Higher Ground Education: founder and classroom films
Work for a Montessori education group, covering the founder’s own story, teacher training and what a classroom actually looks like.
Selected films
Ray Girn on Montessori education
The founder on what thriving means in Montessori education.
Montessori teacher education workshop
Montessori teacher education workshop.
Interview Video — Higher Ground Education
Earlier interview from the same relationship.
The brief
Parents choosing a school are making a decision they cannot easily reverse, based on a tour and a feeling. Montessori has the additional problem that most people think they know what it is and are wrong.
So the work splits into two jobs. The founder explaining what the method is actually for, which answers the intellectual question, and classroom film that answers the emotional one by showing children absorbed in something without an adult directing them.
Filming in a school is the most constrained environment we work in. Consent for every child in frame, a crew small enough not to change the behaviour being filmed, and a willingness to wait. A classroom performs for a camera for about two minutes and then forgets it exists, which is when the useful material starts.
The teacher training films serve a third audience entirely: prospective teachers and existing staff, who need the method explained as practice rather than philosophy.
How this work gets made
Consent before anything
Every child in frame is cleared in advance. Nothing is filmed on the assumption it can be sorted out later.
Small enough to be forgotten
A classroom performs for two minutes, then ignores the camera. That is when the real material starts.
Three audiences, three films
Parents, prospective teachers and existing staff need different things from the same subject.
Questions about this work
Can you film children in a school setting?
Yes, with consent handled in advance through the school, and a crew small enough not to disrupt the room.
How long does a school shoot take?
Usually a day per campus. Classrooms need time to settle before anything worth keeping happens.
What does education video cost?
There is a breakdown on the education video cost page.
Tell us what you are trying to make
Send the goal, the audience and roughly when you need it. You get a plan, a range and a date back.
