Video Production in a Pandemic: How we’ve adapted July 2020

How has video production in a pandemic been?

The past few months have brought uncertainty to most businesses and industries, from construction to retail, hospitality to business services and even to us camera geeks in video production. Surely the last thing businesses will need at a time like this would be video content? And where to even start with video production in a pandemic?

Surprisingly enough, we found the opposite to be true and have been fortunately working consistently through the lockdown period with the help of some wonderful clients, an amazing team and some truly innovative projects. Videography is helping our clients to present their products and services in an engaging way, with the benefit of a personal touch that has been lacking since we can’t all go out and meet, sell and go about business as usual.

Video has been cited by multiple sources (including Forbes) as one of the hottest marketing trends of 2020 and beyond and for us, it’s not hard to see why.

However, not all businesses or projects are so willing to dive back into video content, for a variety of reasons.

It requires a load of face-to-face time, getting up close and personal with a sound engineer sticking a mic on you, and wrangling a million lights into one tiny office. Well, that probably couldn’t be done safely or in line with regulations, but not all productions require that and there’s a balance to be struck between shaky self-shot mobile phone footage and a high-spec production that needs a team of 10 people.

So, we thought we’d share how we’ve been adapting to video production in a pandemic and show how we’ve been able to keep our crew and clients safe whilst maintaining the highest quality video output possible.

Video Production in a pandemic- First things first: P.P.E!

It’s hot, your specs get steamed up, and climbing up three flights of stairs with heavy camera equipment wearing gloves and a mask isn’t the easiest thing in the world, but it’s vital that we keep everyone safe on set. So we’ve been turning up to every shoot with the following:

• Mask
• Face Shield
• Gloves (with proper glove discipline – who knew we touched our faces so much?!)
• Antibacterial wipes
• Hand sanitiser gel
• Tape to indicate that equipment has been used on a shoot and needs to be sterilised before the next job

Some companies may not have as strict requirements on P.P.E as we do, but we feel it is our responsibility to enact best practice regardless of where we are. Our clients appreciate it and by ensuring we’re all adequately protected, we can get on with the task of making your video as awesome as possible, without delay or distraction.

Video Production in a pandemic- Scale the production

If you’re creating some new training videos (perhaps showcasing your new social distancing procedures – nudge – #contactusforaquote) do you really need to involve 20 members of staff? Not in a world post-pandemic, that’s for sure.

Why not have a project manager on-site with a single employee (or actor – and we know some fantastic actors!) to help detail the essential steps at a pace that allows us to keep everyone safe?

This doesn’t mean that you can’t get input from the people in your team who would typically be involved, but it does mean that on the day, personnel on-site are kept to a minimum to ensure their safety and our team’s.

We can help with storyboarding and discuss ideas with key people in your business so that once filming day hits, everyone’s ideas are taken into account and we can lead with as few people in the room as possible.

Video Production in a pandemic – Change venue

We all know that staying in is the new going out, but when it comes to seeing colleagues, friends and family, outside is currently the only way. So why not adopt this mentality to your video production and film outside?

As North East dwellers, we’re blessed with a wide variety of local beauty spots that could set the scene for your production and we’re adept in producing videos outside thanks to experience for a wide range of clients such as Newcastle United Foundation and Hit The North Festival.

If outside isn’t your bag, we also know of a wide range of large-scale studios that we can use to ensure everyone is at a safe distance for the duration of filming.

There could also be an element of relevant archive footage or animation, bringing your project to life utilising existing material so human-to-human contact can be kept to a minimum.

Not all new projects need to have brand-new footage and things like animation, archive footage, stock footage, Zoom calls and images are valuable assets and ones we’ve used to create engaging content without having to step foot out of our office.

Video Production in a pandemic- Make a day of it

One thing we’ve been seeing a lot more of is full days of filming where a number of different video projects can be done at once, minimising the number of filming sessions done over time, whilst also ensuring clients have a back catalogue of relevant video to utilise as needed.

We’ve recently filmed a series of educational videos for client Little Inventors, back-to-back, getting the most out of the time and avoiding multiple visits, for the benefit of all.  That way we get the footage we need to go away and edit, producing a wonderful series of content ready to use.

It’s also really useful from a planning perspective, both for the client and for us, as it ensures there aren’t lots of visits for different stages of filming, minimising the number of days all parties are out of their homes.

Video Production in a pandemic- Take events virtually

Miss hosting events? Don’t give your audience a highly-compressed stream from a laptop and for the love of God, don’t make your attendees sit through another Zoom call or conference. They’re all tired of it.  We can deliver a broadcast quality multi-camera stream to anywhere you like – Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo and more. We can even add in some canned laughter if your host isn’t as funny as they think they are.

The fact is, business events are going to take a big hit for the foreseeable, so it’s time that businesses looked ahead to find new ways of running them. High-quality video production can do wonders for setting your brand up against the rest and creates an enjoyable, engaging experience for your attendees.  It’s an opportunity for businesses to showcase how much they care about their clients and their business community, so much so that they want to create the best content possible to provide that crucial human element.

We’ve recently wrapped on two event-style projects for clients, 1 a virtual conference and another a virtual summer concert, so if you have an idea for a video event you’re looking to get off the ground, we can certainly help.

Why video marketing?

This post shares a heap of inspiration as to how you can utilise video production in a pandemic to create a high-quality brand experience that your customers can access safely. To us, video marketing is a no-brainer (and sure, we’re biased) but even Hubspot has been waxing lyrical about the power of video, sharing findings that:

• Video marketers get 66% more qualified leads yearly than those who don’t focus on video.
• Video marketers see a 54% increase in brand awareness with their content among audience members.
• Product videos can increase purchases by 144%.

And there couldn’t be a better time to get started.

Ready? Let’s chat.