ESB NETWORKS / WEATHER WATCH SCHOOLS SWAP
THE BRIEF
ESB Networks, via Connelly Partners, asked us to make weather literacy a thing teenagers would actually watch. The Weather Watch programme had four schools tracking conditions across the country, but the data was not the story.
Connelly Partners creative turned it into a guess-the-school game. Three parts per school, one presenter, twelve episodes built for the feed. The audience plays along while the science does its job in the background.
HOW WE SHOT IT
Each school ran an ESB Networks Weather Watch roadshow on the day. We shot the roadshow live for B-roll and reactions, then had roughly an hour per school to capture the full three-part storyboard with the kids. Two cameras on parfocal zooms, mockumentary style, crash zooms when the moment earned it. Vertical-first from the lens out.
SCOPE
The brief was social-first, designed the crew around the format, built the recurring on-screen prop ourselves to give the series a signature.
• Turned a data-led STEM ask into a three-part game per school: Set-Up, Data, Reveal. Hook, tease, payoff.
• Designed and prototyped a custom mini reporter mic, combining the lav mic kids recognise with the playful weight of an old-school news mic. Engaged the students and became the recurring visual cue across all twelve episodes.
• One five-person crew covered all four schools in three shoot days, kit list consolidated, no second unit.
SHOOT
Senior-led on the floor at every school, small crew earning every role, contingency built into the travel plan in case any curveballs.
• Director on every shoot day, no remote oversight, fast calls when anything shifted the timing on us.
• Five-person crew: one DP, one second camera, one sound, one production lead, one production assistant. Every role earned.
• Brought our own projector and a wheeled TV so AV constraints in oversized halls never hit the schedule. When a core team member dropped out to illness the day before shoot one, roles re-cast overnight and the day delivered clean with no client visibility on the swap.
SUPPORT
Delivery, stewardship, and long-tail asset management built for two client tracks running in parallel, plus a continuity problem we solved post-wrap.
• Two parallel feedback rounds (creative and client) merged into single action plans, not answered thread by thread.
• Revised the original planned release order and recommended re-ordering the schools.
• After delivery, cut a 30-second teaser from existing footage so paid media could prime the audience before Episode 2 or 3 hit the feed. Kept the campaign legible to viewers who joined mid-series.
Producer: Gavin Thornberry
DP: Leo Hynes
Camera: Callum Murphy
PA: Marie Junker
Sound: Colin McKenna
Producer: Gavin Thornberry DP: Leo Hynes Camera: Callum Murphy PA: Marie Junker Sound: Colin McKenna
THE WORK
Twelve 30-second episodes across four schools (Kingswood Dublin, Clarin College Athenry, Hazelwood College Limerick, Presentation Secondary Tralee), plus a 30-second post-wrap teaser cut for paid targeting and a 120” LinkedIn cut covering all schools and data.
A bank of BTS stills captured each shoot day.
Hero films: 12 (4 schools x 3 parts at roughly 30 seconds each: P01 The Set-Up, P02 The Data, P03 The Reveal)
Teaser: 1 (30 seconds, post-wrap, paid targeting)
LinkedIn corporate cut: 1 (roughly 1:20, separate planned and delivered piece)
BTS stills: bank captured at each school
“LET’S MAKE A TEASER”
LONG AFTER WRAP
After final delivery, in case viewers landing on Episode 2 or 3 in feed would miss the premise, we cut a new 30-second teaser from existing footage so paid media could prime the audience before serving the later episodes.