Beast was approached by Fugu PR to help them create a Christmas Video for their client the Brighton Housing Trust.
Brighton Housing Trust Video Brief
The brief was simple. They wanted to generate awareness, and donations over the Christmas Period, so they could keep their ‘first base’ project open for the coming year. To do this that had to raise £20’000. With only two weeks to come up with the creative and deliver the final video, we took 24 hours to come up with an idea that centred around a Christmas Advent Calendar.
The Brighton Housing Trust Video gave us some case studies as part of the research to help us with the development of the script. What stood out to us, was the amount of stories that centred around very normal people and families. What was heartbreaking, was the unfortunate chain of events and speed at which these families became homeless. Many people just lost control of their finances because of a job loss, or unexpected bill. We wanted to highlight how quickly any of us could be in the same position in such a short amount of time. The advent calendar was the perfect vehicle to show this. Not only was it a great way for us to show the imminent future, but it also helped us to convey the vulnerability of the children, through a Christmas theme.
Our story centre’s around a family heading into the advent period. The catalyst for their downward spiral comes from the dad finding out he has lost his job. The calendar then reveals in a succession of days that they have missed other payments, including their rent. With credit cards already maxed out, in three weeks, they have no choice but to have to leave their rented family home. The video was a great opportunity for us to work with an extremely worthy local charity. Jo Berry bent over backwards to help us bring the film to life in such a short amount of time.
Here is what she said about the project:
“ We were interested in getting a short film produced to support our Christmas fundraising appeal, but had no budget and very little time (around two weeks in order to be ready to go out early December). Over the course of a week Beast had taken on board the message BHT wanted to convey, understood the charities ethos, explored the different audiences to appeal to and developed the creative. By the end of the second week the storyboard had been finalised and agreed, the locations and props sourced and the actors for the cast secured. The filming took place over one day and the end result was amazing; a thought-provoking, beautifully shot short film which sensitively captured a family’s experience of becoming homeless. The film generated huge interest and helped BHT to reach its £20k fundraising target and raise the awareness of the issue of homelessness. We are extremely thankful to Beast for their generosity, their creativity and their professionalism.”
Beast are over the moon that the Charity reached its target. Brighton Housing trust provides a fantastic ‘First Base’ for people to go to. They provide emotional support, qualified advisors, food and a hot shower to help people get back on their feet. Our campaign title #WhoWouldYouTurnTo has become the catalyst for an additional social media campaign that we have developed with Fugu PR that will run in the new year. Watch this space.