SEAWEED IN EAST ANGLIA

VIDEO PRODUCTION & CONTENT CREATION

Telling the story of a pioneering East Anglian seaweed project, from the Norfolk coast to the laboratory

In late 2023, Hethel Innovation approached Treefrog with a unique, fascinating and slightly unusual brief: create a short video exploring the potential of a seaweed industry here in East Anglia.

The original plan was for a two-to-three-minute film. But once we started speaking to the people involved, learning about the research and understanding just how many organisations were collaborating on the project, something became increasingly obvious.

This wasn't a two-minute story.

Working with Hethel Innovation, the University of East Anglia, CEFAS, Biotechnica and Norfolk Seaweed, we developed the original concept into a 15-minute mini-documentary exploring the complete journey of seaweed – from growing and harvesting it off the Norfolk coast to the research, innovation and potential products that could ultimately make it a valuable new industry for the region.

The production took the Treefrog team across Norfolk, onto the water and into laboratories, combining expert interviews, location filming, drone footage and extensive B-roll to tell a complex story in an accessible and engaging way.

The finished documentary was premiered at the Seaweed in East Anglia project showcase in January 2024, where our team was invited not only to see the film shown to stakeholders, but to introduce it and talk about our own experience of documenting the project.

WATCH THE VIDEO

ABOUT THE PROJECT

When you think about East Anglia, several things may come to mind.
Maybe you think of Carrow Road and the Canaries, maybe Norwich Market or even Great Yarmouth Seafront, but seaweed probably isn't the first thing you think of.

But behind the scenes, a group of businesses, researchers and organisations were and are exploring the potential for exactly that.

The Seaweed in East Anglia project brought together expertise from across academia, marine science, biotechnology, innovation and commercial seaweed production to investigate what developing a seaweed industry in the region could look like.

And the potential applications went much further than we initially realised.

Through our early conversations with the project team, we learned about the different ways seaweed could be grown and harvested, the research taking place around it and the opportunities to transform it into everything from food products to more sustainable materials.

There was a genuinely interesting story here.

Our job was to find the best way of telling it.

THE CHALLENGE

The more we learned about the project, the harder it became to see how we could tell the story properly in two or three minutes.
There were multiple organisations involved, each contributing different expertise.

There was the story of cultivating seaweed in East Anglia.
There was the marine and environmental side.
There was scientific research.
There was the process of taking harvested seaweed and exploring potential applications.
There were physical products being developed from it.

And underpinning everything was the much bigger question of what a successful seaweed industry could potentially mean for the region.

Trying to squeeze all of that into a couple of minutes would have meant sacrificing much of what made the project interesting in the first place.

So rather than simply delivering the brief exactly as it had originally been written, we challenged it.

We went back to Hethel Innovation and discussed the possibility of creating something more substantial: a mini-documentary that would give the different contributors enough space to explain their role while allowing us to follow the journey of the project properly.

Hethel agreed.

Our two-minute video had just become a 15-minute documentary.

And with that, the story was underway.

THE APPROACH

Once we'd agreed on the longer format, we could start thinking about the production as a story rather than a collection of interviews.

One of the most important decisions was allowing the people actually involved in the project to explain it.

Rather than relying on a presenter or voiceover to tell audiences what was happening, we wanted to bring together the researchers, specialists, businesses and project partners who understood each stage first-hand.

That meant filming with Hethel Innovation, the University of East Anglia, CEFAS, Biotechnica and Norfolk Seaweed.

Each organisation could provide a different piece of the puzzle.

Our role was to understand how those pieces fitted together and create a structure that would take somebody with little or no prior knowledge of seaweed cultivation through the story without overwhelming them with technical information.

The interviews would provide the narrative.
Everything else we captured would help bring that narrative to life.

Ultimately, we decided the best place to start the story from, was the beginning.
If we could shape the narrative to start with farming and cultivation and track the journey all the way to the end user

PRE-PRODUCTION

A 15-minute documentary involving five organisations, numerous contributors and several very different filming environments needed considerably more planning than the original short film.

Before filming began, we developed a production schedule that worked backwards from the January showcase deadline.

We liaised with each participating organisation to coordinate locations, availability and interview times, arranging calls and conversations where required so we understood what each contributor could bring to the film.

Interview questions were developed around each person's expertise rather than asking everyone the same generic questions. We needed individual contributors to explain their part of the story while giving our editors enough crossover to connect those interviews together naturally afterwards.

