This month, discover how we archive online corporate filmmaking, how we’ve been bringing online video to the big screen, and a special pop-up exhibition.
21 May 2026
By Patrick Russell,Will Swinburne,Kitty Robertson,Paola Martucci
No, not the U2 guitarist! The Edge is one of the most prolific, productive and creative UK filmmaking companies you’ve (probably) never heard of.
Rather than working across the glamorous fields of feature film or high-end TV, The Edge (previously The Edge Picture Company) has, instead, since 1991, been ploughing the furrows of filmmaking commissioned by organisations from multinationals to small charities. They produce film as a medium for communication, thought and behaviour change, sometimes aimed at large public audiences and often tightly targeted ones.
Such sponsored communication occupies a rich, engrossing tradition in British film going back to the 1930s. At the BFI National Archive, we keep a close eye on its modern incarnations and, over the years, have collected more work from The Edge than any other contemporary producer: over 90 films, only a small sample of its vast back catalogue.
This sample illustrates the historic shift in corporate video from the analogue world of the 1990s to today’s digital world, transforming the possibilities for screen communication. Unlike many competitors, The Edge not only survived that transition but also thrived beyond it, honing their craft and repeatedly winning awards worldwide.
The Our Screen Heritage project (supported by the BFI Screen Heritage Fund, awarding National Lottery funding) is boosting BFI preservation of online video across all genres and has enabled us to update the BFI National Archive’s Edge holdings by selecting fifteen recent films. The project has also collected examples of work by newer companies working in the same field, including Plastic Pictures, Brickwall and Studio Giggle.
For clients from Openreach, Sidra and Mitie to The Integral Society and Transport for London, these films deploy drama, documentary, animation and poetry to stylishly spread awareness of everything from railway safety, disability access, child abuse and workplace violence to the aesthetics of toilet design.