Examples of social media work
On this page you can view selected case studies of video projects I’ve worked on that have explicitly required social media content as an output.
Whilst I do often film vertical content directly in camera, more often the brief has required footage to be adaptable and repurposed for social media. Therefore in these case studies I have shown how footage has been captured in standard 16:9 aspect with a view to using on various platforms and cropping for social media in post production.
There are also examples of how client branding has been integrated into the format via framing, logos and start/end screens.
Case Study: No More Nowt relaunch video
No More Nowt was founded in 2014 as one of Arts Council England’s 39 national Creative People & Places projects. Formerly known as East Durham Creates, in 2023 they launched their new name, visual identity and new remit to cover the whole of County Durham at an event in Newton Aycliffe’s The Big Club in September 2023.
My brief was to create short video that would serve to both document the event and function as a brand asset to help grow awareness of the new name. This required the video work in different formats.
A widescreen version was created for YouTube and the No More Nowt website.
For social media, we opted to create a square version in a 4:5 frame (rather than a full height 9:16 vertical version). This allowed the video to function well in the instagram and Facebook feed, while not being lost in the vertical format of Reels. The frame allowed for foregrounding the brand identity and clear text and captions (important on social media as audio is often muted as users scroll past videos).
You can click on the images below to open the posts in Instagram etc.
I also created a second video using further footage I captured at the event - of poet Rowan McCabe performing his poem No More Nowt.
The image above shows an overlay I created for validating the framing of content destined for Instagram Reels. I have various overlays for different platforms and formats. Filming in horizontal widescreen (16:9) format, but with a wide lens in 4K, allows capturing footage that is detailed enough for YouTube and larger screens, while also being able to crop in to the main subject for shorter videos on social media and vertical viewing on mobile devices.
The Phoenix Way North East & Cumbria
“A pioneering community-led grant making & development initiative designed by & for Black and racially minoritsed communities.”
Since September 2024 I have been working with the newly established Phoenix Way North East and Cumbria to capture both video and photographic content for their social media platforms. The video content I have captured has not been published yet, but some of my photography has been integrated into their branding and used in their recent social media campaigns, and the headshots I made with members of the group for online use have been shared.
Ghost Train - a Cultivate Commission
In late 2024 I was awarded one of the first round of Cultivate Commissions for my own project Ghost Train.
“Cultivate Commissions are designed to support creative practitioners to work with and alongside communities in County Durham to increase participation in arts and creative activity that has a positive impact on communities. Cultivate Commissions are a strand of the Into the Light Place Partnership initiative in County Durham.”
Ghost Train is a film project looking at the people, history and landscape of a number of former mining communities across the West Durham Coalfield. It follows dismantled colliery railway lines from County Durham’s southern border towards its northern border.
Social media has played an important role throughout all stages of the project. As of December 2024 - January 2025 the project is in post-production and during this phase I have been sharing clips of some of the contributions and footage as I edit.
Click an image to open it in instagram.
Marge and Sandra, volunteers at Durham Cathedral, interviewed for my Ghost Train project.
Former brickie John, who keeps horses on the site of a former colliery near Crook in County Durham. You can compare the wide format version of this video above with the vertical version on Instagram (click the phone image to see it on Instagram).
20 Caps for England Mural
For this commission for Neck of the Wood Studio I again opted for the versatility of the square format. Below you can see how it appears in the Instagram feed and on YouTube. Click on an image to open it in the respective app.
