The Prosthetics and Orthotics Podcast

Behind the Lens Where Art Meets Intention: The Practice of Storytelling with Todd Biss

• Brent Wright and Joris Peels • Season 12 • Episode 9

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We sit down in the Guatemalan jungle with filmmaker Todd Biss to explore how craft, ethics, and faith shape stories that fund care and protect dignity. From ad-agency polish to nonprofit trust, we trace how small crews, better audio, and sharp editing turn hope into motion.

• origins in photography and ad-agency production
• defining success through beauty, trust and client outcomes
• on-location logistics, tech scouting and studio control
• nonprofit storytelling with trauma-aware practices
• lighter gear, better mics and sensor gains
• editing as a puzzle with multi-length deliverables
• hooks that respect attention without hype
• tripod versus handheld choices for tone
• audio upgrades that elevate any video
• clinic systems from forming to fitting
• Adonis’s first steps and renewed hope
• faith-driven work and why it matters
• pricing, discounts and sustainable impact
• where to find Todd Biss online

Find Todd at “Todd Biss Productions” on Google, LinkedIn, and Instagram

Special thanks to Advanced 3D for sponsoring this episode.



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Brent:

Welcome to season 12 of the Prosthetic North Out Podcast. This is where we connect with experts in the field, patients who use these devices, physical therapists, and the vendors who help bring it all together. Our mission remains the same to share stories, tips, and insights that help improve patient outcomes. Tune in and join the conversation. We're glad you're here and hope it's the highlight of your day. Hello everyone. Welcome to the Prosthetics and Orthotics Podcast. This is an interesting one because uh yours is actually off uh traveling today, and uh I am actually in the jungle of Guatemala doing a prosthetic clinic. And our guest today is somebody that I just met a few days ago. His name is Todd Biss. He has a production company and a videographer, and he has a knack for being able to tell stories and tell it through video in a very moving way. So, Todd, welcome to the show. Thank you, Brent. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Yeah, so Todd how how did how did you get into this? I know it's probably a long story, but um we've got a little bit of time. But yeah, just tell us a little bit about how you got into it, and then we'll jump off into um some other stories.

Todd:

Sounds great. Yeah, I'll try and give you the condensed version here. My dad was a person who was really into photography and uh film production before video was even a thing. So I'm I'm getting up there in years, brother. Um so it's been it's been interesting, but I loved the the things that uh the stories that could be told through photography and through eventually video. And it's uh it's been amazing, it's been life-changing for me. Um, I worked in the advertising world for quite a while. I was at an ad agency doing photography and video production, and then about 30 years ago started Todd Biss Productions, and uh we've been doing it ever since. And some of my favorite work is some of the nonprofit work that we get to do. Um, stories are amazing in general, but when you can tell a story that moves a person, it really makes a difference.

Brent:

Yeah, well, tell me a little bit about that pathway. So, I mean, you've been at this for a while. You said you were at an ad agency that was probably a for-profit side of things. So uh tell us a little bit about that and then maybe even some some of the psychology of what you're trying to do to move people in that space to make a purchase, and then we'll hop into the nonprofit side.

Todd:

Sounds great. Yeah. Yeah, it's been interesting. Um, so obviously you're trying to some people say advertising is just a tool to get people to buy something they don't need. And I never really believed that. I'm sure there are there are situations where that's the case, but a lot of times it is things that we do need or or desire. And and when uh imagery is used to tell the story more clearly, then you start to realize, oh, this is something that I could use. And so, yes, it is more for-profit on that side, but many of the clients that we still work with today, um, I'm thrilled with the products that we're that we're telling the stories behind because they're amazing products and make a difference in people's lives and enhance their lives. So I love that.

Brent:

So I'm I'm guessing that uh, and still staying on the for, let's say with the for-profit side of things right now, it you a lot of times you have to shoot on site, right? This isn't a Zoom call. This is like your luggage and stuff and production stuff. So tell me about some of that uh when it's on the for-profit side of things. Uh, how does how does all that work? How do you get set up? How far ahead of time do you have to do? How do you scout stuff? What are some things? And then and then tell me a little bit about your style too, when it comes to that and what makes people pick you.

