St Francis School Film

St Francis School Film

St Francis School Pewsey had long used our photography services and so we were thrilled when they asked us to write a treatment for a film to promote their holistic educational offering. 

Our proposal was to show the school through the journey of different aged children, right from nursery all the way through to year 8 using each year group to touch on the facilities and aspects of St.Francis that are the main selling points of the school. 

Building on the school motto of ‘One childhood, many opportunities’ we suggested using the metaphor of the butterfly to describe a multifaceted child’s journey through the school years and facilities at St. Francis, describing how the school creates a nurturing environment that provides opportunities for each individual child to grow and learn.

We wanted the approach to be light-hearted, quirky and approachable using the motif of a butterfly to tie the narrative together – so children may be seen drawing a butterfly, or building one in CAD for ICT, or we may watch a toddler squashing a clay butterfly. 

This project therefore involved the whole school, with art and science teachers alike creating butterflies we could use in the film. We also decided to introduce a CGI butterfly at certain intervals to further tighten the narrative and demonstrate the journey the children go on through the school. We captured this in the line ‘Roots to grow, wings to fly.’

We wanted the film to feel rich and cinematic, which we achieved by using interesting depth of field techniques, lens flare, and adding light. We contrasted wide drone shots of the exteriors with intimate handheld close-ups of pupils and staff. Finally, a warm colour grading had the effect of flooding the film with sunshine, further highlighting the school’s caring values and evoking a feeling of hope and happiness.

In the spirit of the project we also used an ex-pupil to compose the music, who translated the light-hearted, happy vibe to audio brilliantly.

The film ends with a lighthearted nod to the combined efforts of the school in making the film…

‘Disclaimer: Please note that no butterflies were harmed during the making of this film, but lots of happy hours were spent creating them.’