National Read Aloud Challenge
THE CHALLENGE...
Fonetti brought us back in 2025 to capture the energy and passion behind the National Read-Aloud Challenge, this time through the voices of the people inside it. We were there to interview the children who'd taken part, alongside the adults shaping the initiative, including founder Kim Antoniou and Louise Hill, then a brand ambassador and now chairman. The challenge itself is doing something important. Getting children reading aloud builds their fluency, their confidence, and a quiet belief in themselves that follows them well beyond the page. Our job was to let that come through on screen. The difficulty was the room. Children speaking openly about themselves is hard at the best of times, and putting them in front of large cameras, lights, and a crew they've never met before is the fastest way to make them freeze. The adults faced their own version of the same problem. Everyone in front of the lens had to feel safe enough to drop their guard and speak honestly, otherwise the film would never carry the truth the campaign is built on.
THE SOLUTION...
We kept everything as small and as warm as we could. A two-camera setup, simple lighting, and a kit footprint that didn't tower over anyone. The setup mattered, but how we ran the room mattered more. We made it fun. When a child stumbled over a word or lost their thread, we laughed with them, restarted, and treated mistakes as part of the day rather than something to edit around. The same approach carried into the interviews with the adults, where the goal was to get them past their professional voice and into something more honest. That mix of low-pressure crew and a deliberately light kit gave everyone room to be themselves on camera. The day produced around thirty short films, each one carrying a piece of what the National Read-Aloud Challenge is really doing for the children who take part.
