We Are Blood | 75th Anniversary

We Are Blood has supplied Central Texas with blood for 75 years across 10 counties, and they wanted a spot that felt like all of it. This one came direct to the organization, so CamLock Films acted as the creative agency as well as the Austin video production company. We co-wrote the script with their team, produced and shot it, and delivered a :60 hero with :30 and :15 cutdowns for broadcast, CTV, and social. We also produce their recurring monthly testimonial videos, so we walked in with a lot of footage and a lot of trust.

For a montage about 75 years, more locations mattered more than efficiency. We decided early to shoot two days across town with a small crew and cover ground, then fold in stock and footage from our previous We Are Blood spots, some that ran heavily and some pulled straight from the archive. The unusual part was the previz. Instead of starting on paper, our editor Dan Hedges, who cuts the monthly testimonials, assembled a rough version out of past spots, stock placeholders, and a few AI frames while we tested music and VO options and found the tone. The spot was roughly half built before we shot a frame, so the two shoot days went only to the moments we didn't already have.

Dan cut the final as well, and the music is a licensed track from Hayden Butler, a composer we have worked with before. The spot premiered at We Are Blood's 75th anniversary fundraising event, the first of its kind for them. Alongside it we produced seven two-minute award films, testimonial-style pieces honoring the people recognized that night, including Austin EMS, Amy's Ice Creams, a donor who has given 150 gallons in his lifetime, and a blood cancer specialist at Dell Children's.

Nonprofit brand films tend to get produced cautiously. We Are Blood gives us real creative rein on their commercial work, and we take that seriously. If you are a nonprofit, or an agency with a nonprofit client in Texas, looking for a production partner who can carry a brand film from script to finish in one shop, this is a good example of what that looks like.

Title tag: We Are Blood 75th Anniversary Brand Film | CamLock Films Austin
Meta description: CamLock Films wrote, produced, and edited We Are Blood's 75th anniversary spot and seven award films, previsualized in the edit before a single frame was shot.