Since the dawn of The Film Guys have we said that it would be valuable to document our process, if anything to remember this unusual phase of life. Normally there just aren’t enough hands to make it happen, but in the Spring of 2024, the moment was ripe.
We found a pretty absurd video and we need to share it with all of you. Let’s just call it an homage of epic proportions.
Everybody already knows that Salisbury is an athletic powerhouse, but what they don’t know is that it raises boys to become truly thoughtful, nice and emotionally available men. The challenge is that these points are difficult to articulate without sounding cliché or making big, hard-to-substantiate claims, so we had to figure out how to get around this.
There’s a reason why companies hire spokespeople. It’s difficult to connect to the buildings or the history of a place, but a face and a person is universal. Somebody to latch on to for your mental associations is very valuable. Boarding schools tend to both literally and figuratively put up high walls, despite the fact that the funnel for families interested residential schools is shrinking. I think we should be doing everything we can to make the admissions experience as welcoming and familiar as possible.
The ladies lit up with excitement and immediately started imagining it. I looked across the table to our producer, Alesi, and quietly apologised. A musical would be a substantial (near impossible) task given the circumstances: we had 16 days (to present a final product), we were a two person team, neither of us had ever done a musical and neither of us are musicians. Meg, Sarah and Rose did have reservations about how realistic a musical would be, but they were so enamored with the idea that they were willing to take the plunge and trust that we could do it. We do like challenges.
The Highlander Journey is a story of growing up and maturing at Gunn. We are so thankful for the trust The Frederick Gunn School has put in us.
Despite the success, we fell short on the one thing the client asked us to do. That is, to include the highlander cow in the video. As a fun twist however, we ended up making the cow video a year later anyway. Actually, we made two.
When you get to Madeira, it doesn’t take a detective to observe that this school is running well. Like an engine that’s been well tuned, it’s obvious.
Madeira, as a school, knows who she is.
The girls carry a palpable “Madeira presence”. Like an invisible uniform hidden beneath their baggy, mostly red sweaters. They are unhurried and stable. They are engaged and courteous. They are welcoming and laugh a lot.
To give kids a big team project to work on that produces a final product that lasts forever is wonderfully rewarding for everybody involved.
There are other schools that host intensive periods, often called J-terms. At the outset of this Pingry project, we are now officially open to this model of collaboration.
We typically have three days to come up with the full, completed script of a video that will meet the commandments. Three days, otherwise we make Alesi’s job much harder. Each day we take for writing takes one day from her production planning. The relationship has a perfect pressurised balance. Pressurised, indeed, because each day I don’t deliver a script is added pressure to the creative process that is already drowning in expectation.
The proof is in the pudding as they say. As of now, enquiries and applications are up 129% and 182% respectively as compared to the previous year. Video is simply a medium. For most, it does little. For those who use it right, it will make all the difference. We’re in the business of results. If you’re going to hire a film crew, you better hope to see return on your investment.
From a production perspective, this project was beyond extraordinary. Having to coordinate so many people, describe to them how to film, how to get good sound and how to send it to us all the while not personally knowing any of the senior class and doing it between three totally different timezones was, as the cliche has now come and gone, an “unprecedented circumstance”.
I’m a filmmaker, so when I describe the things I deem fun I will quickly gravitate towards creative pursuits that involve the combination of moving images and sound. It took me a lot of years to realize that others weren’t as pumped about this as I am. Consider the fact that you’re putting educators in front of the camera to talk about pedagogy. Big surprise they’re buzzing about it, it’s literally their job. You WANT teachers who dig pedagogy, you just need to separate that from how you market to 13 year-olds.
Everybody already knows that Salisbury is an athletic powerhouse, but what they don’t know is that it raises boys to become truly thoughtful, nice and emotionally available men. The challenge is that these points are difficult to articulate without sounding cliché or making big, hard-to-substantiate claims, so we had to figure out how to get around this.
There’s a reason why companies hire spokespeople. It’s difficult to connect to the buildings or the history of a place, but a face and a person is universal. Somebody to latch on to for your mental associations is very valuable. Boarding schools tend to both literally and figuratively put up high walls, despite the fact that the funnel for families interested residential schools is shrinking. I think we should be doing everything we can to make the admissions experience as welcoming and familiar as possible.
The Highlander Journey is a story of growing up and maturing at Gunn. We are so thankful for the trust The Frederick Gunn School has put in us.
Despite the success, we fell short on the one thing the client asked us to do. That is, to include the highlander cow in the video. As a fun twist however, we ended up making the cow video a year later anyway. Actually, we made two.
In the Fall of 2025, we created a stage for the dyslexic student to testify to the world. To explain. To show us how to understand. In a dramatic courtroom setting put on at The Gow School’s very own blackbox theater, we created a rap-epic testimony called “Dyslexia Testifies!”
You are best photographed when the energy is good. What if the photographer creates the energy?
This is the story of Sohype. A man who leaves communities uplifted and photographed beautifully.
When you get to Madeira, it doesn’t take a detective to observe that this school is running well. Like an engine that’s been well tuned, it’s obvious.
Madeira, as a school, knows who she is.
The girls carry a palpable “Madeira presence”. Like an invisible uniform hidden beneath their baggy, mostly red sweaters. They are unhurried and stable. They are engaged and courteous. They are welcoming and laugh a lot.
I never really think of ourselves as marketers. It feels much deeper than that. We’re not selling a bottle of ketchup or a pair of sneakers, we’re making material that fundamentally alters people’s life paths.
At every school, there are bright sparks, and at WRA, in 2018, that was Noah Frato-Sweeney.
A down to earth, friendly and joyful kid flowing with creative talent. A natural performer and songwriter, with a sense of humor that crosses between boyish, mischievous, and wholesome; he shines.
We make videos for schools. Though designed to represent culture, they also create culture. Our project with the St. Bernard’s School of New York is a wonderful example of this.
Since the dawn of The Film Guys have we said that it would be valuable to document our process, if anything to remember this unusual phase of life. Normally there just aren’t enough hands to make it happen, but in the Spring of 2024, the moment was ripe.
To give kids a big team project to work on that produces a final product that lasts forever is wonderfully rewarding for everybody involved.
There are other schools that host intensive periods, often called J-terms. At the outset of this Pingry project, we are now officially open to this model of collaboration.
Two boys who discovered a passion for filmmaking at boarding school, come back fifteen years later to share it with their school.
Yet sometimes the California dream takes up the room. How does your real, quality, intensive academic offering balance its reputation against “California: chill out and surf“?
When marketing to German families, we were advised to stick to the facts and leave emotion out of the equation. That’s exactly what we did. Sort of.
We typically have three days to come up with the full, completed script of a video that will meet the commandments. Three days, otherwise we make Alesi’s job much harder. Each day we take for writing takes one day from her production planning. The relationship has a perfect pressurised balance. Pressurised, indeed, because each day I don’t deliver a script is added pressure to the creative process that is already drowning in expectation.
The proof is in the pudding as they say. As of now, enquiries and applications are up 129% and 182% respectively as compared to the previous year. Video is simply a medium. For most, it does little. For those who use it right, it will make all the difference. We’re in the business of results. If you’re going to hire a film crew, you better hope to see return on your investment.
From a production perspective, this project was beyond extraordinary. Having to coordinate so many people, describe to them how to film, how to get good sound and how to send it to us all the while not personally knowing any of the senior class and doing it between three totally different timezones was, as the cliche has now come and gone, an “unprecedented circumstance”.
