Film Production students create advert for international toy company’s fun new digital camera
France’s number one toy company has enlisted the help of York College University Centre’s Film Production students to advertise its new child-friendly digital camera in the UK.
The degree-level students, from our BA (Hons) Film Production & Professional Practice course, have created an 18-second commercial for a new Photo Creator Pop Colour Digital Camera that has been released by Canal Toys, who operate in more than 40 countries worldwide and also have offices in the US, China and Spain.
They are now aiming to establish long-term brands for the UK market and the students’ ad has already been viewed close to 200,000 times on the Canal Toys UK YouTube channel.
Taking just two weeks – from concept to completion - the students demonstrated industry-level skills to work on their client’s live brief, while being supervised by tutor Josh Roberts on campus.
The cast and crew, meanwhile, were made up entirely of females, which could be seen as unusual in an industry where women have historically been underrepresented.
The advert was shot in York College’s Podium Garden, with the students being tasked to reflect the summery, playful aesthetic requested by the client, despite the early spring weather.
Working to a tight turnaround, the students planned, shot, edited and presented a commercial that worked to the client’s brief and also gave them invaluable experience of working in the industry.
York College A Level Acting students starred in the advert and included Ali Bushby, who voiced the commercial in her first-ever voiceover role.
Whether adjusting lighting with ND (Neutral Density) filters to create the dreamy look requested by the client, or gaining feedback throughout the creative process, the team embraced every challenge and the result is a colourful, professional advert designed to appeal to young audiences.
Live briefs like this develop the practical skills needed but also give the students an understanding of how to respond to a client’s needs with the support and guidance of their tutors.
Speaking about the initial stages of the project and the inspirations behind the concept, Film Production & Professional Practice student Amy Coates said:
“We received a brief from Canal Toys and then we were able to have creative development from that.
“In the initial stages, we looked at the branding that they already had and also their products, to understand the type of target audience we were working with.
“We also looked at their previous work so we could complement what they already had, while bringing our own design ideas to the piece as well.
“After we’d started coming up with a few ideas and had practised a few different shots as examples, we had a meeting with the client to gain some feedback.”
During the pitching stages of the project, the group held a meeting with the client to share their initial ideas and invited feedback to fine tune how the advertisement would be presented. Amy explained:
“We understood that we weren’t going to get the perfect vision straight away.
“Canal Toys wanted us to really focus on the younger audience while still making it look like the product was used by older children.
“The idea was kind of like the big sister thing. We wanted to make the camera look like a cool thing that everyone has. Sort of like that childhood glow of seeing your older siblings and wanting to copy that.”
An element for the group to consider was balancing the commercial goals of the client with their own creative vision during the production of the advert. Amy went on to say:
“A lot of communication went into the project. We sent different clips of what we’d filmed to the client to make sure they liked the style.
“We’d also establish as a group different ideas, so we knew that we weren’t getting just one perspective.
“Because it’s a child’s product, it’s not our usual target audience. We looked at how to make the advert look fun while still keeping it professional.”
Each member of the group took on specific tasks for the project with Amy taking the role of Producer, being behind the scenes making sure everything went smoothly and linking back with the client.
Fellow Film Production & Professional Practice student Lily Ajaib took on a role behind the camera, shooting content to place within the advert. Speaking of the challenges she experienced during the filming, she explained:
“The whole idea was that the client wanted the advert to look summery. That was difficult with English weather.
“We were filming during early spring and so we were looking out for sunny days.
“We were on a tight schedule with a tight turnaround, but we managed to find a sunny day to match the vibe they were looking for.
“The weather meant that we were dealing with lots of levels of sunlight. The client wanted quite a dreamy soft look which, in camera settings, can be hard to adjust to when it’s really bright.
“We used ND filters, which are like sunglasses for cameras. We put those in front of the lenses, which allowed us to keep our settings as we wanted them, but with also letting in less light.
“We also had a reflector that could bounce the light and deal with any shadows.”
With the crew and cast being entirely female, the group felt they were on the same level throughout the different stages of the project and, having a lot in common, also meant they worked well as a team.
