At Wildwood Media we’re incredibly proud to be a video production company that works with so many wonderful charities and organisations committed to improving individuals and social well-being.
For four years we’ve been producing all of Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust’s (KMPT) video content. It’s been a wonderful relationship that’s seen us create so much content we’re proud of.
We produce a lot of internal films including training, communication films, blogs and event films. We’ve also produced many external facing films that are to help inform the public of either the services available or that mental health can affect us all.
This is a key message that must be understood by all, and not just during Mental Health Awareness Week, mental health isn’t exclusive. It can affect any one of us.
There are three films and a service that we help with that I wanted to draw your attention to today.
The first, and most recent, is an advert to raise awareness of mental health through social media channels. Mainly promoted through Facebook this film was used as a quick look at mental health and the range of people it can affect. Social media videos can be a really effect, quick, engagement tool.
The concept was conceived by the KMPT Comms team and then we handled production. We had discussions on content, props, setting and costume. We wanted the people to be the main setting and so we didn’t want any background discussions. We filmed against a white screen in a wonderful boutique film studio we have access to in Kent. The sheer range of films that can be shot in the studio is incredible and we have regular access to it – it’s such a useful tool for so many films. The advert was shot in 4k but exported in HD to allow for its social media use.
Next up is a very proud achievement of ours. We produced the film Journeys to help show the recovery pathway of three service users of KMPT. Whilst we couldn’t use real patients or their direct stories, we adapted true stories enough to protect the identity of all involved yet maintain an honest and positive view. Working alongside a KMPT project manager, Pam, we wrote a script. It was a wonderful collaboration that initially saw Pam bringing her knowledge and passion for mental health awareness and KMPT and we would bring the narrative/cinematic edge to it. However, the collaboration worked so well that those roles were blurred and the final script was something we felt could make a powerful film.
Bringing in a professional film crew and also work experience students from MidKent College, we set about production. As always we scheduled every day and communicated with every location required. We brought in professional actors to portray the characters. With the cast it was not only important that they fit the right characteristics but that they understood what we were trying to achieve and could portray the right levels of emotion required. We had to respect those who suffer from mental health issues while also telling their story through narrative film.
There are always different ways a story like this can be told but we all felt with this project that a narrative short film would be an engaging and original way to move forward.
Finally (for now!), many of our films for KMPT NHS are to help communicate important information to staff or potential new staff. A new way of working, the Therapeutic Day, was introduced to great success and the trust wanted to roll it out wider. Having been a great success at St Martins in Canterbury, we helped produce a film to inform those interested of what the new way of working involved, how it would positively affect patients and staff and also how new staff would be walking into an environment that is current and proactive.
We made the film using talking heads and cutaways (shots to lay over interviews to help add context). We wanted to really focus on new, young, staff and to hear their stories on coming to work at KMPT at the time of the Therapeutic Day being introduced. Alongside this, to add context and further information, we include interviews with managers and a Peer Support Worker. By giving a moving image representation of the new way of working we could show the true benefits and the improvement in positive outlook from all involved. Video production as a tool for communication can be so strong if used correctly and this is was a prime example of it.
We often say that ‘a film will find it’s own length’. We always want to aim for as short as possible, and with promotional films we look at being under two minutes, however with this film where there was so much information to include, it became a longer film. So our job was to then find an interesting and engaging way to present this film at the length it clearly had to be. We were very happy with the final outcome and, most importantly, so were the client, KMPT.
As shown above there are so many different ways to make corporate films. Corporate films can sometimes be a term that feels a little dry, but we never see our films as that. We always want to add life to them, to include an emotive edge that connects with the audience on an honest, human, level.
If you have a video requirement then please get in contact with us. We want to help you with your original video production.
chris@wildwoodmedia.co.uk
01622 200567