An Afternoon Workshop for Birmingham Children's Trust!

Four of our team members had the pleasure of running a film workshop with a group of talented children & young adults with Birmingham Children's Trust!

Our Day

In the ever-evolving landscape of education and creativity, providing young people with opportunities to explore diverse forms of self-expression is crucial. One such approach is to organise a 'mini film workshop' within the framework of the Children's Trust, aimed at empowering young minds and fostering a love for storytelling through the lens. So, we did just this - and had a great time while doing so, too!

In order to deliver a genuinely engaging session, our team created a lesson plan that focused on getting stuck in with hands-on filming; focusing on creativity of concept. Here, we invited the fantastic young people involved to utilise both their phones & various aspects of our in-house kit to create mini videos to music and AI-generated backdrops of their choice.

We created an environment where our participants felt safe, encouraged, and inspired. Our team of filmmakers, all of whom are experienced in working with young minds, brought their own valuable insights and expertise to the workshop.

The afternoon ended up being a blast! Splitting into groups, assigning roles (Camera Ops and Talent), and getting stuck in; we created a memorable 'mini film school' workshop for all involved.

We have had the pleasure of working with Birmingham Children's Trust on animations, interviews, and more. We wanted to give back in any way we could - a huge thank you to Jake and the Team for having us over for the afternoon, we had a fabulous time!

A film workshop for goes beyond conventional learning, offering an immersive experience that combines creativity, technology, and collaboration. If this is something that interests you, do not hesitate to get in touch! One of our team would be happy to have a chat about how we can help.

Training in Sustainable Production

At Tinker Taylor, we are making moves to create sustainable productions for our clients.
Step One: get the correct training! Enter AdGreen and ALBERT.

What is AdGreen?

AdGreen motivates the advertising industry to reduce the negative environmental impacts of advertisement production. Our Production Management team has completed the training provided by AdGreen, which covers:

We highly recommend other production companies to do the same; the course is eye-opening, genuinely interesting, and provides additional resources for you to share with your team and beyond. We are now ready to create carbon neutral productions for our clients. Read more here about how we help to offset our productions with ecologi.

What is ALBERT?

Similarly, ALBERT offers Sustainable Production Training which imparts knowledge and skills to create productions in a more sustainable way. A few of our Production members have also completed this course - particularly those who attended the University of Birmingham's Masters course in Research and Production (read more about our relationship with UoB here).

Our Production team is now fully set up to create completely carbon neutral productions for our clients! If you are interested in making a sustainable video project, get in touch today!

New Film for #NoExcuseForAbuse Campaign

The West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner has launched a new campaign calling for an end to sexual abuse and harassment of women and girls exercising in public spaces.

The Project

When this project began, we couldn't wait to get started. As a women-led company whose staff is made up mostly of women, we felt that we were in a great position to lend personal experience and insight into this creative to make it as authentic and visceral as possible, whilst also being respectful of the subject matter.

The Film

From storyboarding, to final delivery, we put our all into this film. Our goal was to elicit strong emotions and provide information about the issue. We wanted women who have experienced harassment and abuse to feel heard, validated, and understood. Equally important, we wanted men who watched the film to grasp the gravity of the issue and reflect on their own behaviour towards women and the behaviour of those around them. Read more about the project here.

WMPCC - I'm Tired of This

Working with The Hospice Charity Partnership

Earlier this year, we created an anniversary celebration video for the wonderful Hospice Charity Partnership - a charity offering improvements to palliative and end of life care. We wanted to give back to the charity for all their fantastic work and so gifted the video free of charge!

The Hospice Charity Partnership

In 2021, St Mary’s and John Taylor Hospices came together to form The Hospice Charity Partnership. The two hospices had worked together previously in Birmingham and Sandwell, and this partnership means they are now able to offer the same standard of care to those who need it, regardless of their location. Now, they support and care for over 500 individuals living with life-limiting illness everyday.

The Film

Our goal was to create a film which extends a warm and informative welcome to the Partnership for potential donors, partners, and volunteers to appreciate. We used a mix of visuals at the hospice sites and animated graphics to get across as much information as possible in a short amount of time. Please feel free to watch the film below.

‘This is great!! Exactly what we want to be getting out there’

‘I think it’s so warm, welcoming and super professional. It’s really fab.'

'I am over the moon we finally have a media material like this’

Reviews of the film by the lovely Hospice Charity Partnership staff.

Other Promotional Video

We love being able to help out our neighbours in this way: we also worked with The Mockingbird Cinema to make a free promotional video for their new screen crowdfunder and The Clean Kilo to make a free of charge promotional video back in 2021.

We could keep writing about the importance of video, but instead we suggest you take a look at this animation we made to explain why you should use video in 2022!

We're Investing in Electric

What's the news?

This week, we've invested in an Eleglide electric bike as a part of our cycle to work scheme. With hopes of partaking in longer bike rides, as well as carrying out the majority of work commutes by bike, this investment will be a game changer!

Using electric bikes is a fantastic method of reducing carbon emission. See below for all the stats which motivated us to invest. (Bonus: longer journeys to work are transformed from a sweaty workout to a pleasurable journey that can be as easy or hard as you like!)

Let's hear from the experts:

"Electric bikes are zero-emission vehicles – that means they emit no tailpipe emissions and also create no noise. Motor vehicles, on the other hand, account for a fifth of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions. And with the government’s aim to reduce all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, eco-friendly modes of transport like electric bikes are the future!"

