Severn: Unlocked! Creating a video to celebrate the completion of Unlocking the Severn

Corinne Spiller
Oct 3, 2022
2 min read

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF50f9h7n2k

Wave your shad flags in the air, the River Severn is unlocked for fish!! I created this video for a special event, held at Diglis, to celebrate the completion of the Unlocking the Severn project.

The celebration event welcomed team members old and new, project partners, funders and past colleagues who had worked on Unlocking the Severn. We all got together to celebrate the achievement of everyone involved, in creating better passage for fish and greater river connectivity along the UK's longest river.

A special responsibility

My creative skills were called upon to produce a video to celebrate the success of the project. It was no easy feat! Early project discussions began in 2011, so the project spanned over a decade of hard work.

I also needed to incorporate the construction of the fish passes, extensive scientific monitoring programme, citizen science, public engagement, volunteering and the project's legacy. So cutting it down into a <7 minute video was a challenge!

The tone of the video was celebratory and hopeful. I brought together the success from each part of the project - whether that was seeing over 1300 shad swimming through Diglis fish pass in two years, or welcoming our 6,000th visitor to Diglis Island and fish pass. It was also important to highlight that the work doesn't stop there. My nod to the ongoing legacy of the project, at the end of the film, showed that public engagement will continue. The fish passes will, of course, provide safe passage for fish for many years to come.

A video that the project can be proud of

My video was premiered at the celebration event on 29th September. Project partners, funders and colleagues all commented on (and I'm failing miserably to not blow my own trumpet here) how darn good it was! It was wonderful to get recognition from Richard Parry, Chief Executive of the Canal & River Trust, who has asked for a copy of the video.