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Student Cities
Department of Education — International Student Program
How do you help an international student imagine not just studying in regional Victoria, but belonging there?
For the Department of Education's International Student Program, we travelled across regional Victoria to tell the stories of international students studying, living and building their futures outside Melbourne.
Each student became our guide — through their school, their city and the everyday places that had become part of their life in Victoria.
The result was a colourful series combining personal student journeys with a broader picture of the education, lifestyle and future pathways available in Victoria's regional student cities.
The original brief called for work across six schools, with student stories spanning Bendigo, Ballarat, Geelong, Wodonga and Gippsland, and asked the campaign to challenge the idea that regional centres offered fewer opportunities than Melbourne.
At a glance
24 video outcomes
60 extracted 4k still images
6 schools
5 regional cities
1–2 min hero films
30 sec social edits
16:9 + 9:16 delivery
International recruitment / Web / Social
The Client Brief
The Department wanted prospective international students, their families and education agents to see regional Victoria differently.
The films needed to highlight strong educational opportunities while also answering the questions that sit beyond the classroom: What would my life actually be like there? Will I make friends? What can I do on weekends? Can I continue to university or find work? Will I feel at home?
Importantly, the campaign needed to show regional cities as vibrant, connected places with genuine education, lifestyle and future opportunities — not simply as alternatives to Melbourne.
Our Approach
This project called for a more structured approach than many of our documentary projects.
Working around each student's personal experience, we developed first-person stories and detailed visual storyboards before filming. Every part of the script was based on pre-interviews conducted with each student. We then identified locations, activities, or visual concepts that allowed the student's journey to flow naturally through their school life, friendships, future studies, local landmarks, and the places they truly enjoyed.
We combined direct-to-camera delivery with smooth gimbal movements, aerial shots, and thoughtfully planned lifestyle scenes. This approach ensured that each film felt polished and energetic while keeping the student at the center of the story.
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