Join the boys as they edit a scrumwhat challenging promotional video brief from England Rugby...
Earlier this year, we were tasked with producing a video for England Rugby. They'd seen our film for Durham County RFU Women & Girl's Rugby and thought we might be up to the task of an even more challenging brief... The brief was simply this - make a promotional film that encourages women & girls to get into rugby refereeing. This presented an interesting challenge. Thankfully, I'd personally been developing the more orderly and disciplined side of myself for the past few years, and so the timing for this project worked out really well, given that the projects are written by myself and Ryan. Write what you know, so they say, and that's definitely what we ended up doing.
One thing that we know is that I was once so disorganised and scatterbrained that I flooded my Mam's house by leaving the shower on for too long. One too many mishaps like this later, and life eventually taught me to get my act together and develop my more organised, structured side. And i'm happy to say I did that, to the benefit of myself and everyone around me - particularly my mam, bless her. The point is, I committed to being a better me and succeeded, and that very much ended up being the theme of the video. In fact, all of us at Unified have done that in our own way. We couldn't have built Unified if we hadn't.
The experience of making the film got us thinking about how you could make valid comparisons between life and a game. Like any game, you can play it badly or play it well. Fairly or unfairly. Truthfully, or untruthfully. The game of life has rules, which you can uphold the values of by telling the truth and being responsible and putting in the necessary effort to be your best self. In that sense, what we're all learning is to be the better referee of for our own lives. Blowing the whistle could be compared to having the guts to stand up firmly and say, "hey, that's not fair, you're not playing the game properly" on yourself, and on others - and having the courage to do so.
So we wrote what we knew, and the final film wound up being a huge success with England Rugby. There's nothing better than hitting the mark on a brief, and of course rising to a challenge; whether it be in making a film, developing yourself, or indeed in something like becoming a rugby referee.
We'll be releasing the full video on Monday along with England Rugby themselves, so let us know what you think, and be sure to watch the 1st edition of Unified Edits (above)which joins us during the edit of the film, working with our friend and England Rugby Union Player, Tamara Taylor, and being silly sausages who love their jobs.
Much love,
Jon, and the boys at Unified