With Leeds Manufacturing Festival taking place this October, we wanted to share the making of their recent videos that we produced for them. Not only that, we want to shout about the amazing work that they do: bringing greater awareness of the thriving manufacturing industry in Leeds and the range of career opportunities within manufacturing that this offers.

They aim to inspire the next generation to not sit at a desk all day and get busy making.  From moulding fibreglass to building jukeboxes, these young people are given an opportunity to grow their confidence and shine.

The Brief

To make a series of videos aimed at young people, to promote the brilliant career opportunities within Leeds’ vibrant manufacturing scene.

The Pitch

The key element in developing our pitch was the target audience. These videos were to be aimed at 12 to 16-year-olds who are just starting to think about careers. This age group is very video savvy (they live on YouTube) so we knew that a standard format corporate video was never going to reach them. These were the key elements that we pitched to the LMF:

1. Fast-paced, energetic videos
2. Clear and simple messaging
3. Visual flamboyance to the filming and editing style to grab the audience’s attention

The filmmaking

In order to show the range of manufacturing businesses in Leeds we filmed in six different companies whose products range from fibreglass sewage tanks to surgical equipment and from fish and chip fryers to vinyl jukeboxes. It really was a privilege to get to visit these fantastic businesses and meet the people inside them. Watching the mind-blowing processes that go into making these products gave us so much visual material to work with.

The Challenge

The biggest hurdle was also our biggest opportunity; preconceptions. People think of manufacturing as being about heavy, grimy work in dark, dirty places. The reality is often a million miles away from this, and we loved being able to bring this to life through film.

The Takeaway

The biggest thing we learned from this project was that manufacturing in Leeds really is alive and kicking. There are over 1800 manufacturing companies in Leeds, and the job opportunities they offer young people are exciting and diverse. We are so glad to have had the chance to bring this message to young people. I showed the first video to my 12-year-old son and his response was “that looks like a cool job”. Job done!

The Testimonials

“The team at Manto took time to understand our requirements and were great guys to work with. As we all know, planning is fine, but without action it is useless. When the filming started Manto put everyone at ease and the results were fantastic; a finished film appealing to different generations, that was sharp, professional and fun. I would highly recommend their services and having benchmarked their costs getting initial quotes, we know how happy we are with the finished results and the value they delivered.”

Ben Wilson – MD of MPM Bradford Ltd

“I was part of the team that commissioned Manto Films to produce a series of videos supporting the Leeds Manufacturing Festival. I could not be happier with the outcome. Their professionalism and energy during the filming and their subsequent editing skills mean we now have a set of videos that are not only better than we envisaged, they have been met with universal acclaim by those who have seen them.”

Graham Cooper – Site Manager, Agfa Graphics