Todd:

Gotcha. Yeah, no, you're 100% right. We've we've gotten the opportunity to shoot all over the world, even on our for-profit stuff. Um, the the setup, the prep time for shoots are very different from one to the next. We have shoots where we're packing tons of gear and traveling to China or the UK for some of the more international things. But a lot of times, you know, we're hub or we're located in Northeast Ohio. So a lot of times it's things happening right there in our studio. We've got an 8,000 square foot studio. So there it's more about um, you know, just really finessing the lights because we have everything right there with us. So um we can we can take the time to build a set. We had some stuff we just did recently for some skincare uh items, and we had to build showers and bathtubs and and we looked at locations. We said, no, you know what, we're gonna have a lot more control of everything if we just build this right in the studio. So we did that. But other times we're walking into some things fairly blind. If we can, if we can see an area or a location ahead of time and do a Tech Scout, or usually it's a location scout first, we just kind of see what's going on, then we'll come come back sometimes for a Tech Scout where we're really studying where's the light at different times of day, what is our what is our power situation, how much are we we relying on battery-powered items, uh, all those things come into play. As far as stylistically goes, we've been told one of the things we do best is working with people, um, whether it's professional talent uh or even amateurs who just need to be the ones that are on camera, helping people feel comfortable in front of the camera really makes a difference. And if if a person is more likely to feel comfortable and taken care of, they're more likely to come across as themselves, is what we found.

Brent:

Yeah. So on the and still on the for-profit side of things, uh, what constitutes success?

Todd:

Well, um I think there are a few things for me. One is one is the visual side of things. Like if it doesn't come across really beautifully, it's disappointing to me. So I I want people to feel at home. I want them to look like they feel at home. If it's not a person, if it's a product, I want it to look beautiful. Uh it beauty is a big big part of this for me. I spend a lot of time studying light and the way light falls, and the way light reflects, and the way light hits different times of day, and the color temperature of light, uh, composition, all those things. But really, beyond that, um, we're looking for clients that that say, oh my gosh, this is way better than I ever thought or imagined. And um, and then obviously they they pay us too. That helps. And then they call you back. And then they call you back.

Brent:

That's that's really the ultimate the uh it's really true, right?

Todd:

It's really true. If you've got folks who love everything you do and then you don't hear from again, that's a bit disappointing. But most of our clients are folks that stick with us for a long, long period of time because we're servicing them well.

Brent:

Yeah. Well, let's hop into the nonprofit just a little bit. Uh and probably this is where we'll hang out a lot of the time. Is uh so why do people call you for the for the nonprofit side of things? What is it um that you do? And then how do you figure out how to tell that story?

Todd:

So it's interesting because I think some of the same things apply here. We obviously want things to be beautiful, beautifully lit, well composed, um, all those types of things. I've always had a heart for nonprofit. Uh, I've always had a heart for maybe the underserved um or uh less noticed people in the world and and in our neighborhood, even. And so it was a pretty natural transition. I don't know that I would even call it a transition. It's just always something I've been aware of. Um, but the same things apply. You want the people that you're working with to feel incredibly comfortable. You you want them to know they want to uh know that they can trust you. Some of the stories that we tell are pretty delicate, some of the situations we walk into are pretty delicate. Some of the work we've done with um non in the nonprofit world deals with sex trafficking and um abuse and a lot of different scenarios where they're really tricky. Uh so trust is is critical. And um, sometimes we walked into situations where, you know, when you're walking in with camera equipment, big lenses and microphones pointing at people, um, that can be pretty intimidating. And so taking some time to step back, not lift the camera right away, not point a lens at somebody's face right away. Um, and and this, and many people have had some abuse situations where it's it's uh broadcast abuse, news, news channels that have come pouring in and they just feel taken advantage of. And so, again, to make sure that you're not feeling taken advantage of or they're not feeling taken advantage of, it's just so important that they feel um that they can trust us, that we have their best interest in mind. Uh, and we have to do checks on ourselves to make sure we do have their best interest in mind. The things that we're doing was in Haiti after after the earthquake years ago that was really rough, and it was a tricky situation because we had to help people understand, no, we're not here to just exploit you, but we're here to do some, create some videos that are going to raise funds that will ultimately help you.

