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Swinburne wanted to showcase its unique partnership with Vietnam’s iconic quiz show The Way to Olympia Peak, which awards scholarships to top contestants. The objective was to create a compelling, human-centred story that would resonate with Vietnamese audiences and highlight the life-changing opportunity of studying at Swinburne in Melbourne.
The challenge lay in telling a story that spanned two countries. We needed to capture the authentic context of the student’s life in Vietnam, while also bringing to life their new experiences and aspirations as a Swinburne student in Melbourne. Coordinating production across locations, languages and time zones required careful planning and collaboration.
We set out to produce a flagship video following Manh, one of the scholarship recipients, tracing his journey from Vietnam to Australia. The strategy was to let Manh’s own voice carry the story, balancing cultural pride, academic excellence, and the excitement of a new future.
Our approach was twofold:
Vietnam production: We engaged and briefed trusted local filmmakers in Vietnam to capture family life, Manh’s schooling, and cultural backdrops.
Australian production: Our team flew to Melbourne to film the second half of the story, following Manh on the Swinburne campus and around the city.
This hybrid model allowed us to remain agile while ensuring consistency in style, tone, and storytelling.
The narrative was structured around three themes:
Origins and achievement – celebrating Manh’s academic journey and his success in the Olympia competition.
Transition and discovery – showing the emotional leap from life in Vietnam to new experiences in Melbourne.
Future aspirations – highlighting how Swinburne empowers students to pursue global opportunities.
Our creative vision centred on contrast and connection. We used visual juxtapositions - classrooms in Vietnam versus lush campuses in Melbourne, family dining tables versus student city life - to illustrate transformation.
The edit was deliberately reflective and hopeful, with steady pacing, cinematic b-roll, and natural ambient sound layered under dialogue to immerse the viewer in each environment. Subtle match-cuts and transitions linked the two worlds seamlessly, all led by Manh’s interview.
The production delivered three key assets, covering the topics of:
• A primary feature video telling Manh’s story
• Cutdowns for social media in both English and Vietnamese
• Supporting photography for use across digital platforms
