Making a Carers Video
Tips from filming with Gaddum
How do you make a film with carers?
Making a film with carers requires a flexible production process that fits around their caring responsibilities. Contributors need to feel comfortable talking about personal experiences, but they also need to know where filming will take place, how long it will take and when they can leave.
Manchester charity Gaddum commissioned Magneto Films to produce That Counts as Caring for National Carers’ Week. The campaign was aimed particularly at people who regularly support someone close to them but may not recognise that what they do counts as caring. Without that recognition, people can miss out on advice and support.
We produced a main campaign film, two individual stories and a series of shorter social-media edits. The central idea was simple: let people describe caring in their own words, and organise the production around the realities of their lives.
Reaching people who do not identify as carers
Caring does not always begin with someone deciding that they have become a carer. It can develop gradually as they start helping a parent, partner, relative or friend with appointments, medication, travel, household tasks or emotional support.
Because this happens within an existing relationship, people often simply see themselves as doing what needs to be done. A campaign aimed at carers therefore has to reach people who may not initially think the message applies to them.
Rather than beginning with formal definitions, the Gaddum films were built around recognisable experiences. Contributors talked about what they actually did and how caring fitted into their lives. This allowed viewers to recognise similar experiences without suggesting that every caring relationship is the same.
Making the shoot fit around carers
Caring situations can change quickly. Someone may need to cancel, arrive later than planned or get home promptly to the person they support.
We booked more contributors than the films strictly required, so an interview could be moved or dropped without putting pressure on anyone to attend.
Each contributor had an individual time slot, with the crew, cameras and interview space ready before they arrived. We also kept to agreed finishing times. For someone fitting filming around caring responsibilities, knowing when they can leave can matter as much as knowing when they need to arrive.
Choosing the right place to film
For the main Gaddum interviews, we booked a relaxed, conveniently located central venue. Contributors could arrive at an agreed time, have their interview and leave without having to prepare their home or accommodate a film crew.
Where people were happy for us to visit them at home, we also filmed everyday life to give their stories more context. Home filming was always optional.
The production fitted around contributors’ lives, rather than asking them to reorganise their lives around the production.
Let carers tell their own stories
When a film deals with caring, illness or difficult family circumstances, too many predetermined questions can make an interview feel like an exercise in collecting testimony. We keep questions straightforward and open, allowing people to describe what they do, how their caring role developed and what it means to them.
Contributors knew what the campaign was for and could set boundaries around what they wanted to discuss. Consent continued throughout filming, rather than being something dealt with only before the camera started rolling.
We also filmed details of people’s wider lives. Caring may be an important part of someone’s experience, but it doesn’t have to define their entire identity.
Creating a complete carers campaign
Gaddum needed the filming to work across several different outputs.
The main That Counts as Caring film introduced the campaign and brought several voices together. Two individual films gave particular contributors more time to tell their stories, while shorter edits could be used on social media to reach people who might never encounter the main film. We planned these different versions before filming.
That meant interviews and additional sequences could be shot with all the final films in mind, rather than trying to create several new pieces of content from footage intended for only one film. It also meant contributors didn’t have to repeat the process for separate productions.
What impact did the carers campaign achieve?
The campaign was intended to do more than generate views. Gaddum wanted people to recognise that what they were doing counted as caring and to connect them with appropriate support.
Gaddum reported that:
- Carer referrals increased by 20% during June, the month the campaign launched.
- The campaign generated 37,500 impressions and 10,500 views.
- The films were selected as training material for patient-facing staff at Pennine Care NHS Trust.
- The campaign was shared by commissioners, Salford Council and organisations across the voluntary, community and social-enterprise sector.
- A proposal based on the campaign was included in a policy briefing calling for a Greater Manchester-wide commitment to help people recognise themselves as carers and access support.
The films travelled beyond the original public campaign. They were used in NHS training, shared by commissioners and local authorities, and contributed to wider discussions about identifying and supporting unpaid carers.
Five lessons for making a film with carers
- Fit filming around caring responsibilities.
- Offer a convenient, neutral venue and make home filming optional.
- Give contributors clear arrival and finishing times.
- Expect circumstances to change and plan for cancellations.
- Let contributors describe caring in their own words.
Making a successful film with carers is as much about how the production is organised as what happens in the interview. If participation is straightforward, flexible and respectful of people’s time, contributors have more space to concentrate on telling their stories.
What Gaddum said
“The campaign was a real hit.”
Gaddum particularly valued the care and empathy shown to contributors during filming and our understanding of personal, human-led stories. The finished films surpassed the charity’s expectations and helped raise awareness of unpaid caring.
About Magneto Films
We are a video production company with bases in London and the East Midlands, specialising in working with the public sector, healthcare organisations, and charities. Alongside recruitment films, we create engaging videos for training, marketing, branding, case studies, and volunteer or community projects.
We have extensive experience working with charities and public sector organisations to produce films that tell real stories, capture authentic voices, and inspire audiences. Our volunteer and charity videos often feature the people at the heart of the organisation — the volunteers, staff, or beneficiaries — so the films feel genuine, relatable, and motivating.
Each project is carefully tailored to its audience. Whether it’s showing the impact of a volunteer day, highlighting team culture, or illustrating the difference a role can make, we focus on creating videos that connect with viewers and bring organisations’ missions to life.
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We produce recruitment videos for businesses, the public sector and charities.