We also began planning the visual side of the documentary.

A film about seaweed couldn't consist of 15 minutes of people sitting in offices talking about it.

We needed the coast. We needed the seaweed itself. We needed the science. We needed the products. And we needed the people actually doing the work.

With productions taking place at Lotus, Proeon, Berry Global, The Mix and Newmarket Jockey Club, there was no single template that could simply be repeated from one filming day to the next.
Each shoot started with understanding the event or activity itself. We worked with NAAME, event organisers and the participating businesses to establish timings, locations, key contributors and the moments that were most important to capture.
Scheduling and coordination
We developed filming schedules around what was actually happening on each day, from presentations and factory tours to training activities, interviews and networking sessions.
Where multiple contributors were involved, interviews needed to be coordinated around their other commitments. At live events in particular, this meant identifying appropriate windows to take someone away for an interview without causing them to miss an important part of the programme.
We also established points of contact at each location so our production team knew who to speak to when arriving on site and could deal quickly with any changes to the planned schedule.
Interview planning and questions
Talking-head interviews played an important role across the films, but we didn't want every contributor giving the same generic answers.
Ahead of each production, we considered who we would be interviewing, their role within the organisation or event and what they could uniquely contribute to the story.
From there, we developed interview questions and talking points designed to draw out useful, natural responses.
For a factory tour, that could mean speaking to representatives from the host business about what they do and why they were opening their facility to other manufacturers, while attendees could provide a different perspective on what they had learned from the visit.
For Made Smarter, interviews needed to help explain the programme itself, the support available and why manufacturers across the East of England should engage with it.
Planning these conversations beforehand gave us direction while still allowing interviews to develop naturally on the day.
Shot lists and B-roll planning
Interviews alone wouldn't have been enough to tell these stories.
For each shoot, we considered the supporting footage required to visually demonstrate what contributors were talking about and give viewers a genuine sense of the environment.
At Lotus, that meant capturing the LEAN training exercises, group discussions, presentations and interaction between participants.
At Proeon and Berry Global, our requirements shifted towards manufacturing environments, machinery, facilities, processes, factory-tour activity and interactions between attendees.
For networking events, we needed establishing shots of the venue alongside speakers, presentations, conversations, audience reactions and the smaller details that help communicate the atmosphere of an event.
Creating these shot requirements in advance meant we weren't simply looking around for interesting things to film on the day. We knew the visual building blocks our editors were likely to need when constructing the finished videos.
Equipment planning
Different locations also required different production setups.
Ahead of each shoot, we considered the cameras, lenses, lighting, audio equipment and supporting production kit required for the environment we would be working in.
Interview setups needed reliable, high-quality audio and appropriate lighting, while event and factory coverage required equipment that allowed our videographers to move efficiently through changing environments and capture activity as it happened.
Planning the equipment around the location also meant bringing what we genuinely needed without unnecessarily slowing down production with equipment that wasn't appropriate for the shoot.
Working safely within manufacturing environments
Filming inside an operational factory presents considerations that simply don't exist when filming in an office or controlled studio.
Before and during factory shoots, we worked with the businesses involved to understand where we could safely operate, any areas where access was restricted and any specific site requirements our team needed to follow.
We also had to consider how equipment would be positioned and moved around active working environments, ensuring our filming didn't interfere with staff, machinery, walkways or the factory tours themselves.
There is a creative consideration here too. Some of the most visually interesting parts of a manufacturing facility can also be the areas where filming is most restricted or difficult. Good preparation meant we could work within those limitations while still finding the angles, details and activity needed to create engaging footage.
Planning for the unexpected
As important as all of that preparation was, live events and working businesses rarely run exactly to schedule.
Presentations overrun. Interviewees become unavailable. Factory tours move more quickly than expected. Rooms change. Lighting conditions vary. And sometimes an unexpected conversation or activity becomes one of the strongest moments of the entire film.
Our pre-production therefore wasn't about creating a rigid plan that had to be followed regardless of what happened.
It gave our team a framework.
By knowing the essential interviews, shots and story points we needed before arriving, our videographers could adapt confidently on location without losing sight of what the finished content ultimately needed to achieve.

FILMING THE DOCUMENTARY

This project took us into one of the widest ranges of environments we'd filmed within for a single story.

