UCA collaborates on pro-bono commercial
for The Lewy Body Society

With access to Sony’s Digital Media Production Centre Europe (DMPCE) at Pinewood, students didn’t want this to be just another student project. 

BA (Hons) Film Production student and the commercial’s director, Dominic Hodgson, said: “We wanted to do something for the greater good. I chose The Lewy Body Society because of my personal connection with it. 

“Lewy Body is the second most common form of dementia, but we don’t know enough about it, so it’s important for charities like The Lewy Body Society to show that there is someone there to support people suffering from the condition.” 

Watch the 'making of' the commercial:

“The charity feels privileged that we’ve had this commercial made for us”, explained Jacqueline Cannon, CEO of The Lewy Body Society. “As a small charity, it has an enormous impact on social media and getting our name out there. This commercial is not just something to use for a few weeks but will be ongoing.”  

Shooting at Pinewood, a location students wouldn’t typically be able to film, gave them access to state-of-the-art facilities alongside Sony professionals. 

This included the Sony Venice 2 camera and a set of Panchro/i Classic lenses, lent to the students by Cooke Optics, “delivering the warm and homely tone we wanted”, said BA (Hons) Film Production student and the film’s director of photography, Stephen Bull. 

“I was instantly attracted to this film because it educated me on symptoms of dementia that I wasn’t aware of,” he added. 

Carey Duffy, Director of Product Experiences at Cooke Optics, said: “This project immediately sparked our interest. It wasn’t just another student project, but a charity commercial, which was client-led and a more professional way to learn about producing content.” 

Watch the final charity commercial

Stuart Newton, Regional Sales Head for Northern Europe Sony, remarked: “By taking the phenomenal technology we have at our fingertips and working closely with UCA, it can help us explore innovative new workflows that we hadn’t previously considered.” 

"I am so incredibly proud of our students,” said Christopher Nicolson, UCA Associate Professor of Convergent Media. “When they were offered access to state-of-the-art camera equipment and the SONY DMPC at Pinewood, they decided to pay this favour forward by creating a broadcast quality charity commercial, under industry best practices, for an important cause. 

He added: “In doing so, they worked to an actual commercial brief given by a real client in the most professional way possible. Speaking as someone who has employed many graduates over the years, this is bound to impress a future employer when they leave us and begin their careers”. 

The commercial will also be launched at the eighth International Lewy Body Dementia Conference, which will take place 29-31 January 2025 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.