University Video Production
What makes a seventeen-year-old pick one campus over another? Rarely the league table.
University film content has to cater to a range audiences, land different messages and serve several purposes. It needs to resonate with students, reassure parents, appeal to academics, or raise funds, all while staying true to the institution's brand identity.
Working from our London and Brighton studios, with directors as comfortable filming real students as a scripted shoot, we make recruitment campaigns, research films, brand films and animation. We have worked with institutions like the University of Sussex, University of Nottingham, Coventry University, Goldsmiths and the University of Brighton. And with Nobel laureate Sir Harry Kroto, on educational content that has outlived most campaigns we have made since.
Types of Higher Education and Universities we work with.
Higher education is one of four sectors we work in properly. It is also the one where a single film gets asked to do the most jobs at once, which is usually a campaign problem dressed up as a film problem.
Selected university work
From student recruitment and research impact to graduation, wellbeing and alumni engagement, we create films that connect with audiences and strengthen your institution's reputation.
Start a conversation
Tell us about the audience and the goals of the film, and we will match it to the right director and the right format. Start with our contact page.
Clients
What we produce for universities
University projects usually call for a range of formats, and we plan a production to deliver several. That is the campaign film model: one shoot, one edit room, several finished pieces.
Recruitment & Prospectus Films
Inspire prospective students with authentic stories that showcase your courses, campus and community across every stage of the recruitment journey. The University of Sussex hero film ran as a 60 second hero with a broadcast cut and three social edits beneath it.
Research & Innovation Films
Turn groundbreaking research into compelling stories that showcase innovation, inspire audiences and demonstrate real world impact. See the Centres of Excellence films and the Harry Kroto Nobel Prize film.
Student Experience
Engage students with authentic films that celebrate campus life, promote wellbeing and strengthen your university community. The Goldsmiths CARE project sits here, on a subject most institutions find hard to film.
Brand & Positioning Films
Define what makes your university distinctive through bold brand films that build reputation, inspire confidence and create lasting connections. Built the same way as a commercial brand film, with a different set of people to convince.
Social Content
Platform-native versions for open days, clearing and always-on recruitment campaigns. Planned into the shoot. More on how we build social content.
Alumni & Advancement Films
Strengthen lifelong relationships through films that celebrate alumni success, inspire giving and reinforce the value of your university community. The University of Nottingham graduation film was built to work as both a graduation piece and an alumni film.
Case Studies
A library of higher education and university that spans a decade, featuring prestigious universities and Noel laureates.
University of Sussex
University of Sussex | Right Here Right Now
60s Hero
30s TVC
3 x 15s Socials
University of Nottingham
University of Nottingham | Now is Your Time
1 x 4min Graduates Hero
1 x 60s Alumni Film
Coventry University
Coventry University | Cluster Films
29 x 60s Course Films
18 x 15s Socials
"Thanks everyone for all their work on this project! It's so amazing. It's super. We're all delighted 🤩 "
"We had a big ask in a ridiculously short and ambitious time frame. Gusto absolutely delivered for us. What a team! I cannot recommend this team more highly they went above and beyond to accommodate our request and changes."
Lorraine Bell-Davies, Business & Engagement Manager, University of Brighton
“It’s been such an enjoyable project to work on with you. From pitching to delivery it's all been so brilliant, myself and the project team are so grateful for the amount of effort and heart you’ve put into every stage of this project. I’m looking forward to seeing it on the big screen!”
Debs Storey - Video Production Manager, University of Nottingham
How a university project runs
The Learning Curve
We plan back from the date that matters: an open day, clearing or a funding deadline.
1
We plan back from the date that matters: an open day, clearing, a funding deadline.
2
We start from the audience and the goal, applications, research profile or brand, then a director shapes a treatment to fit. Animation is often the right answer for research and explainer content, as it was on the Sussex economic impact report.
3
Pre-production covers access to students, staff and campus, consent, and a schedule that works around term time.
4
The shoot captures the hero film alongside the social and faculty content.
5
Post is handled by our in-house editors, with specialists brought in when we need them, making sure your films are ready to go when you are.
You’ll collaborate with our production team throughout, with a dedicated point of contact always there when you need them.
Choosing a production company
Every Audience at Once
A recruitment film has to work for a student and reassure a parent. We think in multiple audiences from the first treatment, so one film does several jobs.
Built Around the Calendar
Open days don’t move. Clearing always runs from July to October. And graduations are set. We plan back from the fixed date and build the schedule to arrive in time, around term and campus access.
One Studio, Every Format
An an experienced in-house team, plus a trusted roster of specialists, understands universities’ unique needs and content prioroties.
Send us a message
FAQs
When should a university brief a recruitment film?
Earlier than most people think. The academic year decides the deadline, not the production. A film that has to be ready for clearing works backwards from a fixed date that will not move for anyone.
A typical project runs on a six to eight week production timeline. See what we made for the University of Sussex in seven: a 60 second hero, a 30 second TVC and three social cutdowns.
Can one film reach applicants, parents, academics and funders?
It can, though it takes deciding early who the film is mainly for, and who it is for second. Applicants, parents, academics and funders all come with different questions.
So alongside the hero film we plan specific assets, each one shifting the focus to suit its own primary audience. That is usually the more honest answer than asking one 60 second film to carry all four.
Who directs university work at Gusto?
A director who can hold a seventeen year old's attention and still be taken seriously by a research office. Not the same skill, and not every director has both.
We match the director to the brief rather than the sector. You can see the roster and their reels on the directors page.
Do you film students, or actors?
It depends on the brief. A university film has to represent its students authentically, so we often involve real students to capture their own experience of the place.
There are also times a film needs a performance to carry its story, and that is when we cast actors.
What do you deliver alongside the hero film?
Whatever the campaign is going to need in six months, planned from the start rather than requested afterwards. Sussex took one creative device and carried it into a 60 second hero, a 30 second TVC, BVOD pause ads and 15 second social cutdowns.
Format is a production decision, not a post-production one. Deciding it late costs more than deciding it early, which is the whole argument behind how we build a campaign film.
What does a university film cost?
It depends on the brief. A single research film and a full recruitment campaign with a broadcast cut are different conversations, and the number of shoot days is often the biggest driver of cost.
Tell us what the campaign has to cover and we will quote against that.
Can you handle clearance and compliance?
Yes. We take care of the clearance, usage and legal requirements on every project we make, whatever the sector. They are built into the scope from the start.
All the latest
Our Locations
London Studio
Gusto Film London is based in Soho, at the heart of the city’s creative scene.
Brighton Studio
Our original studio, tucked away just off the seafront in Brighton.