Films for careers advice and education are a powerful tool to inspire and motivate young people. In 2022, the National Space Academy approached MGL Media to produce video content for their expanding Careers programme. In collaboration, we helped to shape a series of films called ‘Find Your Space: Space Careers For Everyone’.
Films for careers advice and education . . .
The National Space Academy has a remit to attract more young people into the rapidly expanding Space sector. Films for careers advice and education are a key element. One approach taken by the NSA for previous Careers initiatives had been to arrange for existing members of the industry to visit schools and colleges to deliver talks. Speakers would usually deliver a presentation, in-person, to students. This would conclude with a Q&A session. These sessions were successful and engaging, but their potential reach was limited by the amount of time these busy professionals could spare. Also, they can only reach one school or college at a time. Initially, the NSA team were looking at the possibility of filming these presentations, in full, and put them online for future viewing. We suggested trying a different approach.
Getting up close and personal . . .
Whilst longer, formal presentations and keynote speeches work perfectly well at events with a live audience, they do not make interesting video content. Modern, online audiences are looking for short, engaging films where they can get up close and personal with the subject. We suggested an intimate conversational style which puts each interviewee front and centre.
Thinking longterm and building a brand . . .
We felt it was important to make the films consistent, with clear branding to establish a longterm careers campaign. Each film begins with the same ident and even has recurring intro music. We presented the industry professionals as characters, complete with their own ‘hero’ shots. It elevates the films, creating a moment for the young audience to ‘lean in’ and listen to the career stories of people they can relate to. We shot the first series of films at The National Space Centre, here in Leicester. The latest series was filmed at The Space Park. This gave context to the films and allowed us to bring each interview to life with footage of the professionals, chatting and working in these centres of Space excellence.
Bite-sized content and different versions . . .
Video content rules social media timelines. Users, young and old, scroll through millions of hours of it each day. Each platform has a different demographic and requires a different approach to reach your target audience. Whilst the longer 8 or 9 minute films are designed to be watched in full by students, perhaps in a college setting, we recognised a suite of content should be created to reach more viewers. We produced short teaser versions of 30 seconds or less, as well as these fun ‘quick-fire’ films.
The results . . .
Lisa, Grace and the National Space Academy were delighted with the resulting library of films we produced.
We’ve really enjoyed working with Wayne and Matt to create our second series of Find Your Space careers videos. After the success of our first series, we knew we had to work with MGL Media again as they perfectly understood our vision. Our goal was to create something that would inspire and engage a youth audience as they start to think about their future. We want to help students to explore some of the many and varied careers in the space sector open to them, and thanks to MGL we feel sure we’ll be able to achieve this!
Grace Davis
Communications and Marketing Manager, National Space Academy
We are passionate about making films and content which makes a positive difference. To produce a series of films giving career advice and inspiration to aspiring Space artists, lawyers, scientists and engineers has truly been out of this world. Maybe you have an education project we could take to the next level? Or your looking to inspire an audience to engage with your service or brand? Get in touch to find out how MGL Media can help you create video content that gets results.
