Action Against Hunger are an international charity that work to save “the lives of malnourished children” as well as ensuring “everyone can access clean water, food, training and healthcare” across the world. As part of their fundraising efforts they host numerous events across the UK in order to raise money and awareness for their cause. Their events capture a lot of attention when they happen. But making sure people’s attention is continuously grabbed by the charity is important to their long-term fundraising goals. This is where video content plays its role perfectly.
What was the brief?
Action Against Hunger approached us on two separate occasions to capture footage at two of their partnered events. The first being “Too Many Owners”, where local bar and restaurant owners went head to head in a DJ battle. Then secondly, “Too Many Critics”, where food critics from Manchester switched roles for the night and became chefs at the Indian restaurant Dishoom. Both were very big events which raised plenty of money in the process. What Action Against Hunger wanted us to produce were highlight videos of both events which could then be shared across their social channels following the fundraising nights.
The Videos
In order to deliver videos that captured the vibe of each night, as well as push the key messages of the charity we decided to immerse ourselves in the events. “Too Many Owners” had a party atmosphere, with plenty of music and dancing. In order to translate this to the audience we threw ourselves into the heart of it, throwing the cameras behind the DJ booth, on the dancefloor and in amongst the crowd. This enabled us to capture some really intimate footage that put the viewer right in the middle of the event.
“Too Many Critics” still had a fun feel, however the actual set up of the event was more formal. There was no crowd to get involved with as everyone was sat at tables, so the key to giving the viewer an immersive experience was diving into the behind the scenes action. This involved filming the whole process from the chef’s preparing the food in the kitchen, waiting staff carrying it through the restaurant, guests eating and then finally the food being reviewed.
By attaching a loose narrative to the video, the audience could contextualise the whole evening and gain a view of the night that not one person would be able to see. It turned the video into a great piece of standalone content in its own right.
On top of the watching experience, both videos needed to share the charity’s values, aims and achievements. This was delivered primarily through animated text and graphics. This allowed us to share information such as money raised, brands involved and names of key attendees of the night. The edits also required tactical placement of the main attendees to ensure focus wasn’t taken away from the charity’s cause amongst the excitement of the events themselves.
Final Production
What this all came together to achieve was two videos, slightly different in style, yet consistent with the overall vision of Action Against Hunger. We felt early on that it would be easy to fall into the trap of making these videos overly serious due to them being for a charity. However, from speaking with the charity representatives and from our filming on the night, it quickly became clear that this was not the vibe of the charity at all. They had a very serious message that they were all very passionate about, however, they wanted to share this in a way people could connect with and would therefore want to get involved with.
By understanding this, we were able to produce videos that were engaging pieces of content in their own right. Videos that people would find interesting regardless of the subject matter. This is a fantastic way to deliver a message as the viewer will be so much more susceptible to what is being said throughout the video as they are engaged with the content. These videos struck the same tone that charity consistently works to, whilst at the same time delivering the core messages that they wanted delivered.
