What Rats Can Teach Us About Hope — And the Power of Video Conten

By Jason Bellue | Experience Vault | Flying House Media

There are some days in this line of work — and maybe you’ve had them too — where I pause and wonder: Am I really making a difference? 

“I’m just a content creator.” “We’re just a video production company.” “It’s just marketing.” 

With video content everywhere now — from Fortune 500 brands to the guy fixing your dishwasher — it’s easy to feel like your work blends into the noise. But when I start thinking that way, I’ve learned to hit the reset button. 

Because at Flying House, we aren’t setting out to just make video. It’s not just gear or framing or lighting. It's about what we create when someone trusts us enough to tell their truth. 

Testimonial Content Isn't Just Marketing — It’s Emotional Infrastructure 

I've spent over 20 years crafting testimonial stories — and here’s what I’ve come to believe: 

When we sit down across from someone with curiosity and care, we create something far greater than content. 

 We create a lifeline. 

It’s Mary in Idaho, living with a rare disease, telling her story on camera. And it’s someone across the country, alone in their room, crying and scared — suddenly realizing, “That’s me. I’m not the only one.” 

That connection might never go viral. But it might save someone’s day. Or their dignity. Or their will to keep going. 

That’s what we’re really making. 

The Science of Hope (Yes, With Rats) 

In the 1950s, a psychobiologist named Curt Richter conducted a cruel but revealing experiment. 

He placed rats in buckets of water to see how long they would swim before giving up. The first group lasted just a few minutes before sinking. 

Then he tried something new: He rescued a second group right before they gave up — dried them off, let them rest, and then placed them back in the water. 

What happened next was astonishing. 

The rescued rats swam... for 60 hours. Not minutes. Hours. 

Why? 

Because they had hope. They had experienced rescue before. And that memory gave them the will to endure, even when exhausted.  

After his experiment, Richter wrote: 

 “The situation of these rats... is one of hopelessness. They seem to literally give up. But when hope was introduced, everything changed.” 

Video as a Vessel for Hope 

Hope isn’t a soft, abstract word. It’s an engine. And it’s the reason our work matters. 

Every time we sit down with someone to film their story — not to extract soundbites, but to truly see them — we create space for hope to pass from one person to another. 

It’s why we obsess over hospitality. 

 Why we train our team to listen more than they speak. 

 Why we believe the real story lives in the quiet, unscripted moments. 

Because sometimes, someone doesn’t need a fact or a statistic — they just need to see that someone else made it through. 

To Reach Millions, Start With One 

In our industry, it’s easy to chase numbers. Views. Reach. ROI. 

But the stories that last aren’t designed to reach millions. They’re designed to reach someone. 

Someone who needs to feel seen. Someone who’s just barely keeping their head above water. Someone who needs a reason to swim a little longer. 

We all have that power. 

The question is: what will we do with it?