This is Castle Homes‘ fourth year creating a Castle Homes Christmas video and WOW – they go ALL OUT. If your company is looking for a remarkable team building activity to end the year on, or you want to do something really fun with your family or friends, this just may get your creativity genes working in overdrive for next year.
And, if you just want to be inspired by a group of 14 people singing “Rocking Around The Christmas Tree” – I promise the video below will make you smile – big.
The original idea came from a conversation with Castle Homes’ in-house marketing person, Geinger Hill, and owner, Alan Looney. After a long 2020, they needed to create a fun project that involved everyone in the office spreading holiday cheer. This is now a tradition and part of their culture, and it continues to grow each year. As Alan says, “What began as a fun holiday project has now become ‘making it better than last year’… not to mention, it is always such a great team building experience.”
Every voice you hear is part of the Castle Homes team – this is Music City after all. And, Heather Looney, Vice President of Castle Homes, takes front and center stage as a professional singer, providing and incredible anchor to the whole team.
So, how does this all come together? Each year, Alan and Geinger decide on the project’s direction, starting with the song choice. Geinger’s husband is involved in the music industry, and they have a home studio, so he is able to record the music. With a staff of 14, they don’t all fit into the studio, so the vocal recording needs to happen over three nights. The first night is Heather, then a “girl” night, and lastly a “boy” night.
As Alan says, “It really becomes a great team building experience. Asking employees to step out of their comfort zone and stand in a vocal booth is a big ask, but they are always up for the challenge. Once the song is complete, then we schedule an afternoon to shoot the video. With everyone’s busy schedule, it’s hard to get everyone away at the same time, so it’s important that once we are on location, we have to keep things moving along pretty quickly.”
It’s clear that in order to pull off a video like this, you must be highly organized. Geinger shares that the process involves creating a spreadsheet with one row dedicated to each song line. From there, all the corresponding actions, designated singers, and camera directions are assigned for each line of the song. Everything must be planned out before the shoot can begin. It’s because of this organization that the filming this year took only two hours.
“What started as a fun Christmas project has now become a key part of our culture,” Alan reflected. “We have folks tell us throughout the year that they can’t wait to see what we come up with this year. Shooting on a job site allows us to showcase our passion for constructing homes and simultaneously spread joy and holiday cheer in our community.”
And, we have a new tradition as well – looking forward to and watching the Castle Homes’ Christmas video as part of our holiday cheer!
**********