Brent:

Yeah. So on some of those shoots, when you're doing some of those shoots and uh, you know, you're carrying in camera equipment and that sort of thing, how has the technology changed for you to even make that easier?

Todd:

Yeah, it's um it's been it's been drastic. The technology change. So um sensors are are better, um microphones are better, even the mics we're using right now are so tiny and and easy to carry around. So it's really simplified a lot of things uh in a lot of ways, that the those changes in technology. Um lensing, everything. You can get away with some things that are definitely much smaller. There are times where we choose to to not do that because there's still some things that we don't want to sacrifice quality on, and we know that we need this particular uh lens kit. Um, but yeah, in general, the the number of cases, even this shoot here in Guatemala, I can come with one assistant. And uh my anticipation, even the number of cases that we were gonna have to check and what we had to carry on board, uh, I was like, oh, we we actually did this with almost two less cases than I expected because of some of the changes that uh that we were able to make and in because of technology.

Brent:

Yeah. So uh we're in the jungle of Guatemala.

Todd:

What brings you here? Uh it's certainly not the temperature, I can tell you that. Uh so the cool thing about this location, I was here once in 2019. Uh, there's an organization that we shot for and created a video for called Hospital Shalom. And so um, I had heard about this prosthetic clinic when I was here. Now, my wife is an RN and she had brought some nursing students a few times. She always arrived the week after the prosthetic clinic had finished. And so, but she would tell me about the cleanup and about the some of the stories. And I thought, this sounds amazing, and this is an important part of the story. So I would love to be there at some point when this happens because we have this video that was created. We need to update it, and it's missing a key element. And then I got to meet you and your fantastic team.

Brent:

So um, yeah, take us to that to like the 2019 shooting, some of that stuff and the the hospital, hospital shalom. Uh, I'm sure you had hours and hours of footage to go through. How'd you decide on where to take that story?

Todd:

I I kind of liken it to uh a puzzle. When you end up in the in the editing room, um we had hours of footage from that from that shoot. I think we shot for about four days. We knew that we just wanted to have a general story that kind of mapped out the the belief system of the hospital, their approach to the way they handled um their care for their folks here in this area. Um, and so we knew that we wanted to tell that story well um and delicately. But I so I liken the storytelling post-production process to a puzzle that is there's no right or wrong way to do it, only better or best. And you don't always know. So with a puzzle, you have these elements that are all perfectly cut and shaped, and there's a way you have to put it together, and you start with the border, and you you've it's very clear cut and framed in. It can still take a long time. But in the post-production world, it's it's all those pieces, but there's no right or wrong way to put them together necessarily. Um, and so that analogy has really, I think, helped people understand um sometimes the brutality of the post-production process because uh I will take our footage from this week and start to pour through it multiple interviews, stories, comments, um, images that were just grabbed where the audio is not critical, but they call that the B-roll, those B-roll elements start to piece it together and um honestly just spend that time to say, okay, so what happens if I swap these two? What if uh what if this story to tell this story we we showed the end of it, you know, the way you would in a movie, and then it's almost like a flashback. Well, wait, where did this start? How did we get to this point to create interest and intrigue? Um, it's it's a ton of work, and you're catching me at a point when I'm feeling a little overwhelmed about how tricky this is gonna be because we have such great content.

Brent:

Yeah, yeah. When you're piecing some of this together, obviously you have to make a decision to cut a lot. What what is the typical ratio of footage shot to it made the cut?

