Aluminium recycling is good for the environment, but it looks like dust, heat and scrap metal. That was exactly the challenge for Hoesch Granules: how do you build trust when your own process is perceived as ‘dirty’ and your customers and end products are confidential? Together with Pathfinder Studios, the company created industrial photography, a corporate film in five languages and a new website that don’t gloss over the rough side of industry, but turn it into a stage for the environmental benefit.
Many industrial companies face the same question: how do I show my production so that partners, customers and the public recognise the value behind it? This case study shows how Hoesch Granules answered it.
The project at a glance
| Client | Hoesch Granules GmbH, aluminium recycling |
| Challenge | A process perceived as ‘dirty’, confidential customers and end products |
| Solution | Industrial photography, a corporate film and a website that deliberately stage the rough side of industry and make the environmental benefit visible |
| Result | Industrial, employee and product photography, corporate film in 5 languages, new website |
| Languages | German, English, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese |
| Agency and production | Pathfinder Studios |
| Director | Tom Wolt |
| Producer | Ivy Thomas |
| Camera | Thomas Adolph |
Who is Hoesch Granules?
Hoesch Granules is a leading company in aluminium recycling and a key player in the circular economy. It supplies manufacturing industry with high-quality recycled raw materials, making a significant contribution to environmental protection.
What challenge did Hoesch Granules face?
Aluminium recycling has major benefits, but the process itself looks raw and unglamorous. Even so, the photos and film had to build trust and put the environmental benefit front and centre. There were two further constraints:
- The plant is designed purely for production, not for cameras and lighting.
- Strict confidentiality: customers and specific end products could not be shown.
Hoesch Granules also operates internationally, so the content had to work in several markets.
How do you show a rough industrial process in a way that builds trust?
By celebrating it rather than glossing over it: high-contrast, epic images show the strength of industry, while nature motifs turn the environmental benefit into a feeling. A ‘dirty’ process becomes a story about responsibility.
Problem first, then solution
The corporate film opens with the question of why aluminium recycling is needed in the first place. This positions Hoesch Granules as a competent solution to a global challenge, rather than having to justify the process.
Epic industrial imagery
Instead of prettying up the surroundings, we deliberately embraced the rough industrial look. Dark, high-contrast lighting created almost action-packed shots that radiate strength and significance, in the film as well as in the industrial photography.
The environmental benefit as an image
Shots of the pure end product are combined with images from nature, such as raindrops on leaves. This visual metaphor makes the cycle instantly tangible, without showing confidential products or customers.
Five languages for the global market
The film was produced in German, English, Chinese, Spanish and Portuguese, each with its own voice-over artist and a culturally adapted script. Learn more about multilingual corporate films.
Rather than trying to make an industrial plant look ‘clean’, we decided to celebrate its rough, almost brutal aesthetic. With high-contrast lighting, we turned the processes into epic images. The environmental benefit emerges in the viewer’s mind – through that very contrast.
– Tom Wolt, Director
A film in five languages means finding the perfect voice-over artist five times and adapting the script with cultural precision. Thinking this international complexity through from the start and delivering it smoothly is the strategic added value we offer globally active clients like Hoesch.
– Ivy Thomas, Producer
What did Hoesch Granules gain?
The film, photos and website have changed how Hoesch Granules is perceived: they make the company’s environmental importance easy to understand and build trust with partners, customers and the public. With five language versions, the corporate film also strengthens the company’s position in the global market.
Which companies is this approach right for?
The approach suits any company whose processes look rough, loud or unattractive, but whose benefit is significant. Typical examples:
- Recycling and waste management companies
- Metal, steel and foundry businesses
- Raw materials and chemical companies
- Suppliers with confidential customers and products
- Industrial companies with international sales
Our guide to corporate video production explains which types of film exist and what they cost. If your processes need explaining in detail, an industrial film is a good addition.
Our services in this project
Corporate film
- Creative concept, script and storyboard
- Casting of employees
- Location scouting and management
- Direction and complete shoot
- Post-production: editing, colour grading, sound design
- Voice-over casting and recording in 5 languages
- Music and motion graphics
Photography and web
- Industrial photography
- Employee photography
- Product photography
- Website: concept and implementation
Frequently asked questions about industrial photography and corporate films
Let’s talk about your visuals
Your production is rough, your benefit is significant, and you want to show both? In a free initial consultation, we’ll work out how photos, film and a website can make your strengths visible. No obligation, and as equal partners.
Or contact Yvonne Schwalowski directly: +49 2251 773 99 66, office@pathfinder-studios.de