Speaking of being a female going into the film production industry, Lily shared:
“It’s generally such a male-dominated field, although this is changing now. I try not to think about the challenges I face with this, I just go into projects wanting to get the job done.
“It’s less of a challenge now because attitudes have changed, so you know now that there is that space for you.
“With this project, we had authenticity as a female team as the product is aimed at young girls.
“I feel like we had a good insight into what young girls are like. We could all relate to seeing girls on adverts when we were young and that’s where a lot of our ideas came from.
“When we were talking to the client they were speaking with us about what we’d have liked to have seen when we were younger. That would probably have been different if it were a male team creating the advert.
“The client liked the fact that we were females wanting to go into the film industry as we would have also had an interest in the product when we were younger.”
On working collaboratively with individuals from our A Level Acting cohort, Film Production & Professional Practice student Paige Whelan added:
“It’s the first time I’ve had to work directly with a small group of actors.
“I’ve only worked with one actor previously and he was a professional who had been acting for probably more years than I’ve been alive!
“Working with other students with a similar experience level to me was interesting. It felt much more collaborative in getting to the end goal of what we wanted.”
Film Production & Professional Practice student Amy Plummer worked behind the camera, as well as on colour grading and colour correction, during the project. A focus for her was matching the style of previous adverts shared by the client. Reflecting on the advert’s success, Amy said:
“I’m proudest of the work that I did behind the camera.
“I did part of my work as a creator on the day and then I did the colour grading afterwards.
“A lot of the shots that I did, where I was trying to match things up perfectly, were difficult because there was a lot of different actors and a lot of different locations.
“We had to measure how far the actors were from the camera which took a while, but it came out really well.”
A Level acting student Ali Bushby features as the voiceover on the advert and spoke to us about her first experience of taking on a role different to her background of theatre acting. She pointed out:
“I’ve only ever done theatre. I’ve not had the experience of working on something more technical. It felt very beneficial.
“When I showed my parents and my friends, they said it was really cool. It was my first time doing voice over. I didn’t find it daunting though, it was a very fun experience!”
BA (Hons) Film Production & Professional Practice tutor Josh Roberts set the group an objective of:
“Gaining more experience working in the real world, working with real clients and delivering what a client has asked for to the best of their ability.”
He went on to say:
“The students do real-world briefs all the time because it’s part of their studies.
“At Level 5 and 6, they have to go out into the world and make real-life client projects, so they are well versed with doing that, talking in a professional manner, and representing themselves as well as the University Centre.
“For me, it was about making initial contact with the client, being present during these meetings to make sure everyone was comfortable and then just guiding them through the ideas that the client was looking for, just in case anything might not have been noted.
“For the most part, they’ve all been fantastic in coming up with really engaging and interesting visuals that came out nicely in the final product.
“They’re really good at interpreting what the client wants whilst also being able to creatively put themselves into the project to come up with some interesting ideas that they can then help to build their show reels and future jobs.”
Speaking of the all-female aspect of the project and the benefits that have come from this, Josh shared:
“From a creative point of view, the product is primarily targeted at young girls.
“With them being not that much older than the people that they are advertising to, it just gave a much better insight into what somebody would want to see.
“Much better than someone old like me!”
Speaking of the strong teamwork he has seen from the group not only on this project but across their studies, Josh said:
“The students ran the project pretty much themselves, they’re really good at working together, collaborating and making sure that everyone feels like they’ve taken part.
“There was lots of job swapping and managing themselves.
“They’re students but they’re working like professional videographers, so I didn’t have to do very much to be honest!”
Reflecting on the success of the Canal Toys advert, Josh shared his pride in the group and just how much they have achieved, adding:
“Seeing the video go online and being in the real word was so rewarding.
“It’s an advert that has been placed before other videos aimed at that target demographic and it’s already received almost 200K views!
“It’s probably the most wide-reaching video project that any of them have made so far, so I hope that they feel recognised.
“They should be proud of themselves, and they should celebrate that their work is being seen globally and having an impact.”
To learn more about our BA (Hons) Film Production & Professional Practice, click here.
To visit the Canal Toys website, click here.
