Colleen Mathis is a Seattle-based digital media producer who specializes in promotional images, video, words, and audio to tell emotionally-engaging stories for the web. With an education in theatre arts and work experience in web development and media editing, she has a unique combination of technical savvy and storytelling prowess.
Currently available for new projects, Colleen can work remotely in her fully-equipped home studio.
Promotional Video
I specialize in assemblage video using existing footage, both new and old, to create documentary-style portfolio features, promotional travelogues, and fundraising campaigns.
Graphic effects have advanced in brilliant ways since these were produced, but the tone and timing still lend themselves to a compelling and meaningful story.
Reels and Stories
As I started to explore a donated 78 rpm record collection, I posted music and tidbits of trivia on Twitter to share the connection I was making to an analog piece of history. As Twitter fell out of favor, I transformed some of what I shared into reel-shaped videos that can be used on any number of social media sites today.
Radio Programming
In 2023, I built a radio station and programmed content for a weeklong, off-grid event with around one thousand attendees.
We produced a series of educational spots that would illustrate the Ten Principles of Community in the style of a Cold War public service announcement. I sourced public domain background music, and enlisted two volunteers– one to help write, and the other to narrate and engineer the spots.
Principle 01: Radical Self Reliance
Principle 03: Civic Responsibility
Principle 05: Radical Inclusion
Principle 06: Gifting
Photo Restoration
In many contexts, historical photos are often digitized without any alteration, to preserve the integrity of the original record.
With personal collections, families often wish for an image with fading and damage corrected. This makes for a more enjoyable photo for display, and can also bring out interesting details that were not previously visible.
PORTRAITURE GALLERY
Product Gallery
Promotional Gallery
Social Media Posts
As I’ve worked my way through digitizing several family photograph collections, I have shared my progress, pro-tips, and some of the more interesting historical photos on social media.
Negatives are no problem! They’re previewed on a light box before I load them into a frame for scanning.
Today’s restoration work in progress. A very small, very damaged photo, and the hardest part– a striped dress!
Take camera phone video of your elders talking about their photo albums, if you have the opportunity. This makes it easy to preserve a trove of delightful details about your history that no one else can give you.
On Puget Sound, during a beautiful summer day in 1936, this was the view of the Kalakala from the Chippewa– two ships passing in the afternoon…
These are 78 record needles, which need to be replaced every song or three on the crank machine. The electric turntable needle has a longer lasting sapphire tip that can be used for quite a while without wear.
WordPress Customization
I use WordPress as a CMS and design tool to create visually-rich brochure- and portfolio-style websites for artists, organizations, and sole proprietors.
Print Layout
Though most of my clients want web-based design, I’ve created several different items specifically for print, among them: brochures, plaques, lesson plans, decals, and gift cards.
Video Headers
If you’ve made it this far in a browser, here’s a bonus:
I love B-roll because it provides the opportunity to create little gems, like this moving header image.