Navigating the Changing Landscape of Commercial Video Production

Times are changing. Thanks to travel restrictions, social distancing and an overall reduction in ad spending due to COVID-19, commercial video production is getting more and more challenging. Already-thin budgets are getting thinner. Crews are shrinking. And there’s barely enough money to put food on the craft services table. So if agencies and production companies don’t want to go the way of the woolly mammoth, they must learn to stretch their budgets and their minds. It’s time to get creative.

Pivoting for Success: Examples of Adaptation

 Gatorade's Success Story: Remote Shoots and Smaller Crews

This spot from Gatorade is the perfect example of pivoting for success. Faced with huge hurdles as to how they were going to shoot their roster of athletes amid a pandemic, Gatorade’s ad agency hit a homerun. Instead of risking sending a huge production crew to different cities, the agency saved themselves a little money and a lot of worry by hiring much smaller crews in those cities to help with the shoots being directed remotely over Zoom. Everyone involved showed a great ability to adapt to the difficult situation.

Embracing Evolving Tools and Resources

Unlocking the Potential of Content Creation

Given the fact the current climate doesn’t seem poised to change anytime soon, however, one may not want to simply adapt. To help avoid future production nightmares, one may want to evolve. This evolution will be made easier by an ever-expanding toolkit for content creation.

Just ask these top agency Heads of Production. They discuss the resources and methods they’re using to move forward in 2020 and beyond. Tanya LaSieur, Partner at MUH-TAY-ZIK / HOF-FER in San Francisco explains “We’ve been using something called Cinebody. It’s an app where you can basically set up…say…50 people to shoot themselves in their homes. It’s an amazing platform we’ve been using a lot.”

LaSieur isn’t the only one embracing innovative tools like Cinebody. Agencies and production companies across the globe are using them to remote direct and create content for smaller productions. As budget reductions and travel restrictions continue, leveraging the high-quality cameras in smartphones with conferencing tools like Zoom help directors patch in while ensuring high-quality footage and topnotch results.

Lessons from the Industry: Ingenuity as the Key to Success

Drawing Inspiration from TV and Film

In closing, let’s take a lesson from the TV and film industry. An industry that has a long history of adapting and evolving. For instance, writers’ strikes over the years have led to the rise of reality TV. In similar fashion, the pandemic could very well lead to an increase in user-generated content, cloud-based platforms and many other means for getting the video job done from a budget and logistical standpoint. Whether you’re coming up with quick fixes to your current production problems or formulating long-term solutions, all it takes is a little ingenuity.

Embracing Creativity to Thrive in Commercial Video Production

In a time when budgets are tight and circumstances continually shift, the commercial video production industry must embrace creativity to thrive. Adapting to the challenges by optimizing resources, leveraging innovative tools, and exploring alternative approaches is essential. By learning from successful examples like Gatorade's remote shoots and utilizing evolving technologies such as Cinebody, agencies and production companies can overcome obstacles and deliver impactful content. The key lies in ingenuity, allowing the industry to navigate the current landscape while paving the way for a future shaped by innovation and resourcefulness.