Notlith · Napier
Corporate film in Napier: explaining the work since Gabrielle
For many organisations in and around Napier, the corporate story now has a before and an after. Boards, funders and partners ask what was damaged, what has been restored and what is still under way. Notlith makes corporate films remotely from your photographs, reports and approved statements, with creative direction, AI-assisted imagery used sparingly, editing, colour and sound.
Remote production · From your photos
February 2023 as a reference point
Cyclone Gabrielle reached Hawke's Bay on 14 February 2023. Floodwater damaged bridges over the Tūtaekurī River, swept through the Esk Valley, Taradale and Meeanee, and put the Redclyffe substation out of action, cutting power across much of the north of the region. Orchards, roads, schools and businesses were affected in very different ways. Some recovered within weeks; others are still rebuilding.
A corporate film written after that date usually has to locate the organisation on this timeline. We begin by listing, with your team, what happened to your sites, people and services, what has been restored and what remains open. Only statements your leadership is prepared to repeat in public go into the script. Where the record is incomplete, the film says so rather than filling the gap with confident narration.
One account, several readers
A funder wants to see where money went. An insurer or lender looks for a clear sequence of loss, repair and reduced risk. Staff and the wider community care about people and continuity. The facts are the same, but the order and emphasis change for each audience. A council or trust partner may also need a version that credits shared work accurately.
We plan one master with chapters that can be rearranged, then cut versions for a board pack, a funding application and a public page. Each version keeps the same verified figures, supplied by you as on-screen text. We never round a number up or infer an outcome the documents do not state. Each cut is reviewed by the person who signs off that audience's documents.
Sites that still show the damage
A film about recovery is tempting to finish with a clean, sunlit orchard or a rebuilt shed. If that site does not yet look like that, the image misleads the very people who are judging your progress. Dated photographs from your own files are more persuasive than a generated ideal. A dated image of silt in a packhouse can say more than a polished rendering of the finished building.
We caption repair imagery with the month it was taken and keep before and after pairs from the same viewpoint. AI-assisted work is limited to transitions, maps and graphic backgrounds. Where an interview with the site manager is needed, real filming is the honest route, and we edit that footage alongside the rest. Their words, cut carefully, carry more weight with a funder than any narration we could write.
A long story told in instalments
Recovery in Hawke's Bay continues across several years, and a single film can date quickly. A structure of short instalments lets you add a chapter when a bridge reopens or a planting season begins, without remaking what came before. Each new chapter opens with a short recap so it can also stand alone.
We keep titles, colour and music consistent across instalments, and hand over the project files and a style sheet. Te reo Māori names such as Te Matau-a-Māui and Ahuriri are spelled with care, and wording from iwi or community partners is used only once they have approved it. Spelling of place names is checked against the usage your partners prefer.
Catalog demonstration
See the production approach
English, adaptable to your language
Plan the details
Can the film describe the cyclone without seeming dramatic?
Yes. We use a calm narration, plain dates and your own images. Sound design stays restrained, and we avoid generated storm footage or anything that could be mistaken for a real record.
Can we show maps of affected areas?
We can animate maps from official or licensed sources that you identify. Boundaries and labels follow the source exactly, and the source is credited on screen where appropriate.
Who approves the figures in the film?
Your organisation does. We use numbers only as supplied in writing, show them as text and keep a list so later instalments stay consistent. Any correction is applied across every version.
Can staff be included without filming?
Only through photographs they have agreed to share. We do not generate likenesses of real employees or invent quotes attributed to them. Written statements can appear as on-screen text.
Start with your images
Send a short timeline since February 2023, the photographs you can use with their dates, and the audience the first version is for.