Hay Let’s Communicate is a communications and PR company in Bury led by director Matt Hay, a specialist in external, internal and stakeholder communications. With more than 20 years of comms experience, Matt has worked on major projects for some of the UK’s biggest brands and organisations.
The company’s ethos is to develop an effective key message, target the correct audience, as well as employ the best channels to get that message across. We stepped in when Hay Let’s Communicate wanted professionally crafted informative videos to demonstrate the importance and benefits of great communication in an innovative digital brochure. In addition, the company wanted a collection of video shorts for its social media channels.
During the pre-production process, Matt outlined his ideas for a dynamic talking head production – sharing lots of examples of existing content he had found during research.
While we came armed with visual examples of onscreen graphics to demonstrate the style that could be used across all videos. Graphics are ideal for adding visual interest and to support key messages and brand consistency.
Once approved we produced mock-up videos demonstrating the onscreen animated graphics accompanied by a draft voiceover.
These proved so useful for helping both parties agree on what motion graphics would appear and when. In addition, where on the screen they would be in relation to Matt’s talking head.
This also meant, that when it came to filming, we had a detailed breakdown of Matt’s final onscreen composition for each section of the script.
Once finalised, Matt Hay joined us at the Pixelwave Creative HQ for an afternoon of filming. Following our training to achieve the Safe Sets International Covid-19 Certificate (Level A), we know all the measures that need to be in place to ensure the safety of Hay Let’s Communicate as well as the Pixelwave Creative team.
We wanted to film Matt’s talking head piece to camera in front of a white backdrop. So, our studio lighting was positioned to light the backdrop and the talent independently, with a teleprompter set up to support Matt’s narrative delivery.
Matt had pre-scripted his wording prior to filming, so we had had plenty of time for rehearsals to identify and then practice the tone and pitch Matt wanted to convey. Pixelwave’s JP Woffenden was also on hand demonstrating his expertise and ease in coaching presenters to deliver content effectively.
In addition, Hay Let’s Communicate wanted to incorporate still images in his brochure. So we enlisted the skills of Manchester-based photographer Stephen Redfern who popped by to capture the essential shots.
Following filming we produced five videos to feature in Hay Find Out More – a digital brochure that provides a unique insight into the importance of businesses and organisations communicating effectively.
We also created five teaser videos for social channels to encourage audience to click through to the Find Out More brochure.
Due to pre-production planning, alongside Matt’s attention to detail and ability to produce a detailed brief, the filming and editing process went like clockwork and proved to be a great collaborative experience.
“I commissioned Pixelwave Creative to support my interactive marketing brochure with great video content and they have produced a fantastic result.
From start to finish I knew I had selected the right partner for this project. JP took time to listen to my needs and reviewed the brief with expertise offering valuable detail and suggestions. The storyboarding reflected exactly what I wanted to achieve and gave me a sense of confidence going forward.
The shoot itself was really well managed and the team helped me relax in what is always a difficult challenge being in front of the camera. The on the day direction was what I needed and really supportive.
The final edits were completed quickly and utilised some great graphics and video cuts and the background music was perfectly matched.
The videos sit as a set in my digital brochure but were developed in such a way that I can also deploy them individual across my social media channels.
I really enjoyed working with Pixelwave Creative, they got what I needed and delivered a superb result with videos that I can use for years to come.
Hay Let’s Communicate will 100 per cent recommend JP, Angus and the whole Pixelwave team.”
Matt Hay, Hay Let’s Communicate
