Newcastle Building Society

This film was generated at the highest level, with key briefings between CEO, Communications and ourselves as we formed the idea of what this film could be about. It soon became apparent that in an organisation spread out between Cumbria and North Yorkshire, taking in Tyneside, Northumberland, Teesside, Wearside & Durham, that it was difficult for people to see how their role in one area of the business affected the entire thing, mostly importantly; their members. 

Our plan became to show how things were in reality, and that meant observational documentary, leading into a series of films that talked to members, first time buyers, new staff being brought in through unique pathways, branch staff, financial advisers, the technological developments that put the Society in more of a challenger bank role than anything, along with the engagements around dementia and financial education that make Newcastle Building Society so special in the North East of England.

Production for the 11 films would take place over a two month period, our team were briefed to go old-school - with a two camera setup and pressing record and shooting long takes to capture people in their environments with minimal prompts. This led to some exceptionally candid moments that could not have been captured any other way, particularly in the branches where the relationship between members and colleagues really shone brightly. The decision to prompt contributors in the slightest of ways came about from our knowledge of how Newcastle Building Society works. We knew that we only had to hold a mirror up to what they do every day as a key part of the community, it was all about finding a delicate way to capture it as too much input and it would have been obviously false; once we made this decision we had to stick to it. The hours of footage we captured totally vindicated this choice.

The key theme that came through everything we shot was how essential Newcastle Building Society were to peoples lives, in terms of the high street, the community support, the lead they take, they opportunities they create and the difference they can make for people.  

Approaching this documentary style required a great deal of control over how the project was to move through post. Before it had even been edited we had viewings with a couple of the ExCo team and Communications. Most of the assemblies we had were 3+ hours in length each, with the CEO glued to them all and seeing how his teams went about the difference parts of the Society. The power within these raw sequences showed that we had something on our hands that needed refining and really crafting into the stories that would reflect the Society back to it's colleagues.