Post-Covid Video Production Case Study – Warwick Medical School

We’ve been busy-bees

Since coming out of lockdown in March we’ve noticed a significant increase and uptake in the demand for our video and animation production services. We’re not complaining, of course, it’s been lovely to get back to doing what we do best, and we’ve picked up some really interesting projects over the last few months; from regular and new Higher Education partners across the UK, and outside commissions from the private sector across the West Midlands and beyond.

With that in mind, we thought we’d showcase a few commercial and corporate case studies over the coming weeks, highlighting some of our recent, successful productions. This week we start with a video from Warwick Medical School at the University of Warwick.

May 2021 Case Study – Warwick Medical School

We’re frequent collaborators with Warwick Medical School and have produced a vast range of student recruitment and promotional video content for their Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses since 2015, as well as videos and animations for research dissemination and educational purposes.

For this particular brief, we were looking to create a suite of student profile videos, as well as updating some older recruitment videos, produced when these specific courses were still in their infancy. As the courses had since gone on to recruit very well, there was an opportunity to show a wider range of student contributors, highlighting success stories and aspirations, and also, very importantly, flag up the work that had gone into planning, delivering and maintaining the very high standard of teaching and education throughout the pandemic and beyond.

These videos involved filming additional interviews and cutaway footage within the campus in a single day. Fairly bread and butter stuff, but the challenges came from safely recording interview content within a busy campus environment. Locations had to be scouted and secured in advance; Covid testing had to be rigorous, and strict scheduling had to be followed. Likewise, during post-production we had to integrate and match the new material to footage that was shot two years prior, so archive materials and filming notes had to be reviewed, shots had to be replaced, and footage had to be colour graded to match.

Adaptive filmmaking for the Pandemic

Filming during a pandemic brings unique challenges. Processes for filming need to be adapted, suitability of filming locations need to be considered, setup times need to be increased, and even the way the film is creatively put together needs to be reconsidered (do you keep your mask on or off for cutaway shots? and how do we film the campus without it looking so empty?)

As a video production company, we’ve done a lot of reflection on our production practices and methodology; adapting approaches so that the client’s messages and objectives are still met but in a safe and efficient manner.

As you just saw, the suite of films turned out really well, and we’ve since gone on to produce even more social media edits which illustrate the background, character and aspirations of students who study at Warwick Medical School. We’ve also very kindly received very positive feedback for the films, which can be read on Clutch.

We’ll be continuing our series of case studies over the next few weeks, so keep your eye out for our article on how we produced an incredibly technical research-based promotional video involving over 20 camera feeds, aerial videography, and lots of closed roads.

In the meantime, if you have an idea for a project or would like to speak to our team, get in touch with us at info@slateandmortar.com

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