In 2017 we received some accolades from the industry we love so much. In April we won gold for ‘best branded documentary’ and ‘best of the best’ at the Brand Film Festival for our film ‘Anthony’s Story’ shot for the RNLI. Then in July we received an oficial honoree mention at the 21st Webbys for the same film which although wasn’t an award in itself it still made us super proud and happy. We also had the honour to go up the stage at the Lovie Awards to receive ‘Gold’ and ‘People’s choice’ for Stephanie’s Story’ shot for the HM Government/Home Office and ‘Silver’ for our independent short documentary ‘Globe of Death’.

Our entire team works incredibly hard on each project we are part of and to receive such honours is a sign all the sweat and smiles (never tears) resulted in strong, powerful films. With that said, awards are quite interesting. We work in an industry where validation is important. Film is an art form, and although we can argue that advertising is not, quality and excellence can be many times subjective. Validation brings credibility, opens doors and helps everyone that are not brave enough to be the first to say ‘that is actually really good’ into being comfortable saying it. After all, how many times have we caught ourselves in a meeting feeling the stillness of the air and a deafening silence when everyone is waiting for the first brave soul to go ‘this is amazing!’ for only then subsequently the whole room to follow.

As you push things in a different direction, out of the constraints of what is expected, it becomes harder to judge technical and creative prowess if you don’t have courage. Awards won’t solve the problem, they themselves sometimes seek validation and are not clear in their judgement, but for the good or bad , they do help us thread through the subjectivity of our artistic world.