Todd:

Yeah, it's uh I'm sure this changes from project to project, but I'm gonna I think that we probably have seven hours of footage-ish. Maybe more. I haven't really studied it yet. And um, and we're trying to make a five-minute video. So if you think about that, now we might end up with a couple of versions of the video depending on need, but if you think about that, I I'm not a mathematician, but I know that there's a lot of stuff that gets cut. The cool thing, one of the things I do I shared with someone today, is that I'll create a timeline of things that I know are important. And um we'll build this in in Premiere, Adobe's Premiere Pro. You have the option to start to color code things. And sometimes there are things that I've shot this week, things that even you've said or done, uh, reactions from uh a patient um who's just got a new prosthetic, that it's so good that I'll I'll shut the camera off and I'll say that's pure gold. And uh those clips I go in and I change the color to gold. That's one of my options. And so when I'm looking through that timeline and starting to study that sequence, I know that anything that was gold is gonna end up in the final piece. Now it's a really small clip, it's really small uh proportionally, but uh uh it helps me visually see those things.

Brent:

Yeah. How has stuff changed now? I mean, from 30 years ago to now, the way that we consume content is very much different. The style of content, probably somewhat uh the amount of time to capture attention. I mean, it seems like a pretty difficult thing to be able to grab somebody quickly and keep them, like even a five minute, even though that's short, keeping them for five minutes is a struggle. Whereas probably years ago, it wasn't that much of a struggle.

Todd:

Absolutely. You're you're spot on. Our attention spans are so much shorter. Uh, if you've got any years under your belt, you can just think back, go, go watch a movie, you know, from 20 years ago, and it can be so boring. Everything comes at us so fast. There's so many places for video to live, so many places that content is required, or or at least it enhances the story. So, yeah, a lot of times the way we approach things now, we will um we will start with uh a project that we know we need to end up with a three to five minutes on the long end, usually, three to five minute video, but we will already be determining cut-down versions of that that might be 30 or 60 seconds, and then even cut-down versions from there or completely separate versions for social that might be 15 or 20 seconds. And so those can be used as teasers, almost like a trailer would be used for a movie where you start to just see some of these things and say, wow, this is pretty interesting. I'd love to get more information on this or understand the story better. And so then you can start to step into those things and see some of the longer formats. But to your point, you still need that opening to have some kind of a hook. There has to be something, and it's not always that it's some kind of crazy action or something outrageous, it could just be a visual that's very quiet and and and subtle and the and the music is what moves you and and it creates curiosity. Um, but depending on the platform that it's living on, that might not be a good option as well.

Brent:

So yeah, like and so you know, you showed me the video uh for hospital shalom that you did in 2019. And for me, that initial sequence of the dusty road with the what was it, bowl in the middle of the road and livestock, it just like puts you right there. I mean, how did you decide like, hey, that's what we're gonna open with?

Todd:

You know, that was that was a tricky one. I uh the interview was done by a person here whose oldest son uh or firstborn son died in uh the state hospital. Um and it's a powerful story. His story is a powerful story, and he wants to talk about this missionary couple who is working alongside the road, and he says, What are these people doing here? Now I didn't have any of that footage from 30 years ago when this missionary couple was standing alongside the road. So I'm thinking, how do I tell that story? Because I want to lean into the power of his story, losing his son, the tragedy of losing his son, but I didn't have any imagery to fit that. And so using some of that livestock, the the dusty road, um, it it kind of fit the imagery that he was talking about. You could almost start to envision uh this American couple walking down the street saying, we're gonna build a hospital right here by this cattle.

Brent:

Yeah. So obviously been around for a while uh and shooting both the the the not uh the prophet for prophesied, non-profit. Tell me about some of the uh like film festivals, have you won any awards, that sort of thing. Brag on yourself a little bit.