Our team travelled across Norfolk, interviewing the organisations involved and capturing the places, processes and people behind the project.

We filmed expert talking-head interviews, laboratories, research environments, seaweed samples, prototype products and extensive supporting B-roll.

Then there was the coast.

We headed out early to capture additional footage of Norfolk's coastline and used drone filming to establish the environment at the heart of the story.

And at one point, the production took us off dry land altogether.

Our team joined a trip out onto the water to capture the retrieval of seaweed lines, giving us first-hand footage of the marine side of the project rather than relying on stock imagery or trying to explain the process through interviews alone.

At the other end of the journey, we were putting on lab coats and filming some of the potential applications being explored for seaweed, including experimental materials and food products.

One production had taken us from seaweed growing off the Norfolk coast to seeing what could ultimately be made from it.

That visual variety became one of the greatest strengths of the finished documentary.

Lotus – LEAN Training
At Lotus, we captured a live LEAN training session combining presentations, group exercises, discussions and practical activities.
Our approach was deliberately observational. The training needed to continue naturally around us, so rather than staging activity for the camera, we worked around the participants to capture genuine interaction throughout the session.
Alongside the training footage, we recorded talking-head interviews to provide context around the session, its objectives and what participants could take away from the experience. This gave us the narrative required to complement the more dynamic footage captured throughout the day.
Proeon – Factory Tour
At Proeon's facility within Hethel Engineering Centre, our focus shifted to capturing a working technical environment alongside the people taking part in the factory tour.
We filmed talking-head interviews with key contributors before capturing B-roll throughout the facility, including working environments, equipment, processes and interactions between those attending the tour.
The combination allowed the finished content to do two things: showcase Proeon and its expertise while also communicating the wider value of opening up manufacturing businesses for others within the sector to visit and learn from.
Tastebuds Collective – The Mix, Stowmarket
The Tastebuds Collective event at The Mix required a more traditional event-production approach.
Throughout the day, we captured speeches and presentations from participating businesses alongside talking-head interviews, audience footage, conversations and networking between attendees.
We also focused heavily on the smaller moments happening around the formal programme. People meeting, talking and exchanging ideas helped communicate the collaborative nature of the event and gave the finished content considerably more energy than presentations alone could provide.
Berry Global – Factory Tour
Our filming at Berry Global, now Amcor, took us across both office and operational manufacturing environments.
We followed the factory tour as it progressed through the site, capturing machinery, processes, facilities and the reactions and interactions of those attending.
Alongside this, we recorded interviews and conversations that helped provide context around the business and the purpose of the visit.
Filming within a live factory meant working efficiently and safely around normal operations while continually looking for the details and perspectives that would make the manufacturing environment visually interesting on screen.
Made Smarter East of England – Launch Event
For the launch of Made Smarter East of England at Newmarket Jockey Club, we needed to capture both the scale and atmosphere of the event and clearly communicate what the programme was actually there to achieve.
Our team filmed speeches, presentations, networking and wider event activity throughout the venue while also conducting interviews with key people involved in delivering and supporting the programme.
These interviews gave the finished film its narrative, while the wider event footage demonstrated the businesses, conversations and activity surrounding the launch.
Rather than producing a simple event highlights reel, this allowed us to create a piece of content that captured the day while continuing to explain and promote the Made Smarter programme after the launch had finished.

POST PRODUCTION AND EDITING

By the time filming finished, we had accumulated interviews from five organisations alongside footage from laboratories, businesses, the Norfolk coast and out on the water.

Then came the difficult bit.

Turning all of it into one story.

Our editors worked through the interviews and supporting footage in Adobe Premiere Pro, identifying the strongest contributions and beginning to construct the narrative.

We had developed an initial structure before filming, but one of the advantages of documentary production is being willing to let the story change when the material tells you it should.

Some subjects became more important than we'd anticipated. Certain interview responses created natural connections between organisations. And footage we'd captured on location gave us opportunities to show parts of the story more effectively than we could ever explain them.

So while the original structure remained our guide, we let the story breathe.

The edit was refined through music, audio processing, colour grading, graphics and extensive B-roll, before draft versions were shared with Hethel Innovation for review.

We then worked collaboratively through feedback and final amendments until everyone involved was happy with the finished documentary.

