From the unity a pasta bowl can bring, to how dust can come to symbolise new beginnings, here is our pick of the latest in video communications. For more from #CommunicateLens, follow @Communicatemag on Twitter.

Bamberg Symphony Orchestra

Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, considered one of the best concert halls in Bavaria, worked with Serviceplan Campaign to create a new video ‘BAM is back’ which celebrates its reopening to the public after it had been empty for more than three months due to Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. Using nothing but dust as a symbol for the emptiness of the concert halls around the world, the video shows how dust can also transform to represent new beginnings. dust that accumulated during lockdown is seen dancing to the sound of the first music Bamberg Symphony played again.

It testifies to the long silence of recent months and also to the desire to overcome this silence and to be able to play live for an audience again. With 'BAM is back' we celebrate music, our return and considerateness and want to welcome people back to the place that has missed them for so long,” says Marcus Rudolph Axt, chief executive of the Bamberg Symphony.

Barilla

Barilla, one of the world’s leading pasta brands based in Italy, worked with Publicis Italy to launch a new communication campaign to strengthen its message of closeness to people’s everyday life and of confidence for the future. With the past months of lockdown changing people’s habits and the home becoming the sole hub of many activities usually done outside, Barilla focused on the rediscovered pleasure of sitting around the table. Shot between Budapest and Rome, the video features tables all around the world, with people using them to work on their laptops, mark homework, workout or use as a drumkit. The video is marked by the notes of Beautiful That Way, the soundtrack of Roberto Benigni’s film ‘La vita e’ bella,’ a timeless masterpiece that represents the beauty of Italian culture on an international level. The crescendo of the music and the warmth perceived by the shared moments is a hymn to life, to restart, and to hope, which reaches its apex in the final scene of the video when a bowl of pasta enters the stage and the table turns back into family and friends.

«With this campaign we wanted to put the everyday life of tables around the world at the center. In this difficult period they have been used and experienced in the most varied and unusual ways, but it is when a bowl of pasta comes to the table that the loved ones get together and re-appreciate the meaning of "home". It is a message of closeness and trust for the future» - said Gianluca Di Tondo, barilla chief marketing office

Distilled SCH
Irish online marketplace Distilled SCH launched a video to mark six months of working from home as result of Covid-19. The five-and-a-half film features videos, interviews and photos compiled by the company’s social group The Distillers which shows employees documenting their lives during lockdown. The video allows for a moment to reflect how far the company and its employees have come from six months ago to know, and the effort it took to make the ‘new normal’ work for everyone. Looking back, as the video reminds viewers, there is much to celebrate for: the company culture that has created a sense of community even from afar, allowing for challenges to be overcome together. ‘Although we no longer see our colleagues on a daily basis, seeing them on-screen can bring smiles to our faces and help us overcome these tough times. And not to mention all the new faces that have been added to the family,’ says the narrator. The film also points out that the countless hours of free time have had silver linings, allowing employees to discover oneselves, outdoor activities, and new hobbies. Finally, it also helps to point out the progress Distilled SCH has made as a company, where 2021 has better prospects than 2019, something which would have been impossible to believe in March.

Isla Media

Cork-based media production company Isla Media worked with fitness coach Trevor Cummins to produce a video testimonial with Olympic track and field silver medallist Sonia O’Sullivan, which is part of a larger campaign that will feature a movie on Cummins’ story. The video shows candid clips O’Sullivan and Cummins immersed in Ireland’s nature training together, as O’Sullivan recounts the beginning of their partnership and friendship. ‘Trevor reminded me that it doesn’t matter at what level you’re at, you still need some structure and focus and a bit of a programme. So when you get up in the morning, you actually have a plan,’ O’Sullivan says to the camera. The key message the video conveys is that it is important for all athletes, even former Olympic ones, to acknowledge the need for plan and a focus to train well, and with a coach like Cummins, that can be achieved.

Sport England

Sport England is extending its ‘This Girl Can’ campaign with ‘Studio You,’ a video that promotes the creation of new digital school’s platform designed to reach girls who have disengaged from PE. Sport England has partnered with behaviour change specialists Hopscotch to lead a consortium of four agencies in the platform’s design and delivery to support schools in providing high quality, modern PE lesson. The video features clips of what Studio You will be about: workout sessions inspiring girls to feel more confident in a school PE setting. The video shows girls doing different workouts. Including yoga, pilates, barre and dance, to upbeat and groovy music tunes The idea of the video and the larger campaign is to present sport as accessible, fun and rewarding. Footage for the workout videos and associated campaign was shot by an all-female production crew.