Todd:

Uh okay. Yeah, we we've uh so the bulk of the awards that we've won um are what's uh we have like tele awards, Addy Awards, uh very much so on the the for-profit side of things. So a lot of advertising. Um that's been fun because it gives us a chance to have our work in front of peers that maybe haven't had a chance to work with us yet. And so when you're winning those kinds of awards in front of people that could hire you, that's obviously a great thing. Um on the film festival side, we've uh we've done less of that kind of work. So much of our work that we do in the in the nonprofit world is is being used by those nonprofits for fundraising. So they're not going to the festival side, but we've had several things that we have had in festivals. Um, and some of them are short films and things like that. It's a we haven't won any awards in that world yet. But I hope to do a little bit more of that kind of stuff actually in the in the near future. For me, being selected to be in a film festival is is almost the award itself. It's such an honor to get into some of these festivals, uh, depending on which one it is and the size of the festival. It's it's not like they just say, hey, everybody submit a film and we're gonna show it. It's very competitive to get selected into some of these festivals.

Brent:

So tell me, and I know you have a lot of experiences, but tell me about some of the hardest shoots you you've done, both maybe environmental and gear side.

Todd:

On the environmental side of that question, um when we shot in Haiti, and I'm blanking on the year, it goes back, I want to say it was 09 or 10, uh, after one of their major earthquakes, it was really brutal. There were so many things. There were communication issues because of the infrastructure. We were there six months after the earthquake, and the infrastructure was so destroyed. There they were actually in Port-au-Prince, it was a struggle to have an infrastructure anyway. Um, but then communication, and even on our arrival, we spent hours in the dark in the rain, waiting for the person who was supposed to pick up, pick us up because they had uh issues getting there because of roads that were closed and things like that. So we had, and we're there with thousands and thousands of dollars of gear, and we had a person who said, I'm gonna stay with you. He was a taxi driver. We didn't even know where we were supposed to go. We had such little information. He said, I'm gonna stay with you until your driver gets here to pick you up because I can't promise you what would happen. And so there have been a few moments of that have been fairly scary. Uh, we had a situation in Nigeria where um uh we were surrounded, our vehicle was surrounded, and a lot of it is just, you know, they just saw some folks that look like they a little different than than them. And and when they see your your equipment and your gear, then um they know that there's the potential for bribes and that kind of thing. So we've had a few situation uh situations like that. Cambodia um has had some tricky situations where you know the poverty is so great, you you can't truly blame the people for their desperation. Um, but you know that you're in places where this is just a rough, rough place to be. And, you know, even going back to uh the Haiti thing, there was so much death and destruction. The smells were almost unbearable. And so to find those places where you're in the midst of things that are really, really difficult, but you're seeing glimpses of hope. There were small, what we would call in my neighborhood, sheds, little 8x12 sheds that you would keep your lawnmower in. They were they were being built for these families to live in, and they were so excited. They were so proud to show you their houses. And um, and so that's kind of the story we were telling was look at this, uh, look at this company that is donating some of this material to um to help build these houses for for folks. In that scenario, we called it the double bottom line. So we were actually hired to go work with this company that provided the sheds. We were hired by this building company to go and document this stuff uh so that they could kind of tell their story too. Hey, we're helping with this. Um, and then they paid us for that. So we had a connection there and they said, we will pay you to do that. So it felt a little um, I don't know, we just call the double bottom line. Like we're doing good and we're getting paid for it. And that's a that's a real treat.

Brent:

Well, and that's sustainability too, right? Right. I I think that's one of the interesting things, especially in the nonprofit world nowadays, is you have to get paid for the work that you do so the work can continue. And uh yeah, maybe just speak a little bit about that concept too, is people just because it's for nonprofit doesn't mean zero dollars, right?

Todd:

Yeah, I am with you a hundred percent. Um, we try and find at least one project a year that we completely donate. Um, sometimes we end up doing more than that, we always have at least one. But you know what what we do, all of us collectively do, it has great value. And if I can create a story that helps a nonprofit uh get gain more exposure, gain better understanding, um, then that's gonna ultimately help them with their bottom line. They're gonna be people who come alongside and say, I can help you, I can give financially, I can give of my time. And so there is great value there. And I I love the fact that um that we get to do that with a lot of people. Now we we obviously try and work within budgets that are there. We give a nonprofit discount compared to our standard rates. Um, we really, really work hard to work with people, uh, especially when it comes to causes that are um so important. Yeah.

