The St Wilfrids School Film

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Back in October 2020 I was given the opportunity to make a short film for one of the local primary schools.

Here is the delightful result:

For me the best filmmaking experiences are when there is a degree of spontaneity and playful engagement. I had such a laugh interacting with the kids on this day and I think this comes across pretty clearly. It is a common misconception to think of a film as a set of pre-planned powerpoint slides that you move through. The planning and organisation are crucial, but they are mainly setting the context for the emotional magic to happen.

I think it was either WiIliam Wilder or Sydney Lumet who said that there is a knack to telling an actor to relax in front of the camera without actually telling them to relax. Related to this are the famous jumping photographs of Philippe Halsman:

Starting in the early 1950s I asked every famous or important person I photographed to jump for me. I was motivated by a genuine curiosity. After all, life has taught us to control and disguise our facial expressions, but it has not taught us to control our jumps. I wanted to see famous people reveal in a jump their ambition or their lack of it, their self-importance or their insecurity, and many other traits.

What Halsman instinctively knew was how to disarm his subjects and draw something fresh from seemingly predictable wells. This is something that I have reflected on (and tried to practice) many times over the years.

Jason came to film our school for the day, he had a huge amount of energy and worked tirelessly to ensure he captured everything amazing about our school! We were thrilled with the final version and so proud of what has been achieved to showcase our children. Jason was fabulous, he listened to our vision and created an exceptional piece of film which reflects the ethos of our school! Thank you so much for going the extra mile and for putting in all the hours of hard work.

Sharon Reynolds - Headteacher, St Wilfrids Angmering

The St. Oscar Romero Promotional Video 2020

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Having just spent the last three weeks creating a promotional film for my school I thought it was worth taking a moment to reflect on the design process. 


Some background

I joined St. Oscar Romero Catholic School in January 2018, a term after Pete Byrne had arrived as the new headteacher (it was previously known as Chatsmore). I was the first teacher he recruited.


In the nearly three years I have been working at the school it has been dizzying¹ seeing just how much has changed. Ofsted landed very favourably for us in the first year; then we achieved an ‘all-category-outstanding’ section 48 inspection by the Diocesan inspection team the year after. Results have since risen dramatically, lifting the school into the top 20% nationally. 


What used to be viewed as a ’nice but harmless’ small school in Goring is now an organisation with real teeth on the national stage. The Lost Box passion project² coordinated by my physics-teaching pal Pete Clarke is a symbol of the culture change within the school. The two sides of the timetable have been renamed Oxford/Cambridge with the first heads of school under Pete Byrne currently applying for Oxbridge after successfully winning scholarships to Brighton College and Christ’s Hospital to study their A levels. 

In 2018 I created this promo video which provides an insight into where the school was at:

A sweet collaborative spot

Pete Byrne approached me just as lock-down hit earlier in the year with the idea of recreating this first video. In the end we ended up with something shorter and sweeter:

I am particularly pleased with this end product because it hit a collaborative sweet-spot. Some notes:

  • Instead of playing it safe and repopulating the original video with updated uniform shots we were adventurous and took a more organic approach with the material. I worked hard at trying to explore what was in front of me - playing with how it might be seen. In the end this material took it’s own shape in the edit that a cast-iron approach would never have allowed for.

  • I combined four very different camera systems - an Insta360 One X, an iPhone Pro Max, a Canon 4k with 20x optical zoom and a DJI drone (ta Second Unit Director Dougie Hauser). Having a sense of where the respective strengths lay was important - I spent a day wandering round using the 360 camera testing it out and was delighted to bring it into the tool box. 

  • Being an insider has massive advantages. One of the problems with corporate video production is that the end result is often hollow, even dead inside as the prompted marionettes parade their obedient moves. That famous saying: ‘the best camera is the one with you’ could easily be exchanged for: ‘the best cameraperson is the one who is known by the subjects’. If the people in front of the camera aren’t at ease it all becomes a bit artificial and cosmetic. This video has soul - those aren’t fake smiles. Real people are really engaging. 

  • The process was a journey of discovery for us all. It’s interesting to hear Pete Byrne speak about how this production clarified his own thinking about the school - not something to take lightly! Drafting, forming and refining this brand statement was exciting because we ended up discovering a diamond at the end. 


Rebranding: a new skin or identifying the emerging, underlying character?

The last point raises an important question when it comes to rebranding any organisation: much of the time it becomes an inevitably cynical (and expensive) exercise in logo/font/graphic design. The thinking goes like this: if we look better we will become better - thus inspiring inner change and providing value for the target audience. You can probably tell that I don’t like this approach - I think it lacks integrity. I believe that the best thing you can do with a rebrand is to identify and polish the best of what is already there. 


As I said above - in this instance we discovered a diamond - a school identity that had substantially moved on (Infinite Possibilities - imagine what is possible) to something more concrete (Every Door Open - lets get on with walking through and grasping those opportunities). 


Last words: I loved making this video because I got to hang out with really fun people and enjoy collaborating on some awesome images. Having said that, the biggest pleasure was what we discovered about the underlying character of the school. 

¹It is no understatement to say that being a secondary school teacher is extremely demanding - every day feels like you are working in a 24/7 Formula 1 pitstop crew. The experience of solitude and quiet reflection are largely banished to holidays and occasional weekends so be warned if you are thinking of following this career: it is simultaneously amazing and crushing. 

² Winners of the highly respected Big Bang competition this summer and now shortlisted for the TES awards this November.