The brief
Stories of national importance.
The worrying truth of life in the UK is that it’s getting more difficult to age. From housing, to work, to health the odds seem to be stacked against us as we get older. The Centre for Ageing Better is trying to make sure that not only is it more widely recognised, but that something is being done about it. They publish reports, support innovative programmes and do their best to influence those who can deliver change.
One of the charity’s aims is to push for an Older People’s Commissioner for England. This is someone who would work at a governmental level to look at issues that affect older people and advocate for real world change.
As part of their push to make this a reality, the charity wanted to create a film. The film would focus on the issues facing older people, the way they feel about ageing in England and the impact a commissioner would have. In order to do this, Ageing Better wanted to interview real people and share powerful lived experiences.
What we did
We worked closely with Ageing Better to fully understand the topics that were being discussed in the film. For us, it was important to have a handle on this before trying to tell a story about it. This fed into our pre-production process. We spent our time during pre-production working on how we could tell a powerful universal story whilst also hitting all of the most important key messages. Not only did we try to map out how the film as a whole would play out, we also tried to plan out how each specific interview would be conducted based on the information we had.
Production for this film was spent entirely capturing interviews. These interviews were split into sections, tackling the key issues that Ageing Better deals with. However, they were also conversations. We wanted to spend this time capturing the thoughts and feelings of the storytellers we were working with. Some of the things we discussed were off topic, but fed into a wider narrative that suited the film.
We used the stories captured in production to create a central film as well as social cuts that sat around this film. The general approach was to create something that encompassed the issue as a whole. However, we also wanted to support this film by creating shorter, thematic edits.
The technical
Concept development
Schedules and timelines
Filming
Post-production
Motion graphics
Music licensing
Subtitling
The result
Amplifying voices for change.
The project culminated in the creation of a suite of films that could be quickly and easily accessed by audiences. They shared real experiences whilst making it clear how transformational a commissioner could be for older people.
