Push Creativity's Smallest Employees

by Ashley Taylor, Videographer

I've worked in commercial video and photography for about 15 years now. In that time I have grown accustomed to being in front of the camera, as well as behind.

"We need a bloke to push this button."

"We thought we'd just have a hand come in to hold the box, for scale?"

Or my favourite:

"Can you just put this blue hair net on first?"

Yes, it's surprising how many companies' brochures and videos I pop-up in. At the big trade shows and exhibitions, you can play Spot the Ashley.

So it was a pleasant surprise when my client Steve Wilson called to say he needed a quick video creating for his website, but he really needed children to be in it. For once, I was off the hook. My kids, however, were on it!

Steve creates sensory room equipment for schools, and he needed the video for his latest product the Bubble Squeeze. This is a wall mounted bubble machine in which bubbles are squeezed as they flow upwards, creating a unique pattern of varying shapes and shadows, whilst the colour of the water gently changes. But as you probably guessed, to really demonstrate its wonders it needed to be seen in action and it really need to have young children reacting to it.

Luckily, I had two children I prepared earlier, my daughters Emelia (7) and Ruby (5). We explained they would be in a video, but decided to not reveal the Bubble Squeeze until the last minute, to try to capture some genuine reactions.  I rehearsed their roles with them, explaining that their motivation was that this Secret Thing they were going to see was the most amazing thing in the world.

It was the half-term holidays at the time, and the poor little dears had to put on school uniform for authenticity.  Ruby asked a few times: "But we're not really going to school, are we Daddy?" 

The Bubble Squeeze worked a treat, with the children naturally enchanted by the pretty colours, gurgling noises and of course the bubbles floating up the panel. They did a much better acting job than I have over the years. Do please play the video to see what you think.

Steve reports that when schools phone up to enquire about the Bubble Squeeze, he can hear Ruby's voice in the background, so as a selling tool, this little video is definitely doing its job.

And if you like that Bubble Squeeze, you can find out more at the Bubble Squeeze website.

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