Photography

HSQ Pledges £12,000 Worth Of Video & Photography To North West Charities

From the 15th January, HSQ Productions are offering North West charity organisations the chance to win professional marketing material valued at £12,000. The giveaway is set to help up to a dozen worthy causes broadcast their message, attract new donors, and reward those who are already supporting them.

Any charity can enter – they simply have to be based in the region. Entries are free and require a brief description of the organisation’s role in supporting a chosen ideology, in addition to any ideas surrounding video/photo needs. The production team will then select 12 winners and commit to delivering high-quality visuals over 2018.

Bringing stories to the fore

Content may take any form desired within HSQ’s set of services. Examples include interviews, event highlights, web photography and short explainer films. Overall, these projects will broaden the exposure and narrative techniques of whoever takes the top prize, making it easier for the charity to engage with prospective and existing donors.

Adam Smith, founder of HSQ Productions, is adamant on the beneficial influence of video marketing for non-profit groups: “. Our aim is to cast light on stories that need a vivid image to expand their audience and, likewise, their economic resources. Empathic tales of triumph over adversity are very hard to ignore.”

“Under the skin of any charitable organisation, there is strife, joy, hard work, and an emotional gravity that can make would-be donors consider what they have – as well as what others are lacking – providing these values are well-communicated.”

The value of visual content

We believe that powerful visuals can display the real, human value of whoever or whatever receives a donation. Videos are excellent at bringing viewers into the reality of a situation. They can form a nexus of your website, fortify the strength of an email campaign, or bring followers up to speed on social media. High-resolution photographs, meanwhile, are a testament to the lives and communities changed through charitable work.

A perfect example can be found in the content that HSQ produced for the RNLI’s (Royal National Lifeboat Institute) Yellow Wellies campaign in 2017. Adam counts this as one of his most rewarding projects so far: “We took great care with our composition, and everyone involved was fantastic. There were 9-year-olds and octogenarians in, quite literally, the same boat in terms of what they believed in. It was a heart-warming experience.”

Charities can register for the competition here from the 15th January. For more information or press enquiries, email adam@hsqproductions.com

Behind the Scenes: Balmoral Castle with the RNLI

 

20 Scottish pipers in Kilts at the Queens Summer castle – Balmoral for a Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) press shoot. Now imagine me directing them. It was quite a challenge; people of all ages formed the Ballater and District Pipers Band. And what a sight it was. So much so, that we even had a small crowd watching the proceedings.

We had a limited number of RNLI branded yellow wellies and we needed to get as many pipers wearing them. I got everyone lined up in height order at the beginning of the shoot before then assigning each one a number (1 or 2). This was done in preparation for the V formation shot where 1’s would stand on the right and 2’s stand on the left. 

 

 

 

RNLI Balmoral (1 of 3).jpg

After they had put on their wellies, it was time for some warm up activities, which included marching round the grounds of Balmoral to the sound of banging drums.

 

 

Once they had warmed up and gotten into the spirit of the shoot, I then needed to get them into a V formation. This was to emphasis the yellow wellies, make sure that we could get as many of them in the shoot as possible and frame Balmoral Castle in the background.

 

 

The V formation works because your eyes naturally scan an image from left to right. There were 20 sets of branded yellow wellies in the shot. We used the pipe bands drum to form the point in the V.

 

After getting the V shot, I then proceeded to find some other creative angles to pair up the iconic yellow wellies and the famous Scottish landmark.

 

 

 

Fortunately, the wind was working in my favour. It was great fun to work with the RNLI on in Scotland for their Mayday Fundraising campaign. The pictures have so far been featured on their news centre website and Press and Journal.

 

The Mayday fundraising campaign runs throughout May and aims to raise £750,000 to help kit out the charity’s brave volunteer lifeboat crews. Visit RNLI.org/Mayday to see how you can get involved.

https://rnli.org/news-and-media/2017/april/24/pipe-band-tune-up-in-support-of-the-rnlis-yellow-wellies-fundraising-campaign

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/aberdeen/1229494/mayday-call-for-rnli-essential-kit/

https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/news/local/pipe-band-tune-up-in-support-of-campaign/

Posted by Adam Smith.