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BEHIND THE SCENES

Hexham History Videos Northumberland Council & Historic England

The town of Hexham was part of Historic England’s  High Streets Heritage Action Zone programme. Northumberland County Council required a filmmaker to produce a set of videos to capture the town’s history. We submitted a proposal, and were the Council’s first choice.

the brief

3 videos were requested, to capture and document the personal histories of residents of Hexham who have lived in the town over 50 years.

Our Process

The council had several ideas for filming with members of the community. There were options for filming in nursing homes, schools or other community spaces. After discussions with the Council, we agreed the best approach would be to film interviews with individuals, in the town’s historic abbey.

Prior to filming, we prepared a filming schedule, and interview questions which were agreed with the Council. The interview questions were designed to draw out the right messages and stories from the contributors.

We sent a 2-person filming crew, to meet with the contributors, and film their interviews. We also captured some shots of the town centre - both ground-based and aerial drone footage.

We also gathered some archive photographs to compliment the stories. After filming, our editors crafted the footage into a clear narrative to produce the videos.

Outcomes

Several of the contributors commented how much they enjoyed the filming process, and how our director helped them feel at ease. The Council were delighted with the videos. They held a screening event in a local cinema, and everyone was blown away by the quality of the films.

The videos are now stored in the historical archive and will help future generations to understand the history of the town.

“Envisuals was very easy to work with. Communications were smooth and the filming team were very professional and made our volunteer interviewees feel very at ease. The end product is exactly what we requested”

Peter Mawer, Northumberland County Council