that affect me emotionally. Recently the 2022 Foreign Films nominee “EO” stole my heart, but I do tend to gravitate towards dark humor and indy films. Always love the Cohen Brothers and anything about carnivals! Guilty pleasure watch: Yellow Jackets.
Any Hobbies?
I’m always up for a hike in nature, desert, sea, mountains… I joined a community garden this past year and have loved it!
Lastly, favorite project you’ve worked on?
I am such a fan of history and chronicling the human story. One of my first Slow Clap productions was the new California Jury video for the Judicial Council of California (JCC), which tied into this passion. Everything I have done with Slow Clap has been a great and fun challenge.
As Slow Clap wraps up its first decade in business (we turned nine this past summer,) we look back and reflect on all the amazing things we’ve learned, and just how much things have changed… and how fast! Take a look at our year condensed into one minute:
2023 by the Numbers
Speaking of AI, we had yet another huge project for AI startup Imbue to announce their $200MM fundraising round, and to help with their hypergrowth hiring spree. You can see the Imbue brand story video we made here. It’s a really interesting blend of documentary storytelling and hand-drawn illustrations, animated to bring the CEO’s anecdotes to life.
August 2023
We had another blowout party for Slow Clap’s ninth birthday party in August. This is our favorite night of the year, as we get to celebrate all the big wins that we rarely have time to celebrate as they’re happening (on to the next deadline!) with our team, clients, and collaborators.
We also welcomed Kiante Marron to the team as a camera and post-production assistant. Kiante’s Gen Z, everything-is-content mindset has been a great refresh to our creaky old Millennial brains!
September 2023
In September, our producer Katy went on maternity leave (more about that next year!), and we welcomed a new producer to the team, Sarah Nathan. Similar to Katy, Sarah brings a documentary and journalist eye to Slow Clap’s body of work, having formerly worked at AJ+, ESPN, as well as Washington State University.
Our team traveled to Orange County to produce this customer story video for a new client, InterPayments, as well as another virtual event video for our longtime client, Ironclad, in Dallas,TX.
We also continued our longtime partnership with the nonprofit Asian Law Caucus, producing three videos for their 2023 gala. We’ve produced these stories for ALC every year since our founding.
November 2023
In November, we produced multiple equity training modules for our partners at The National Equity Project (NEP). We’re happy to continuously support this non-profit and to create content that educates and supports DEIB work in the community. The Slow Clap team had a great 4-day shoot at the NEP office in downtown Oakland and the collaboration was seamless.
On a side note, we got another Slow Clap baby on the way! Our founder, Dan, left for paternity leave in mid-November. Wish him congratulations on his baby girl!
December 2023
Wrapping up this year, we were all hands on deck (or all legos on deck) for our Slow Clap holiday card video. We couldn’t resist the opportunity to live our childhood LEGO® dreams. When it came time to decide on a theme for our annual card, we were inspired by 90’s toy commercials. As it was also our first take on stop-motion animation, we were glad to have Kiante lead the way. Check it out here if you haven’t already.
Looking ahead to 2024, we’re excited to take on new adventures with our amazing team and partners.
Cheers,
The Slow Clap Team
59 video projects completed for our clients, from product launches to client success stories to brand stories and branded content
We got 2023 started on a light note, making a series of social media video skits for startup Ironclad. The videos were produced in a DIY style to feel more like organic social content, and featured the lawyer influencer (yes, those exist,) Alex Su making fun of all things business contracts.
February 2023
2023 was year nine of our continuing relationship with healthcare insurance company Blue Shield of California. One highlight was continuing our series of ERG (employee resource group) video profiles. In each mini-documentary, we tell the powerful stories of employees who have gone through their careers facing adversity because of who they are. In February, we filmed interviews for the Black Employee Network, Elevating Women, and the Unidos (Latinx) ERG. All videos have since been released.
March 2023
In March, the Slow Clap team learned about the fascinating world of low and moderate income housing development and lending as we produced a video about the Golden State Acquisition Fund (aka GSAF). GSAF is an innovative fund created by the State of California and administered by Low Income Investment Fund (aka LIIF) that, to date, has been responsible for more than 10,000 new units of affordable housing.
April 2023
In April 2023, we got a repeat of April 2022. We love when our clients come back for more, and the San Francisco Treasurer did just that when we produced this video about the Kindergarten to College (K2C) program’s success. It gives us a chance to be part of something bigger, something that affects our community. This video features four students in San Francisco schools that have taken advantage of the program to save for college throughout their entire schooling, starting in Kindergarten.
Mindful was releasing an entirely new UI for their product, with design that was accessible and “kind by design.” And to announce it, they reached out to us to build an entire virtual world from scratch. We built the world in Unreal Engine, rigged it on the large volume LED wall with Disguise, and used active camera tracking to bring the whole thing to life. This is a technology that will become standard industry practice in the near future, and the Slow Clap team is so excited to get to be on the bleeding edge of it. Check out a behind-the-scenes video about the making of this.
June 2023
2023 was the year of AI… from ChatGPT to labor strikes to deep fakes to AI Drake songs. 2023 was the year of AI for Slow Clap as well. We adopted some amazing AI tools like Descript for our workflow, and we got to produce video projects for some leading AI companies, like Sana, a leader in the TechEd space. Here, you can see Sana’s CEO talking with the CEO of Nvidia, which is now the sixth-largest company in the world due to its all-in play on AI hardware.
July 2023
Speaking of AI, we had yet another huge project for AI startup Imbue to announce their $200MM fundraising round, and to help with their hypergrowth hiring spree. You can see the Imbue brand story video we made here. It’s a really interesting blend of documentary storytelling and hand-drawn illustrations, animated to bring the CEO’s anecdotes to life.
August 2023
We had another blowout party for Slow Clap’s ninth birthday party in August. This is our favorite night of the year, as we get to celebrate all the big wins that we rarely have time to celebrate as they’re happening (on to the next deadline!) with our team, clients, and collaborators.
We also welcomed Kiante Marron to the team as a camera and post-production assistant. Kiante’s Gen Z, everything-is-content mindset has been a great refresh to our creaky old Millennial brains!
September 2023
In September, our producer Katy went on maternity leave (more about that next year!), and we welcomed a new producer to the team, Sarah Nathan. Similar to Katy, Sarah brings a documentary and journalist eye to Slow Clap’s body of work, having formerly worked at AJ+, ESPN, as well as Washington State University.
Our team traveled to Orange County to produce this customer story video for a new client, InterPayments, as well as another virtual event video for our longtime client, Ironclad, in Dallas,TX.
We also continued our longtime partnership with the nonprofit Asian Law Caucus, producing three videos for their 2023 gala. We’ve produced these stories for ALC every year since our founding.
November 2023
In November, we produced multiple equity training modules for our partners at The National Equity Project (NEP). We’re happy to continuously support this non-profit and to create content that educates and supports DEIB work in the community. The Slow Clap team had a great 4-day shoot at the NEP office in downtown Oakland and the collaboration was seamless.
On a side note, we got another Slow Clap baby on the way! Our founder, Dan, left for paternity leave in mid-November. Wish him congratulations on his baby girl!
December 2023
Wrapping up this year, we were all hands on deck (or all legos on deck) for our Slow Clap holiday card video. We couldn’t resist the opportunity to live our childhood LEGO® dreams. When it came time to decide on a theme for our annual card, we were inspired by 90’s toy commercials. As it was also our first take on stop-motion animation, we were glad to have Kiante lead the way. Check it out here if you haven’t already.
Looking ahead to 2024, we’re excited to take on new adventures with our amazing team and partners.
