Parrs Wood Sixth Form : Promotional Film
Client: Parrs Wood Sixth Form College
Project: Introducing Parrs Wood
Location: Didsbury, Manchester
Deliverables:
1x 90 sec promotional film
2x 30 sec square social edits
2x 15 sec vertical Instagram Stories
25 high resolution 4K screen grabs
2x behind-the-scenes 360 videos
Dead Pixel did:
Pre-production, location scouting & logistics
Shot list planning
Filming
Directing
Editing
Quote of the Shoot:
“How many back flips can you do in 2 minutes?”
Brief
Parrs Wood College appointed a social media and PR consultant to help develop their brand, marketing and positioning. Stacey Wright knew she needed high-end, well crafted video content to complete her campaign and came to us with an open brief.
We were tasked with creating a series of adverts, including a 90 second campaign film, that would connect with 16 year old students looking to decide which steps to take after finishing school. The project needed to encapsulate the breadth of courses and facilities that the college offers, depicted with flare and energy. Ultimately, we were asked to create something that appealed to young people who are well up-to-date with online video content and speak directly to them, not just the parents.
Production
As with most projects we started with a good look around the site weeks ahead of filming. A recce is a great way to get a feel for a space, figure out lighting and styling options as well as what courses would be best to feature.
We shot this on a beautiful crisp Autumn day in South Manchester, using a skeleton crew and in-house equipment. We had to get around multiple locations/ setups across the day and easily hit our recommended 10,000 steps. With every spare hand being used to carry kit we moved from class to class, bringing in willing student volunteers to feature in the film.
Key classes to feature were sports, arts, science(s), and geography, as well as highlighting the social benefits of college life.
Press play for a behind-the-scenes look…
Post-production
In order to meet the quick turn around deadlines, we sourced and agreed music before filming had commenced. We’ve found that music is so subjective and can be very costly in terms of time and multiple licenses if it is changed later on down the line. As there are no sound bites or narrative to drive the pace of the video, we used the music to tell the story.
We’ve been pushing for multiple deliverables on video shoots for a long time now and people are certainly seeing the value. In our one day shoot we were able to create:
1 x 90 second promotional film
2 x 30 second square social edits
2 x 15 second vertical instagram stories
“The team were amazing from start to finish, understanding exactly the style of video we were aiming for and suggesting all the right shots we needed to make it happen. Communication was clear and prompt. And now we have a super-modern marketing video that encompasses everything we are about and strive for with our students. I would highly recommend”
