4Creative and Blink’s Dougal Wilson created this trail to celebrate the return of Channel 4’s Educating Yorkshire with a schoolchildren-led ‘takeover’.
Entitled School’s Back, the cast of the new trailer are the real students of Thornhill Community Academy in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, the school where Educating Yorkshire is filmed.
The immersive one-take film takes viewers on a tour through the actual school, highlighting talent from science experiments to live music performances by the school band ‘Unjust Detention’ and a child launched from a cannon and bike stunts in the playground.
The campaign was developed through a series of 12 workshops involving over 400 Yorkshire students from Thornhill Community Academy, Lawnswood School, and Dixons Unity Academy. Pupils took on roles from script writers and actors to photographers, voiceover artists, producers and even media buyers, working alongside 4creative, Blink Productions, OMD UK, and Channel 4’s 4Studio and 4Schools programmes.
Following today’s film launch, the work of the schoolchildren will also be seen in OOH posters live from August 25th. The youth takeover will extend to social media as the pupils temporarily run the Channel 4 TikTok, Instagram and Threads accounts. Radio ads recorded by students will feature on Hits Radio, KISS, and Spotify. Tongue-in-cheek pupil voiceovers will be replacing Channel 4’s usual on-air announcements during the campaign period. The soundtrack for School’s Back was also composed by the schoolchildren and recorded at Nave Studios in Pudsey, with the support of music agency Leland.
The new series of Educating Yorkshire will air later this month.
Dougal Wilson, Blink Productions said: “It was great fun working with 4creative and the students of Thornhill Community Academy on this film. I loved working with the kids in all the different parts of the project – rehearsing and recording with the school band, creating a dance routine, workshopping their brilliant performances, designing our ‘special effects’, stunts and ‘big finale’ and just getting to know the personalities and talents of the children and involving them in the filming process.”
David Wigglesworth, Executive Creative Director, 4creative, said: “The media narrative surrounding today’s kids is overwhelmingly bleak, so we felt an urgency to show the country they’re actually brilliant, funny and wildly creative. What better way to prove it than by handing them the keys to the campaign, and a metric tonne of media to play with?
“The end result is everything we hoped for, full of joy, honesty and a bit of beautiful chaos.”
Miketta Lane, Director, 4creative, said: “Educating Yorkshire is a commission that’s incredibly close to our hearts at Channel 4, and we’re proud to bring it back with a campaign as meaningful as the series itself. By placing real students at the heart of the process, we’re not only championing unheard voices, we’re empowering them. This is representation, collaboration, and a celebration of the next generation of talent. This is public service broadcasting at its best.”
Nic Moran, Head of Marketing, Channel 4, said: “With Educating Yorkshire returning to Channel 4, we saw a powerful opportunity to spotlight the heart of the series – the kids. From starring in the trailer and OOH to voicing audio ads for Spotify and testing Global radio hosts in a series of fun challenges. We owe a big thank you to the kids of Yorkshire who took part.”
Credits
Creatives, Stunt Performers, Dancers, Voice Artists, Actors, Musicians & Overall Legends: Students and Teachers of Thornhill Community Academy
Brand: Channel 4
Chief Marketing Officer: Katie Jackson Marketing Director: Amber Kirby
Head of Marketing: Nic Moran
Marketing Lead: Anna Kerr
Marketing Executive: Stacy Parris
Planner: Thomas Schofield
Corporate Press Officers: Jeeshan Choudhury & Imogen Birkett Consideration: C4 Media Planning
Agency: 4creative
Director of 4creative: Miketta Lane
Executive Creative Director: David Wigglesworth
Creative Director: Dan Warner and Andy Vasey
Senior Creatives: Stuart Gittings and Reuben Dangoor
Head of Production: Charlie Bettice
