Video, Showreel and Production Services
I now offer photography and video shoot production services, which is what I did for Educate a Child International, who were featuring a campaign across London on The London Underground in the autumn of 2025 and wanted to have it captured and made into a 90 second film.
What does production involve?
Production in itself has a wide meaning and depends on what needs to be ‘made’ or ‘created’ by the client. In simplistic terms it’s planning and executing a project from the beginning, working with the client, often onboarding and supporting teams when wider skill sets are needing and making sure the project is executed well, right through to the finished product.
What was involved in the making of the video for this #UniteToProtect campaign?
In partnership with Educate A Child International, Educate Above All were planning to launch a powerful awareness campaign across the London Underground to highlight the urgent need to protect children’s rights to education during times of conflict.
I was commissioned to photographically document the campaign, capture public reactions to it, and create a short film for them to show at a United Nations Conference on Education in Geneva and across social media.
As producer, I led the project from London, liaising with my contacts at the charity throughout the process, until we finally met, and worked together, in person, after several weeks of communication.
The most immediate task I was given when I first got the project go ahead, was to arrange a permit from The London Underground, so that my team and I could capture the advertising in place and, more importantly, the publics’ reaction to the campaign.
Because we would be creating a film, as well as photography, I brought on board an associate who is an experienced film maker to work alongside me. I also recruited a fundraising charity expert who would be confident to approach people on the street and ask them to give their opinions on the campaign and its message. Part of her role was to then interview these people on camera.
My client did not want to lead on this aspect as they were not confident to do the approaching to strangers, especially given they are from another country and are not familiar with Londoners. I also believe it requires special skills to do this kind of approach in the right way and by selecting a charity fundraising expert, we had the perfect addition to our team.
What else had to be taken into consideration when planning this photography and video shoot in London?
When my client first approached me with this assignment they had a vision to ‘capture passers by looking and interacting with the London Underground posters and billboards and get them to stop and share their opinions’. I pointed out that the likelihood of this happening in the fast paced busy environment of the London Underground was slim.
I explained to them about the culture of The London Underground, how commuters rarely stop to look up and around them, let alone have time for a chat. That whilst we may be able to catch glimpses of passersby looking at the ads, we’d probably end up spending hours, in one spot, just hoping for that one shot of interaction and this may not be the best use of time.
I believe campaign advertising works in a much more subtle way, that passers by would see the ads, may read some facts and take in the information, in small way as they digest it in bite size pieces across their weekly travels, but to get that on camera would be possible, but tricky.
I didn’t say we should abandon the idea, simply that we needed some other options too. I suggested that we print up some small copies of the ads and set up our cameras outside the various stations where the ads were, and try to encourage people to talk to us. Once they were wiling we’d be able to show them the ad and get their thoughts on it. This also worked well with the strict rules of TFL (Transport for London), who I had arranged the permit with and had a set of guidelines with many restrictions especially operating within the stations near where the ads would be situated.
I also suggested we make small placards with hashtags and messages from the campaign, so that we could get them to hold them up to the camera. These can be really powerful visual aids, which would grab the attention in a video and photos on social media.
I arranged for the printing to be done in a UK print house I have used before and suggested a few giveaways cards as well, so that those who wanted to engage could take away some information and learn more about the campaign.
After navigating the complex rules regarding shooting within The London Underground property from TFl, I created a plan working out where all the ads would be and co-ordinating logistics with my team, so that we could be in a few key spots throughout the two-day shoot to get as wide a chance of capturing who may have seen the ad.
The importance of a reconnaissance (recce) day on an large scale photography and film shoot
The videographer and I arranged a recce day, where we also captured footage around the stations, with key London landmarks, which could be used as B-roll in the final film. Because we were not allowed to shoot the actual station signs (called The Roundel) due to copyright reasons, from TFL, I chose landmarks and street signs that would visually show the areas. The key was that when the film was viewed at the UN Conference, it would be very obvious that it’s London.
That recce day was also a great idea for us to scope out sheltered areas, see which station exits looked busier at certain times of day and understand the flow of people around the area for where we conduct our Vox Pops interviews. From a practical point of view, as there would be a team of 5 of us on the day (my team and the clients), it was also a great chance to make a note of facilities nearby – toilets and cafes are extremely important on long shoot days!
What happened on the shoot days?
Shoot day came around and the videographer and I arranged to meet with the partner charity CEO from the UK for a morning coffee before heading off to shoot the tube ads in situ and then meet the Vox pop and charity team from abroad later at Liverpool Street Station.
Everything was arranged – a station route we would nip around as fast as possible, to capture as much footage as we could, notes of all the ads in place and the exact coffee shop location we’d meet the wider team at around midday. It was 8.30am. We were about to get going, but the ads weren’t in place.
