I proposed and built an in-house photography and video capability for CommBank's Digital team on a $5,000 budget, turning untested interest into sustained, real demand for the gear and skills I taught.
with Orrr Dhiravarangkura
Section 01 – The challenge
In early 2019, the Digital Experience (DX) team proposed allocating half my role to build an in-house photo and video capability for CommBank’s 90+ person Digital Experience team. Leadership questioned spending on studio gear when video wasn't a core job requirement.
The pitch
Lowers frictionRemoves perceived high production bars that prevent teams from using video.
Breaks silosMakes work visible across a massive organisation to stop parallel problem-solving.
Attracts talentOffers designers non-banking skills to boost engagement and retention.
OutcomeLeadership approved $5,000 for equipment and 50% of my time to build it.
Section 02 – Process
Starting point
I surveyed the DX team to test demand and identify key friction points before building out the capability:
High interest, low skill82% expressed medium-to-high interest in video production, but self-rated capability remained low.
Real barriersFriction stemmed from a lack of time, tool familiarity, and internal distribution methods rather than reluctance.
Top requestsTeams requested hands-on workshops and an internal platform to share video securely beyond YouTube or Vimeo.
Getting the basics in place
With budget and time approved, I bought the equipment – camera, lighting, tripod – and documented it on a Confluence page with a booking calendar so anyone in DX could reserve gear without going through me. Pickup was small but steady from the start.
Teaching the skill
The survey's top request was workshops, so I ran a 3-hour iMovie School to teach the basics of editing, backed by a mini curriculum of around ten short tutorials I shot on an iPhone so people could learn at their own pace. I also built a video template for people with zero experience – enough structure to get past the blank-page problem.
Raising the bar
A few weeks later, leadership brought in Australian film director Michael Caulfield to lead a three-week workshop, resulting in six original videos. Alongside his technical guidance, I ran a storytelling workshop - because polished editing only works if you have a story worth telling.
Proving it on a real project
The first real test came early, during the initiation phase of a new Shared Expenses feature. I worked with the team to sketch the user journey on post-its and turn it into a simple stop-motion-style video, one post-it at a time. I wasn't a designer on the feature itself – my part was the storytelling, sketching and video-making. It landed well for the empathy and insight it surfaced early on, though it stayed a one-off; it wasn't reused as a template afterward.
“Had any of us created an animated video before? No. Did we know how timing and storyboarding worked? No. What about sound, and music and scripting voiceovers? Also no. It's fair to say we didn't know anything about anything. And it is entirely thanks to Christof's drive, exuberance and boundless enthusiasm that we cobbled, hustled and ‘learnt-as-we-went-along’ all the way through making what I fondly call the ‘Shared Expenses video.’”
Section 03 – Outcome & impact
Reception
Demand for the camera was high and sustained, often resulting in double-bookings, though the light saw lighter use. I also applied the equipment across several internal projects:
- All Hands keynotes & feature explainers
- Cultural & onboarding videos (e.g., CommBank Behavioral Science team introduction, vendor partner onboarding for India operations)
- Marketing photoshoots
(Specific deliverables are listed under Initiatives; this study focuses on capability expansion.)
What happened after
After I left CommBank, the gear sat untouched - the capability didn't outlast my departure. Lesson learned: running on personal initiative rather than a formal mandate or strategy makes it a personal project, not a sustainable program. Without structural ownership, nothing lasts.