Head of Creative Operations: John Trevor
Head of Design: Rob Boon
Senior Designer: Dan Davies
Executive Producer: Louise Oliver
Senior Producer: Paul Gleeson
Producer (OOH & Radio): Faye Gillespie
Production Manager: Hannah Jones
Production Assistant: Cera O’Rourke
Project Manager: Claire Walters
Creative Apprentices: Amelia Rudzinski and Laura Whitworth
4Schools:
4Schools Co-Ordinator: Jenny Savory Talent Inspiration Manager: Emily Doherty Talent Inspiration Manager: Michael Longhi
Welfare Team:
Producer: Gemma Gold
Producer: Holly Cocker
Show Production Company: Twofour
Executive Producer: Grace Reynolds Series Producer: Emily Cadman
Senior Production Manager: Sarah Whyler Welfare Producer: Rachel Hakes Production Assistant: Vishal Prashar
Production Company: Blink Productions
Executive Producers: Paul Weston, Patrick Craig & Corin Taylor Director & Creative: Dougal Wilson
Production Manager: Antonia Vickers
Junior Production Manager: Lottie O’Connell
Production Assistant: Lettice Yardley Directors Assistant: Emma Parkinson
Choreographer: Supple Nam Stunt Coordinator: Martin Shenton Location Manager: Andy Holt Location Assistant: Pip Banyard 1st AD: Jim Cole
2nd AD: Dom Child
3rd AD: Lewis Brindle
Runner: George Browne
Runner: Ellie Fox
Runner: Abby Chapman
DOP: Stuart Bentley
Gimbal Op: Dan Lobo Pires
Focus Puller: Trevor Henen
2nd AC: Conor Spencer
Camera Trainee: Bernadette Baker Grip: Dave Leigh
DIT: Paul Clements
Video Playback: Duncan Lees Camera Car Driver: Yassir Mustaq
Drone Camera Operator: Alec Canton Drone Remote Pilot: Rob Tilly
Gaffer: Billy Tracey
Spark: Ross Champan
Spark: Joe McLean
HGV Driver: Wesley Smith
HGV Driver: Patryk Szelag
Desk Op: Candy Jackson
Master Rigger: Dave Berry
Rigger: Damon Waite
Sound Recordist: Stephen Hodge
Boom Op: Chi Limpiroj
Sound Playback: Matt Gill
Production Designer: Andy Kelly
Assistant Art Director: Ashley Dando
Propsman: Jason Bradley
Art Department Assistant: Vjaceslaves Jefimovs Art Department Assistant: Anna Boase
Art Department: Elaine Boyle
Art Department: James Mcintosh
Costume Designer: Louisa Thomas
Costume Assistant: Natalie Lawson Jenkins Costume Assistant: Nikita Lund
Hair and Makeup artist: Lou McCan
Hair and Makeup assistant: Natalie McKay
Hair and Makeup assistant: Nikita Panesar Paramedic: Lee Tait
SFX Supervisor: Neil Gawthorp
SFX Technician: Miguel Ferreira
VFX Supervisor: Bruno Fukumethi
Offline Edit Producer: Michelle Corney
Offline Editor: Joe Guest
Catering: Glen Moore
Catering: Artisan Catering Minibus Driver: Roderick Rushton Minibus Driver: Lee Bassnett Minibus Driver: Scott Stevens Security: Anthony Bartley Security: Craig White
Security: Matthew Hellawell Security: Malkocs Istvan
CAST
Gymnast: Emily Mayne Gymnast: Lexi Norton Biker: Luke Booth
Biker: Keegan Dodds
Biker: Max Feeney
Unicyle: Isabelle Dolan Unicycle: Samuel Dolan Dinner Lady: Carrie Crookal Dinner Lady: Cheryl Pike Dinner Lady: Claire Reicol Dinner Lady: Diane Ellis Dinner Lady: Tammy Heath Dinner Lady: Madiha Ansari Dinner Lady: Maria Pusey Chaperones: Articulate
Music Supervised by: Leland
Music Supervisors: Abi Leland & Ed Bailie
Composers: Dougal Wilson, WMP & Thornhill Students
VFX Studio: Untold Studios
CCO: Neil Davies
Creative Director: Ben Cronin
VFX Supervisor: Bruno Fukumothi
Executive Producer: Sophie Harrison
Producer: Ella Glazer
VFX Artists: Adam Walker, Alex Kulikov, Ananda PM, Aswin Bal, Cameron Johnson, Carlos de la Sotilla, Efe Goksel, Emre Samioglu, Giles Hicks, Jadheer T M, Jaswan Vishnu Prasath, Jhoshidh T, Kalpesh Patel, Kier DeCordova, Mahesh Ravilla, Mohammad Asif, Naresh Kumar Nandaluru, Nikhil KM, Paila Netaji, Pol Escale Cabre, Saravanan D, Sebastian Meinecke, Sriram Namana, Thiago Vilas Boas, Upasana Choudhary, V Siva Sarweswar
Audio Post Production: Factory
Sound Design and Mix: Anthony Moore Audio Producer: Olivia Endersby Colour: Company3
Colourist: Steffan Perry
Executive Producer: Ellora Soret Producers: Kerri Aungle & Edwin Elkington
Online Post Production: Platform Post
Senior Producer: Jackie Sanders Online Creative Director: John Cryer Online Flame: Nathan Rushby-Jones
Jon Creamer
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