FILM + PHILANTHROPY=
FILMANTHROPY
®
Our name comes from the merging of the words 'film' and 'philanthropy.' And it pretty much explains what we do in one word.
THE POWER
OF VIDEO
We believe that visual and creative media have the potential to change the world. We see it every day in our work too. After all, no matter how beautifully written your report is, it cannot come close to the emotion that can be conveyed to an audience by seeing and hearing you tell them why you do what you do.
But don't just take our words for it! The science backs us too... according to Dr. James McQuivey of Forrester Research, "one minute of video is worth 1.8 million words," when it comes to swaying an audience. If you were to write 1.8 million words in a blog, it would take approximately 3600 pages!
Let's put the theory to the test. Watch the video and then have a read of the paragraph below. What struck you most? Which would you rather share with your clients, supporters and staff?
WATCH
READ
When my mum and dad passed away, I was an easy target. People would actually take advantage of me as a person. If I didn't have the support that I'm having now it would have been a disaster.
The way that they support you, there's always someone there at the end of the line to speak
to. I'm able to phone up, call someone, have a laugh, talk about things that are bothering me, any worries, any issues. And when you see people, they've always got a smile on their face. Even the staff down at the reception.
It's like a family, a community. I look at it like Paul being my brother and Jackie being my mum. Having a family that you had before but haven't got anymore is a very nice, nice feeling.
I actually had never had a holiday. Brighton that was a really amazing day. Paul, my Deputy, came with me. We had lunch, had a chat, had a little round and it was just the best days of my life.
I've never, never had so much security. It's amazing. It really is. I couldn't ask for anything more.
PARTICIPATORY VIDEO
We don't just make videos for you, we make videos with you (and your beneficiaries). Arming you with both the tools and know-how to capture your own narratives.
Here are some examples of our films, made using this unique method.
THE RESIDENT RESEARCHERS
Produced in collaboration with Partnership for Young London
The last couple of years have seen unprecedented changes to our communities - deepening the social, health, education and economic inequalities that many already faced. London Borough of Merton wanted to investigate the impact that the pandemic has had on their children and young people, to understand their views, opinions and experiences.
They asked us to bring the findings of the survey to life and communicate the key statistics to the young residents who took part in it. We wanted to continue the youth-led ethos, so we trained Merton's Young Inspectors and Youth Parliament in the basics of documentary filmmaking and put them to work capturing the experiences of their peers.
The result is a short, peer-led film that investigates and highlights the experiences and needs of the boroughs young people. Combined with the survey report, it is being used to help the Council to plan and deliver services that will further assist young people in enhanced educational, employment and leisure opportunities. It will also provide schools with tailored, local data that is representative of their pupils; helping to inform further support for them.
THE HIP HOP GARDENERS
Produced in collaboration with May Project Gardens and Choose Love/ Help Refugees
May Project Gardens is a Community Interest Company that reconnects inner-city communities with nature for personal, social and economic transformation.
Recently they've been working with young refugees and unaccompanied minors on their #HipHopGarden project -combining nature with the youth movement of Hip Hop. They engaged us to teach the young people multimedia skills and aid them to create their own short film.
The end result is a film that not only documents the young peoples' journeys with the organisation, but is a resource that May Project Gardens can use to promote the programme more generally.
THE TEEN DETECTIVES
Produced in collaboration with National Trust
The National Trust is one of the UK's most well-known charities. However, despite many people having heard of the organisation or interacted with one of their spaces, they have found that there are a lot of misconceptions about who makes up the organistion and what work they do, especially amongst young people.
They asked us to help dispel some of these myths and inspire a more diverse range of (young) people to get involved with the organisation. To do this, we recruited two young volunteers, armed them with some cameras and took them on the road to interview their peers and staff members around the country.
The result is a short, peer-led film that investigates and highlights the variety of job and person that works for the National Trust.
THE DIGITAL DANCE WORKOUT
#EveryBodyCanDance is a multi-award-winning participatory video project produced in collaboration with the YMCA.
YMCA provides accommodation and support to vulnerable people, as well as offering activities for families and youth.
They got in touch and asked us to create a resource that enables their Disabled service users to be more active outside of their centres.
Here at Filmanthropy, we love to dance and we soon learned that YMCA's service users do too. So, we gathered together a team of experts in accessible music production and dance choreography, organised some auditions to find some talented dancers and headed to the nearest dance studio.
There #EveryBodyCanDance was born - a 30-minute long, user-led, fun, informative and easy to follow video that everyone can use to get moving. The Disabled dance crew, who varied vastly across demographic and impairment, worked together with our experts to produce the music track and choreography and also featured in the final video. They are now heavily involved in the promotion of the product to their peers.
By creating an online resource and incorporating different techniques such as voiceover, British Sign Language and Makaton, we have made it a priority to make sure that the video is truly accessible to everybody.
THE INCLUSIVE INTERNSHIPS
Produced in collaboration with Inclusion London
Inclusion London supports over 70 Deaf and Disabled Organisations working across every London borough.
They got in touch with us to make a video to showcase their innovative Making it Work project - a programme to support young Disabled people into employment.
After a chat with the team, we decided to make 3 short films targetting each of the three main groups the programme serves: Students, Colleges and Employers.
'This film was made with the help of young Disabled people'
In order to really reflect the ethos of the project, we were keen to put the young Disabled people that the programme serves both in front of and behind the camera. So we formed a shadow crew, who played a key role in producing and shooting the films.
THE BLACK GIRL GUIDEBOOK
Produced on behalf of TRiBE
Born out of a need for work and social environments that reflect the diverse society that we live in, TRiBE creates spaces and programmes that empower black women.
With a view to extend their reach, they got in touch and asked us to create a series of online video workshops that would allow the women that they work with to access a number of skill-building and personal development resources.
#TribeToolbox is our answer to this. From negotiating your salary to learning how to code, we helped them to recruit experts and create a series of 12 unique, fun and informative guides perfect for the millennial, digital natives that they serve.
THE CELEBRATORY SCRAPBOOK
Produced on behalf of Merton Connected
Merton Voluntary Services Council works to support, enable and champion the voluntary, community and faith sectors in Merton.
They asked us to help them celebrate turning 35 in style.
We didn't let the restrictions of the global pandemic deter us! We trawled through decades worth of physical and digital photo albums to find snaps of key events. These, coupled with some virtually produced video clips of their collaborators, clients and beneficiaries, allowed us to create this short, fun, scrapbook for the community pillar.
THE CARING COUNCIL
Produced on behalf of London Borough of Merton
Every year Merton Council hosts a Staff Conference - to celebrate all of the achievements of the year and look to the 12 months ahead.
They asked us for help with using video to make this year's event that little bit more special. So we captured these service user testimonies, to allow their hundreds of staff to see and hear the impact of their work and the work of their colleagues.
Unfortunately, the conference had to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But the short films have turned out to be an excellent resource to keep staff motivated and energised.