Of all the potential problems I had planned for, this was not one I had imagined. Who’d have thought that an ad campaign, pre-arranged for weeks and paid for by the charity would not appear on the day! Thank goodness we had the CEO with us, so he could immediately spring into action. I must admit I was so impressed by how calm and collected he was, it meant that we, ourselves didn’t panic.
After he spoke with the agency and was told the ad was waiting for approval from TFL, which may or may not come later, and there was nothing we could do about it at this stage, it was time to make a plan. B. I arranged for my charity contact to come and meet us earlier – luckily he was staying in a hotel nearby. But we couldn’t get the charity expert (Vox Pops lady we called her!) assistant in any quicker as she was over an hour away.
Instead we used the time to get to know each other a little, find some suitable locations to hit the streets, which had cover – as it now had started to rain, of course – and then we waited, a little anxiously, for her arrival. I had suggested to everyone that we just go out and get the street interviews, using the placards (thank goodness they had been printed) and gather as much footage as possible. This was cleared with the senior charity team. So once our fundraising expert had arrived, that’s exactly what we did.
And it was very successful. At first I was worried that no one would stop as she got rebuffed by several people. But she persevered and someone did stop. Then someone else and more and more. She was an absolute legend. And complete proof that it really is important to hire people for their strengths on your team; she did a fabulous job of engaging with the public to gather authentic opinions on the ads and the pretty shocking statistics they present.
We then spent a very successful afternoon stopping various members of the public, who were so generous with their time and desire for a better outcome for children across the globe affected by conflict. It was also great that my charity contact from abroad was also there as when people wanted to know more about the campaign and the charity’s work, they were able to talk to him and learn more.
We soon reached the end of the working day and with no news about the ads going up, we called it a wrap and made our plans for the morning, starting with a phone call to the CEO first thing to get an update….
How to Pivot when a plan doesn’t go to PLAN on a photography shoot.
We had a very busy WhatsApp group set up for the shoot and the first thing I did was check in to see if the ads had gone live. To all our disappointments, they hadn’t. They would probably go live, we were told, but it could still be in another 24-48 hours and the major problem we had was that this was Thursday and we had Friday and Saturday set aside for edit days with a view to getting sign-off on the Saturday later afternoon for the client to take the finished film with them as they travelled to Geneva on Sunday!
So, it was time to pivot. We had an incredibly enthusiastic Youth Advocate for EAA joining us mid morning, ready to be interviewed for the video. A passionate campaigner for the charity, I suggested that after we did a couple more interviews, Amr Ramadanu, could make in introduction and present the film instead portraying it more of a street campaign, with less emphasis on the adverts.
We chose The London Eye and the quiet park behind it as the perfect spot and quickly helped him create a script for him say on camera. After this, without the ads in place, the charity called it a wrap and asked us to piece together the best footage we could with what we had captured.
Then the advertising appeared!
The videographer and I made a plan for the next day to get the footage edited together for a first look from the charity. I had a feeling that we may still be needed to shoot again, so I suggested we get as much done on the Friday as possible.
I was right! On Friday evening I got told that the ads were going live at midnight! I had another photography shoot on Saturday evening (a party, nothing too complex luckily) and my videographer had another edit deadline. However we decided to set our alarms (it was painful, we were already so tired!) and got into central London at 8am Saturday morning. We jumped for joy when we saw the ads. Ironic, given the subject matter, but that’s the way these things go!
And we were so pleased to be able to capture, not only several of the ads in situ, but even some shots of people looking at them. Result.
Time to get the edit done
We both rushed home as soon as we could to start editing the new footage and photos. My job was to get the still done as soon as possible and send them over to the filmmaker so he could use them throughout the video and them to oversee the edit, make suggestions and changes before going over to the client for theirs. Because I had been the one to work closely with the charity throughout this process, I had a greater understanding of the messaging behind the film and what the charity would want to have included. It’s also advised when you’re working at this fast pace under quite a lot of stress and with flagging energy, to get a second pairs of eyes on a film’s edit anyway.
The result?
We got there in the end. I had to go off and shoot my party and we returned to the final amends first thing Sunday morning. At 11am the client gave us the all clear and we could down tools and take a much needed rest! I had been on the go for 5 days straight with very little sleep and heightened adrenaline. An afternoon nap was the best medicine ever….
As for the finished piece? A powerful and emotional film that gives voice to the public’s call to protect children, education, and their future — Above All….
What do you think of it?
To see more of my charity photography work, please visit some commissioned work here: https://susannahfields.co.uk/skill/charity-public-service/
And my gallery here: https://susannahfieldsphotographyltd.pixieset.com/charity-and-non-profit-sector-photography
And to learn more about the charity please visit their website:
https://www.educationaboveall.org/our-programmes/educate-a-child