Brent:

I'd like to dive a little bit into just your style of storytelling and uh you know the the style uh and how you think about it. And I'd love for you to tie it into this idea of being able to grab attention. So just to give you a little background, so a lot of our listeners, they're small, medium-sized businesses, and we don't do a great job of tooting our own horns. Like I think we do some pretty special stuff um and stuff that's noteworthy, but I don't feel like we're very good at telling our story. So I'd love to just hear even some practical insights on hey, if you're a do-it-yourself type of person, here's some things to think about, concepts to do um to be able to tell your story and toot your horn.

Todd:

That's a great question. So um, yeah, there's a there's a a lot of things that come to mind um as far as even my approach. We give a lot of thought to when we think about the story, and I did this even this week. When is my camera on a tripod and when am I hand holding it? Because there's a very different feel between those two things. Um, is the lens longer? Like, are you zoomed in a little bit? Even even if we're shooting on an on a phone, you can still zoom in and you can still choose to put it on a tripod or you can still hand hold it. There's a very different feel between those two. If you're trying to show something that shows stability and confidence and and a concreteness to it, um, then oftentimes I'll put it on sticks, I'll put it on a tripod because I want it to feel stable and trustworthy and those kind of things. If I want something to feel real and um and like like I'm engaged in the moment, then I'll I'll hand hold and I'll go with a wider lens. So if you're wider lens or 0.5, you hear people souting that out all the time on their phone, you go 0.5 or or maybe not quite that far, and you hand hold and you are in that moment engaged, you have immersed your viewer in the moment. Um, it's a little more chaotic sometimes. There's a little more movement, a little less stability, but that's not always a bad thing. And and vice versa. There are times if you have it uh on on sticks and you're zoomed in on a tripod and you're zoomed in a little bit, that stability um is pretty great. There are times where I'll use a longer lens to try and uh capture more facial expressions and things like that. And after spending a week with with you, faces are important and seeing these moments when you can to catch moments of uh of expression, especially when somebody gets it, you know, and they they take some of their first steps if it's if it's brand new to them, or even if it's just an improvement uh an adjustment that you make, that you know, you rotate the foot a little bit or change the knee and and it kind of clicks. Um, it's really fun. Obviously, uh having the whole body and seeing that is is crucial to what you guys do. Um, and I was able to witness that as well. Um on a practical side for folks who are running, you know, small, medium, or even larger businesses, there's just as a reminder, there's just so many great places for video to live. This we're living in a time that's so different than it's ever been. Um, and I I know there's the the big push on the Instagram side of things. And then with LinkedIn now, depending on where your audience is more likely to live, um it's uh it's there's great potential. And I would say just in general, just do it. The more you can do, you know, if you have an intern who can grab some things, the more stories you can tell. Your guys' stories are amazing and compelling, and that's one of the things that really hit me. The things, the stories you're hearing about people uh that you're working with on a daily basis are incredible, and some of the people are incredible, and so telling those stories as frequently as possible, even if the quality is not up to par, just getting that content in front of people is so important. Talk.

Brent:

I mean, we've talked a lot about video and how you can have beautiful video, and I've heard the saying. And I think I would agree with it. The quickest way to ruin amazing video is having poor audio. Give maybe some practical ways for people to improve their video by audio, which sounds kind of silly, right? But I would agree with that statement.