Organising and reviewing the footage
Post-production starts with getting everything captured on location organised properly. Camera and audio files are backed up and structured before our editors begin reviewing the footage in detail.
With factory tours and live events generating hours of interviews, presentations, conversations and B-roll, this stage allows us to identify the strongest material and start determining how the finished story should come together.
Building the edit in Adobe Premiere Pro
We use Adobe Premiere Pro to edit our video projects.
For the NAAME films, we typically began by building the narrative around interviews, presentations and the key messages we wanted each piece to communicate.
Interviews aren't simply used in the order they were recorded. We work through each conversation, selecting the strongest responses, removing repetition and bringing different sections together to create a concise story that makes sense to someone who wasn't there on the day.
Once the narrative is established, we introduce B-roll captured throughout the production.
Factory machinery, manufacturing processes, training activities, speakers, networking, audience reactions and establishing footage can all be used to visually support what is being discussed and keep the finished film engaging.
Music and pacing
Music can completely change how a video feels.
We use Artlist to source professionally licensed music for our productions, selecting tracks that suit the organisation, subject matter and pace of the finished film.
The edit is then refined around the combination of dialogue, visuals and music, ensuring the film moves naturally without feeling unnecessarily rushed or drawn out.
Audio clean-up and mixing
Capturing interviews inside factories, event venues and other live environments can present very different audio challenges from filming in a controlled studio.
During post-production, interview audio is cleaned and balanced where required to improve clarity and consistency. Music levels are mixed around dialogue, and the different audio elements are brought together so that the finished video sounds professional across different devices and platforms.
Colour correction and grading
Footage captured throughout a filming day can involve dramatically different lighting conditions.
We might move from an office into a factory, then into a presentation space or outside the building, all within the same production.
Colour correction and grading allow us to balance those shots and create a more consistent visual finish across the video, while maintaining natural skin tones and the character of the location.
Graphics and branded elements
Where appropriate, we also introduce supporting graphics, titles, logos and name straps.
These elements help identify contributors, communicate additional information and ensure the finished content feels consistent with the organisation or campaign it represents without overwhelming the footage itself.
Collaborative review through Frame.io
Once we have a strong first version, the video moves into client review.
We use Frame.io to make this process straightforward and collaborative. Clients and relevant stakeholders can watch the edit online and leave comments directly against specific moments within the video.
This removes much of the ambiguity from traditional email feedback. Instead of trying to describe "the shot somewhere around two minutes in", comments can be attached directly to the relevant frame.
For projects involving multiple organisations and stakeholders, this also gives everyone a clear way to review the same version and consolidate feedback.
We then work through the agreed amendments before uploading an updated version for review where required.
Final checks and delivery
Once the edit has been approved, we carry out final quality checks across the picture, sound, graphics and overall edit before exporting the video in the formats required for its intended platforms.
By this point, hours of raw footage have been distilled into a concise piece of professional content with a clear narrative, consistent visual treatment and polished sound.
That's ultimately where the value of post-production lies: not simply editing footage together, but finding the story within everything we captured and turning it into something people will actually want to watch.

THE RESULT

What started as a brief for a two-to-three-minute promotional video ultimately became a 15-minute mini-documentary telling the much bigger story of Seaweed in East Anglia.

The longer format gave each organisation enough space to contribute its expertise while allowing audiences to follow the journey from the marine environment and cultivation through to research, innovation and potential commercial applications.

More importantly, the finished film gave Hethel Innovation a single piece of content capable of bringing together a complicated, multi-partner project and presenting it to people who hadn't been involved in it.

And we got to see that happen first-hand.

The documentary was completed in time for the project's January 2024 workshop and showcase, where the Treefrog team was invited along to see the culmination of the project.

We were also given the opportunity to introduce the finished documentary to the audience and talk about our experience of creating it.

After months spent learning about the project, travelling across Norfolk, interviewing the people behind it, heading out onto the water and eventually piecing everything together back at Treefrog, being able to watch the finished film presented to the project's stakeholders was a particularly satisfying way to bring the production to a close.

And, most importantly, the client was happy too.

Working with Treefrog to create the Seaweed in East Anglia project video to aid us with showcasing what we are doing and the potential of the seaweed industry has been nothing but a joy. The enthusiasm from the team, as well as their professionalism, has resulted in a brilliant piece that we are super proud of showing to our stakeholders and anyone else interested in what we are doing. We will absolutely use Treefrog again in the future if we require further video content and recommend them to the fullest.