Supporting entrepreneurs

The Royal Academy of Engineering commissioned Happen to make a film to mark the tenth anniversary of its Enterprise Hub, which supports entrepreneurs turn engineering and scientific innovations into disruptive, scalable business. It wanted the film to persuade potential funders to back its programmes, and convince investors and entrepreneurs to get involved too.

Diverse casting

The film focused on three entrepreneurs, who represented the diversity of the Hub’s awardees, in terms of types of innovation, individuals and regions. Working closely with the team at the Academy, we cast them carefully, pre-interviewing everyone, to make sure they were articulate and had visual businesses.

We also structured the film in three parts: the first, explaining the benefits of the Hub’s programmes for the awardees, including the importance of a mentor; the second, how they contribute towards creating a more inclusive economy; and the third, how they help build a more sustainable world.

Voiceover and graphics

We used voiceover to explain the facts about the programmes; motion graphics to highlight key figures; and two additional Academy interviewees to provide further information. Voiceover helps keep a film succinct, with a clear structure. It also synchronises with on-screen graphics, making sure the key points hit home.

We shot in a documentary-style; filming moving shots, captured using a gimbal, a self-balance device for cameras, to convey a sense of dynamism; and sequences, showing an action unfold, to engage the viewer. The interviews were shot in 4K, to allow us to edit to a tighter frame without a loss of picture quality, enabling edits to tighten up answers.

Finally, we created simple, stylised animations of growing plants, inspired by the Academy’s flint icon, to illustrate the chapter headings and motion graphic sequences, to suggest the idea of growth to the viewer.

We also produced three shorter films focused on each entrepreneur for use on the Academy’s social media channels.