Todd:

Yeah. No, I 100% agree. You can be so much more likely to just shut a video off if the audio's distracting. And so finding ways, there's so many great tools out there. We've got these little Holly Land mics on us right now, and there are other companies out there doing the same thing. Um, that the first time I saw this, it was actually my nephew who said, uh, look at this, Uncle Todd. And he put one on his on one brother and one on my granddaughter and sent them in two different directions. And then he plugged the input into his phone and recorded just their audio as they ran around the yard. And I my mind was blown the first time I heard this. I'm like, you were picking up two channels of audio from two people going two different directions to your phone. And I was absolutely stunned. And I'm like, you know, what did this cost? And he's like, oh, about 300 bucks. Or again, my mind was just blown. I uh, you know, and I'm spending way more than that on a single microphone that requires a lot of uh uh plugins to be able to make it uh make it sound that good. So um yeah, don't ignore audio.

Brent:

Okay, okay. So I'd like to go into this week a little bit uh uh on the prosthetic side of things. I mean, it sounds like this, I mean, you've videoed a lot of stuff and everybody, everything's unique. But um, like what you know, you with you behind the camera, being able to see and see behind the scenes of some of this stuff, what has kind of struck you about what we've got going on down here?

Todd:

Wow. Um so I love the way you've built this out as a system. It's clear to me that you've been doing this for years. And uh systems are just I think critical to to efficiency. And so it was really cool to see your process start to finish. Got two days of casting and the way you kind of mapped all that. Forming. Yeah, forming. There we go.

Brent:

You gotta have all the names of the right stuff, right? And they all have to start with the same letter because we gotta tell the story. All right, keep on going. Yes, yes.

Todd:

I have determined it should be forming. Um, and oh, I forgot.

Brent:

Fabrication and fitting.

Todd:

Yeah, so we're gonna call it forming from here on out. So the forming, the two days of forming, um, watching that process and seeing the variety of body types and shapes and limbs. Uh I guess I hadn't given that much thought to that world before. I really haven't spent much time filming folks in these kinds of situations. So uh that was really intriguing to see your approach and even some of the new techniques that you uh that you were able to use down here were really fascinating. Um but then I was struck. So you've got the variety of people, body shapes, and and and the broad variety of techniques, but the fact that you guys still had that system with so many people working together and knowing what to do. Um, so you had those two days of forming, the two days of the word I keep fabrication, fabrication, and seeing the workshop and everybody jumping in on in the workshop and and uh with all the tools and and really finessing those kinds of things. But then these last two days to watch the fittings and see how incredibly close you were on most of them. And then the ones would be, oh, I've got this one spot here that's kind of rubbing a little bit. And then I just love that you know, you hand off the leg and somebody runs into the shop and then you know grabs a saw or a file or whatever and just tweaks those things and and then come back and you know, sometimes it was a couple times, and then you jump on the sewing machine and and fit the harness, and uh it was just really cool to watch. And for me, so that's the the more physical, technical uh expertise side of things, but then to see the the lives changed because of those prosthetics being applied and being comfortable um was just incredible. Yeah, I could talk about Adonis if you want me to. Yeah, go ahead.

Brent:

Yeah, yeah. So uh, yeah, I mean, uh I so a compelling story that's come out of this. I mean, do you do you have a a memory or something that you're like, man, we're gonna have to capture this in some way?

Todd:

