Higher education / Research & innovation

UTP Research & Innovation: making the relevance of research visible

Give a prospective industry partner a reason to look closer.

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UTP campus aerial selected in the Research and Innovation storyboard — UTP campus / R&I storyboard reference, 2020

ClientUTP Research & Innovation

AssignmentInstitutional corporate-film development

PurplePerfect’s contributionStoryboard, script, captions and voice-over preparation

The assignment

Make room for an industry conversation.

A research programme may involve years of specialised work. An introductory film has a shorter opportunity to explain the question being investigated, why it matters and where an industry conversation could begin.

PurplePerfect's corporate-film development for Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS Research & Innovation included storyboards, script refinement, captions and voice-over preparation.

Story structure

Give research a point of connection.

Energy Sustainability

A research theme explored in the storyboard.

Smart Communities

A second theme for explaining relevance.

Industry conversation

The intended audience needs to understand where the work could connect.

A planning model for the communication task.

Begin with the question the research addresses

The storyboard explored themes including Energy Sustainability and Smart Communities. These provided a way into the research through questions facing industries and communities.

That connection matters to a prospective partner. Before exploring an institute's expertise in detail, the viewer needs to understand how the work relates to a problem they recognise.

The narrative task was to give the research a clear context while retaining the distinctions that mattered to the people developing it.

Industrial research facility reference from the UTP R&I storyboard — R&I visual development / Facility reference from the 2020 storyboard

Two people examining research equipment in a UTP storyboard reference — R&I visual development / Research reference from the 2020 storyboard

Give each part of the film a purpose

The script, captions and visual sequence all contribute to an explanation. A caption can identify a research area. Narration can establish its purpose. The image needs to help the viewer understand the work being discussed.

Storyboarding brought those choices together before voice-over preparation. The creative objective was an introduction that could support institutional and industry conversations without asking the viewer to arrive with specialist knowledge of every field.

Commissioning a research or institute film

How can one film introduce several research themes?

Choose an organising idea relevant to the intended audience. Then work with the research team to select examples that explain each theme and its connection to that idea.

What should our institute prepare?

Identify your priority audiences, research themes, approved examples and technical reviewers. Be clear about which findings are established, which applications are being explored and what you want a prospective partner to ask next.

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