Halfords Expert Advice, 'Environmental benefits of electric bikes.'

Electrically-assisted bicycles (e-bikes), if used to replace car travel, have the capability to cut car carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in England by up to 50% (about 30 million tonnes per year).

Ian Philips, Jillian Anable and Tim Chatterton, The Centre for Research in Energy Demand Solutions.

What about electric bike production?

"...The European Cyclist's Federation (ECF) study accounted for various things, including the production of a bike and detailed aspects such as the C02 released in the production of food, as cyclists consume more due to exercising. They found that, even with these factors, cycling only releases roughly 21 grams of C02e per passenger kilometre travelled, compared with 271 grams of C02e per passenger kilometre in a car."

Halfords Expert Advice, 'Environmental benefits of electric bikes.'

So, next time you're out and about in Digbeth, look out for one of our team using this wonderful bike! We are making real steps to reduce our carbon emissions as a company, which you can read more about here and here.

Serious about Carbon Reduction - Tinker Taylor and Ecologi

We offset our carbon footprint via Ecologi

In line with our pledge to sustainability we have signed up to Ecologi - a fantastic company who are investing our money into a broad range of carbon reduction projects all over the world.

Who are Ecologi?

Ecologi invest your company's money into a huge amount of projects with an aim to create a greener world! With real-time carbon footprint analysis, pictures of where trees are planted, and updates on their Sustainable Development Goals - it always keeps you in the loop of how your money is making a real difference.

It’s now common knowledge that one of the best tools to tackle the climate crisis and keep our temperatures from rising above 1.5C is to plant trees. Ecologi has already planted 32,827,629 trees and reduced 1,279,476 tonnes of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere.

What have we achieved with Ecologi?

So far, Ecologi has invested our money into planting 98 trees in Madagascar, Kenya and Nicaragua, as well as into a variety of Sustainable Development Goals. These include Affordable and Clean Energy, No Poverty, and Good Health & Well-being.

We are serious about making our company as sustainable and ecologically responsible as possible. We've recently signed up to the new Electric Car Salary Sacrifice Scheme, a cycle-to-work scheme, and have switched to using only The Sustainable Print Co. for our mass printing needs. We urge other companies to do the same, if they can!

Promotional Video for The Mockingbird Cinema's Crowdfunder!

Last week, we had the pleasure of making a promotional video for The Mockingbird Cinema, free of charge, in order to promote their recent crowdfunder: support for a brand new screen! 

The Mockingbird

The Mockingbird is a fully independent cinema and an iconic place for the West Midlands' ever-growing community of film-makers and film lovers. Focusing on providing a platform for media outside the mainstream, The Mockingbird is a great purveyor of diversity in film. They've had such a big impact on Birmingham's creative community and so we wanted to help by doing what we do best - making an eye-catching video! Their crowdfunder page can be found here.

Other Promotional Video

We love being able to help out our neighbours in this way: we also worked with The Clean Kilo to make a free of charge promotional video back in 2021.

We could keep writing about the importance of video, but instead we suggest you take a look at this animation we made to explain why you should use video in 2022!

We're Saving Employees up to 40% on our new Electric Car Salary Sacrifice Scheme!

What is the Scheme?

Similar to a Cycle-to-Work scheme, our new Electric Car Salary Sacrifice Scheme, in partnership with Octopus Electric Vehicles, means that Tinker Taylor employees can now benefit from a brand new (electric) vehicle which is paid monthly via their gross salary - saving them up to 40% on the cost of driving.

Why the ECSS?

We gravitated towards this scheme as a part of our drive to be more environmentally conscious (see our pledge to sustainability here.)  

There are huge benefits to our employees and to the environment;


- Zero tailpipe emissions 

- Free/discounted parking 

- Savings on fuel, servicing maintenance and repair 

- Future proofed for Clean Air Zones (and we know all about clean air zones - see our video on this for Birmingham City Council here!) 

- Exempt from Road Tax

- Home charging grants

- No Congestion charge


These benefits will help massively when travelling to and from film shoots - cutting our corporate carbon footprint with zero-emission miles. AND, we’re cutting air pollution in our community- win, win! 


Our editor in chief was so excited about this, he ordered his new electric car within 24 hours of Tinker Taylor launching the scheme! 


Here’s to making Electric Dreams come true for all of our wonderful TT staff! 

We've Started Cyclescheme - and We Love it

Cyclescheme is a great programme that offers employees 25% - 39% off the cost of a new bike. We are pleased to share that we have begun participating in the scheme.

Our Internships for UoB Students

Seven Years Strong

At Tinker Taylor, we have an excellent relationship with the University of Birmingham. To date, we’ve given twelve UoB students from the Film and Television: Research and Production Masters internships over the last seven years, with two more joining us in 2022.  We have given full-time employment to five of our interns, upon graduation, all of whom have thrived!

What We Offer

We really want those who do placements with us to feel like they've gained legitimate insight into the video production industry. We ensure that everyone who joins us for their 12 weeks becomes genuinely involved in making a difference to our company; helping with all stages of production; diving into social activities and joining crew on shoots whenever possible.

We know that valuable work experience is hugely advantageous to students. Whether you're freelance or full-time, actual experience is the most valuable tool you can have for building your career. Our connection to this Masters course has been a great way for us to help as many young people as we can to kick-start their careers, and we look forward to continuing with this productive collaboration!

We had to include this video because it holds a special place in our hearts - take a look at our 2021 Table Tennis Tournament, which our fantastic intern at the time, Sherif, joined in on!