A range of video production and live-streaming services for Brighton based independent charity, National Numeracy, which promotes the importance of numeracy and everyday maths. Produced, filmed and edited by Dreaming Fish Productions.
The client and the brief
National Numeracy is a UK charity, based in Brighton, committed to building the nation’s number confidence and skills: “Our mission is to empower children and adults in the UK to feel confident with everyday maths so they can fulfil their potential at work, home and school. Our work improves how people understand and work with numbers in everyday life, sparking better opportunities and brighter futures.” In March 2024, National Numeracy got in touch with us to tender for a video production project which included a range of different video production requirements they needed for the lead-up to National Numeracy Day on Wednesday the 22nd May, a day dedicated to everyday maths. Additionally, there would also be two live-streams (in different locations) to be streamed and shared on the day itself. With many years of experience in creating different types of videos for the educational sector, we were super excited to pitch for this project! After submitting our tender and discussing our approach and video production and animation skills with the National Numeracy team, we were delighted when they informed us we had won the tender!✨
The project and the delivery
To kick things off we had shoots in a London studio and a primary school in Wigan, both of which included some of the National Numeracy ambassadors. As well as filming, National Numeracy also required us to undertake post-production services like editing and animation, in order to create great content that adhered to their brand guidelines. The individual projects were as follows:
• A studio shoot with some of the National Numeracy ambassadors: Professional Dancer and Strictly Come Dancing winner, Katya Jones, Maths Teacher, Broadcaster and Writer, Bobby Seagull and Aerospace Engineering Graduate and Miss UK 2024, Jessica Gagen oh and also one of the Numberblocks (from the CBeebies TV show). This was arranged in a studio in East London which had an infinity cove as well as a brick wall, allowing us to have two different set-ups within the one location. We provided multiple cameras, audio and lighting equipment along with teleprompters pre-loaded with the approved scripts for the ambassadors to follow. The shoot day involved several pieces to camera, sit down panel discussions, two instructional dance videos (by Katya, of course!) and Bobby even built a rocket! 🚀 The footage we filmed from this shoot was edited to create a number of different videos to help promote National Numeracy Day. We also supplied some of our footage to the lovely Numberblocks team, who created their own instructional videos which were shared on their YouTube channel.
• Next up was the live-action shoot with a primary school based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. Unlike the first shoot, this shoot featured another one of National Numeracy Ambassador’s, spoken word poet Harry Baker, who involved the whole school in a mighty rap battle (all about numbers, of course!) We filmed the whole event and also provided a photographer who came along to capture various stills, which were later used as promotional materials for the event. After the event, we also filmed a promo with Harry Baker as well as some interviews with staff, parents and children! You can check out the rap battle here. 🎤🎵
• The live-streams:
– The first live-stream took place in the morning at a school in East London, featuring our trusty ambassadors from the first shoot. The day before the shoot, we did a recce at the school to ensure we had adequate internet connectivity (essential for live-streaming!) and enough space to setup. On the day, we had two camera positions, each with two cameras to cover our dancer, Katya, with some of the school children as well as a position for the main presenters (Bobby and Jess) and a sit-down interview. We also brought along two teleprompters to enable the ambassadors to present from both positions. The live-stream, targeted at children and their parents, was successfully shared on both Zoom and YouTube. Check out the recorded stream on YouTube below!
– The afternoon live-stream was slightly different to the morning one. “Making the Most of your Money – The Big Number Natter Live 2024” involved relocating from the school to a separate location and involved setting up for an hour-long panel discussion, targeted at adults, involving NN ambassador, Timi Merriman-Johnson aka Mr MoneyJar, Abigail Foster (founder of Elent), Claer Barrett (journalist) Katie Watts (from moneysavingexpert.com) and Chief Executive of National Numeracy, Sam Sims. We used three cameras (to ensure the five speakers were captured) along with a sound desk to cover the multiple speaker’s mics. The panel discussion was also live-streamed on both YouTube and Zoom!
Impact/Outcomes
In total we created 26 pieces of video content which generated in excess of 500k views on National Numeracy’s YouTube channel. We had such a blast working on this project with the NN team and just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone involved for being so great. We hope to do it all again with you all next year!🙏 🧮 🤩
“Thanks again for all your and the team’s hard work on this campaign! You have made the process extremely simple and organised, and we have really enjoyed working with you all!”
Maya Metcalfe – Creative Design Manager at National Numeracy