Yeah, so the the thing that would be that would get some of the pure gold in my sequence line. Um one of the the first day we were here, one of the first shots I on my collection of uh clips is a young man who came in and uh I saw him kind of getting signed in, and I saw the woman who was was uh handling his paperwork start to develop tears in her eyes. And then I saw him grab his shirt and start dabbing his eyes. And obviously at this point, I've got the camera rolling and slightly from a distance, trying not to be too obtrusive. And then I saw another person come out and kind of console him. And as the story emerged, we realized that he was six, 17 years old. A year ago, he was 16 and had been on a uh motorbike and was hit by a uh truck, a large truck, and it severed his leg. And he thought life was over. And as they talked to him, they basically were encouraging him to say, no, this prosthetic can give you mobility back, can in many ways give you your life back. And he was just emotionally struck by I think a combination of sadness and is and almost resisting hope. Like, is this even possible? Because they listed things that you know he he might be able to gain or have again. And I I almost felt like there was a hesitation to to be to become hopeful. And so then it was just today, a few hours ago, um, he was back here and he had a smile on his face when he waved. And I could see that hope had begun and that he was starting to move in that direction, and then his prosthetic came out, and then you guys fitted it, and and he hopped up on it athletically and and took a stance on this thing. And I thought, oh my gosh, this guy is ready to go, and got in the did one walk through the parallel bars, and then you said, Okay, I think you can walk on the outside of the parallel bars with one hand on those, and he's just marching along, you know, smiling ear to ear. And uh, and then the tears happened again as he said goodbye, and just now they were clearly tears of joy. And he I filmed him as he walked down the steps out onto that dusty, dirty road, and and made a left around the corner. And I thought, I'm just gonna go a little further. And so I followed him around that corner. He was walking with his dad. He was only using one crutch on the side that the prosthetic was on, and then he got part way down the road, and I saw him lift up his crutch and hold it his arms out to the side just to kind of check his balance while he took a couple steps, and then he handed off his crutch to his dad and put his arms in the air and then walked the rest of the way. Oof, can hardly talk about it, with his uh hands in the air, and um and his life was changed. Yeah, and he continued walking crutch-free on that brand new prosthetic. Yeah. First time in a year.

Brent:

I'm looking forward to seeing that story.

Todd:

Me too. I ran up and loaded that clip in just to make sure I remembered it. Did that really just happen? Because that's amazing. So it's really good.

Brent:

That's so great. Um I'd I'd love for you to just share a little bit on, you know, on the nonprofit side, you do focus more on I shouldn't say I I don't know all the stuff that you focus on, but faith-based uh the nonprofit side. Why is that important?

Todd:

Well, um, it's an important part of my life. My faith is is really critical to me. Um, I feel like my life has been changed by my relationship with the Lord. And um I see so many people, I think a lot of times, specifically Christianity faith is what I'm talking about. I think there's so many times Christianity gets a bad rap, and sometimes rightfully so. Um there are some horrible things that have been done in the name of Christianity or by Christians, but I really think that if you take the time to look at some of the work that's being done by followers of Christ, the work is amazing. And it's clearly mapped out in the Bible uh the behavior and the work that we should be doing uh in many ways. And so when faith-based organizations come to me and say, Hey, can you help us tell our story? And I can dive in and hear what their story is, and I'm moved by the work that they're doing. Um, these are these are everyday people. Uh, the folks who started Hospital Shalom. I when I first met them, I'm like, so what's your medical background? Oh, we don't have a medical background. We just felt God say this is what you're supposed to do. I'm a construction worker, and so and I've got other friends who've who are one of the nonprofits, now now become friends that is uh he was an insurance salesman and now he's working to you know help stop children from being sold into the sex trade around the world. So uh these these are compelling stories, and these are people who I believe are genuinely living out the love of Christ, showing people the love of God in a in a tangible way, and they're not asking for anything, they're not beating them over the head with the Bible, they're not uh you know doing any of these kinds of things. It's just no, God calls us to love each other, and that's what we're gonna do. And they find ways to show the love of God uh by doing these things. So it's it's uh for me, I I can't think of anything better. That's awesome.

Brent:

Well, Todd, it's been great to have this conversation. Thank you so much for sharing this with your listeners. Where do people find out more about you?

Todd:

Well, so our uh company name is Toddbiss Productions, and if you just Google that, Todd Biss or Todd Biss Productions, you'll find us on LinkedIn, you'll find our website, you'll find us on Instagram. Um so yeah, there's some pretty fun things out there and pretty, pretty interesting things we're we're putting out. All right. Well, thanks so much for coming on the show today. Yeah, thank you and thanks for shooting all this. Yeah, thanks for thanks for having me on the show. Thanks for letting me see this world of prosthetics. It's been a real treat.

Brent:

Awesome. And thank you for listening to the prosthetics and orthotics podcast. Have a great day.

Contributor

Brent Wright

Co-host
Contributor

Joris Peels

Co-host