James and Jessica Chance - Chance Multimedia

1: First, tell me a little about yourselves and your communications business? How and who first hatched the idea of Chance Multimedia?

James: I’m a British photographer. I moved to the US in 2003 to work on a Masters Degree at Ohio University, and have worked as a freelance photographer since graduating. While freelancing in Ohio I was brought in as creative consultant and producer for a project run by my wife, Jessica, who was then working as a communications specialist at the Public Children Services Association of Ohio. The project was part of a national campaign in partnership with the Pew Charitable Trusts to lobby congress on necessary changes that were needed in the foster care system. Whilst working on the project we quickly realized the potential in our combined skill sets—essentially, her PR and communications knowledge, and my visual and journalism skills, in helping nonprofit organizations achieve both short term goals, and long term missions.

Soon after we decided to make a go of it and Jessica left her job so we could travel for a year to work on stories and develop our skills in multimedia production and digital storytelling. We produced several stories abroad, won an Every Human Has Rights Media Award in December 2008, and then resettled in Denver where we produce targeted photo and video content for local and international organizations. I continue to work as a freelance photographer as well. We truly enjoy our work, and we love living in Denver. Jessica: I earned a degree in magazine journalism in 2003, and then took a job in nonprofit communications.  I have always been fascinated, and driven by, stories and storytelling. When James and I worked on the My Story Project (with PCSAO), it occurred to me that this kind of storytelling was what I wanted to do. 

The Internet was exploding: Every organization could now utilize compelling photos and videos to connect their audience with the people they impact.  Chance Multimedia is a product of our combined skills and professional goals with a growing need for visual content in the digital age.

2: How has the partnership with Jessica helped your business grow? Meaning, do you guys break off chunks of the ‘to-do list’ and tackle individual tasks or do you both roll your shirtsleeves up and tackle all that goes into running a business? Are you two both head chefs, accountants and bottle washers?

James: Jessica understands PR and communications strategies. My skill set is very different. As mentioned previously it is the combination of our skills that make this work for our clients and us. We have modeled the business to provide content for nonprofits and foundations (although we do work with commercial clients). I couldn’t do this on my own. I can make something look visually compelling and string a good story together, but I don’t understand the all the needs and nuances of communications strategies in the nonprofit sector.

Yes, we break down the tasks. Jessica deals with the front end—planning the projects with clients and determining the strategy for what we are about to produce. Next, I take care of gathering all of the visual content, this includes shooting still images and video and often interviews (in which Jessica will be the interviewer). I will then select the best images and some video footage and Jessica will make a rough edit to follow the story or “ask” as determined by the client. We will then work together to clean the piece up for hand off. Jessica: I jokingly call James, the “talent,” in our partnership. 

My focus is always on the end purpose of the piece, how the visuals, narration, messaging, sequencing, etc. will work together to achieve our clients’ purpose.  James is a great photojournalist, so I always know that whatever we produce will look stunning.  It’s a lucky partnership.  When people ask us (often, with raised eyebrows) what it is like to be married and work together, I tell them that our values, skill sets, and professional goals complement each other’s so well, that we are compelled to do work together!

3: At times, do your ideas clash or is it a symbiotic relationship from start to finish during a production or shoot? Do you tend to bounce ideas off one another to find a greater common answer to the problem?

James: We form a basic battle plan for the project overall and have a shot list when we head out to shoot, but also working as a journalist I like to let events follow their own course, so things can change on location. But yes, we certainly communicate our own ideas, which can provide problems, but mostly solutions. We both respect each other’s experience in the areas that we specialize in. Jessica: We definitely bounce ideas off of each other regularly.  Our ideas clash sometimes, but that happens less and less as we have more experience working together.  As James said, we trust each others’ experience.  It’s a relief to be able to do that.

4: Has the chance to bounce ideas off one another, the most trusted of business partners, help you both sleep at night knowing that there is an open dialogue and sharing of ideas?

Absolutely.

5: I just finished watching ‘Living With The Dead’ and it was great. Can you fill me in on a little of the background – regarding the work that went into shooting in such a location?

James: We spent about five weeks in Manila. One week was spent petitioning for the necessary paperwork to enter and work in the cemetery and three weeks were spent shooting. The final week was spent tidying up the footage we had. I would go most days to photograph. Jessica would join me about every one to three days to build relationships with the people living there, assist with photography, film interviews, and capture audio. There is little in the way of video in the current piece, just the interviews. I plan to expand this when I go back.

How did you find such a story? Was it something you self-funded after research or did you stumble across while traveling – not that stumbling is a bad thing mind you.

James: I found a small article in a magazine; it only had a couple of images. A lot of my work focuses on people and their living environments—more recently and more specifically looking at the theme of “home.” Obviously the cemetery is pretty unique living environment so I was immediately interested. I did some research online and found very little in-depth reporting on the place, so started to plan a trip to the Philippines with Jessica to produce a story. The project was self-funded. We had some savings and I sold my car to get out there. A bit of a risk yes, but we believed in what we were doing. Thankfully, things are starting to pay off. Winning this award and having an opportunity to return to the cemetery feels very “full circle.”

6. ‘Living With The Dead’ has received a stack of awards and accolades, but did I read that you are heading back to Manila to continue work on the project after winning the POYi Emerging Vision Incentive?

James: Yes, the POYi Emerging Vision Incentive is a $10,000 award for a photographer to continue with a personal body of work over one year. I had entered the work I shot on the first trip (what we see now) in a number of awards and was very pleased to be recognized as a finalist or nominee, but this wasn’t enough to secure the funding I needed to continue with the work. I am very grateful to POYi and the Annenberg Foundation for giving me this opportunity. I hope to head back two-three times over the next year to expand the project. The award was for photography, but I also hope to expand the multimedia story by shooting more video.

Living with the Dead: Manila’s North Cemetery from Chance Multimedia on Vimeo. See more of James Chance’s work on his editorial website, here and his multimedia work at Chance Multimedia. The pair tweet from @ChanceMedia or follow all the Chance Multimedia’s news on Facebook.