To Begin at the Beginning
The Brief
RWCMD were holding a fundraising Gala in New York, bestowing an honorary doctorate to Catherine Zeta-Jones and raising money to offer scholarships to young Americans wishing to study in Wales.
They asked Tantrwm to create some video content that would introduce the conservatoire to a star-studded audience, many of whom had a connection with Wales.
‘The film was brilliant - you could really feel the hiraeth in the room’
Matthew Rhys - Emmy Award Winning Actor
Our Approach
We identified two things that would be important for the success of the evening. Firstly to show that the college is worth funding and secondly that the scholarships would help change the lives of young American artists.
For the first of these goals, we created a cinematic portrait of the college that was also a homily to Wales and the UK as places with a rich theatrical and literary heritage.
We created a poem, constructed of quotes and extracts from British and Irish literature, borrowing phrases from Tolkien, Charles Dickens, Dylan Thomas and many more. We filmed current US students delivering parts of it in and around the campus and combined this with cinematic shots of life at the college to create something inspiring. This was used to open the evening and set the mood.
Shoot days
Video delivered
Crew members
Royals in the audience
Holywood royalty in the audience
We also created a video that told the story of a young opera singer at the English National Opera, who had studied at the RWCMD because of a scholarship. Her story of going from one of the toughest parts of Detroit to singing Opera in London was moving and inspiring.
The client was delighted with our work and it played a key part in raising the funding needed to help young artists come here to Wales to develop their artistry.