COLLINGWOOD COLLEGE

COLLINGWOOD COLLEGE - WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE A GREAT SCHOOLS VIDEO?

Now here’s a thing that won’t surprise anyone who works in education; most people who DON’T work in education have no idea how hard schools have to hustle to survive. I’ll confess, even though I have two grown-up kids of my own, until I started making school promotional films myself, I didn’t know either. I guess it’s a powerful testament to the discretion and goodness of educators that the bulk of the population are blissfully unaware that schools have business managers and marketing budgets. Believe me I know. I tell lots of people about this and they look at me like I have two heads.

When I got the call from the good people at Collingwood College asking if I could produce a series of promotional videos for the school I already knew this stuff, having previously made a number of testimonial films, corporate videos and adverts for various education providers. The task, as ever, was to maintain a successful formula then, without being, how shall I say... formulaic. This, I like to think of as my “special sauce”. To recognise that every client, every school, every human I come into contact with is special, unique and authentic.

In the case of Collingwood, this was easily done as clearly they have wonderful teachers and lovely pupils. If a school is great, then that comes across. Sometimes a school is struggling and then the challenge is to not show that, which, as an experienced filmmaker, is for me no real challenge at all. Focussing on the positive aspects is always the way to go, and every school, every business, has plenty of positive aspects. Happily Collingwood had only positives as far as I could see.

The brief was to make three separate films, one for parents, one for Year 7, and one for 6th form, and then cutting those down to shorter versions for added social media punch. Mixing pupil and teacher testimonial with dynamic and positive imagery and editing, set to effective rights-free music, it is possible to deliver stunning and convincing media assets that successfully promote a school in the best possible light. Working with heads of department and business manager requires a filmmaker who can be flexible to fit in with the complexity of a school’s timetable. And getting a result. Well, I think these films speak for themselves.

SIXTH FORM

YEAR 7

TEACHERS

SIXTH FORM 30S

YEAR 7 30S

adam rowleyJune 12, 2023Comment

Apr 11, 2025

ACQUIRED.COM - VIDEO AND PHOTO COMBINED CASE STUDY

The call came in to provide creative assets for this fast-moving Fintech company. In this case, documenting a crucial meeting and brainstorm with event photography, a highlights corporate video and a full transcribable recording of all that went down.

A really nice bunch of people, Acquired.com offer a unified solution combined with highly personalized service, providing its customers with a competitive edge in an industry often characterized by fragmented solutions. The company's mission is to establish itself as a core component of the payment infrastructure for recurring commerce, proactively addressing the evolving needs of its clientele.

HOW TO PREPARE FOR YOUR CORPORATE VIDEO SHOOT - FIVE TIPS FOR RECORDING A PIECE TO CAMERA

Now a lot of people use their phone to do this. Inevitably most come to realise that a really good piece to camera involves good lighting, good sound, great lenses, an autocue, a great camera with a big sensor and lots of resolution, adroit direction.

Mar 21, 2023

HOW MUCH DOES A CORPORATE VIDEO COST?

YOU KNOW WHAT YOU WANT TO SAY AND HOW YOU WANT TO SAY IT, BUT WHAT IS YOUR BUDGET?

How much will my film cost? Is inevitably our first question. The unhelpful answer is of course, how long is a piece of string? You may want a simple one-day, one-man shoot with a quick one-day edit, and you can probably get that for under a grand if you’re not too fussy and it really is just a one-day edit. Or you might want an ambitious creative concept, with lots of pre-production followed by a complex week-long shoot, filming on a RED camera, and lots of complicated compositing and animated graphics. And that could be £20 - £30 000. Or more.

Mar 20, 2023

WHY YOU HIRE A PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER

So here’s the cruel irony. Even though I know I possess the kind of staggering youthful good looks that make people catch their breath and drop their falafel when they meet me in real life, on camera I look like a laboratory experiment where the mad scientist has injected the DNA of Brendan Gleason and Charles Manson into a old potato

And being self-conscious - oh my crooked smile, oh my seventy-eight chins - means I forget that my delicious eyes are like limpid emerald pools you could drown in, and I project discomfort - In short, I don’t pose well. Maybe you do. Millions of others dont. And some of them work for you.

Mar 16, 2023

TESTIMONIAL VIDEOS, WHAT ARE THEY GOOD FOR?

WHY THE BEST WAY TO SELL YOUR PEOPLE IS TO USE YOUR PEOPLE

Back in the mists of time, every corporate video had an ambitious narrative, like a storyboarded long-form commercial, a piece of expensive, styled, authored creative in its own right. These films do still get made and they are great. I make them myself, though more usually I work in short form. Is this always how you want to disseminate your information, your brand, your company? Sometimes yes. Just as sometimes you want to Ronseal it, to say it like it is. But do you want to be that blunt? Again probably not.

WHY SPEND MONEY ON A PROFESSIONAL VIDEOGRAPHER?

WHAT VALUE DOES A PROFESSIONAL VIDEOGRAPHER ACTUALLY BRING TO THE PARTY?

Sure so this is where you get sold all the corporate and advertising cliches about brand identity and adding value to your message and blah blah blah. And you may not be thinking in those terms, but rather about just demonstrating something seemingly quite simple.

CAN ONE PERSON SHOOT PHOTOGRAPHY AND VIDEOGRAPHY AT AN EVENT?

YOU NEED A PHOTOGRAPHER , AND YOU ALSO WANT A CORPORATE VIDEOGRAPHER, BUT YOUR BUDGET PAYS FOR ONLY ONE OF THEM - WHAT DO YOU DO?

The short answer is of course some people can do both. The challenge is finding someone who is genuinely good at both, which is not as easy as it sounds. There are plenty of great photographers out there who can’t really shoot video. There are some good videographers out there, though they are no nearly so easy to find, and some of them are competent photographers too.

Mar 5, 2023

WHY EITHER EVERYONE OR NO ONE NEEDS TO WORRY ABOUT AI

With the announcement that China-based NetDragon Websoft says it is the first company in the world to appoint an AI as its CEO only to see stocks soar, naturally it isn’t just struggling bloggers and graphic designers who are worried about the implication of AI

This is where I’d like to reassure you that climate change ravaging the planet and making the lives of those few who survive the catastrophic flooding, wild fires and raging hurricanes that are predicted absolute hell.

COLLINGWOOD COLLEGE

SHOWREEL

NEWS, TIPS, HACKS, ADVICE