Imagine a world where people roam freely, travel, interact with each other, and even…socialize! For almost all of 2020, what once was our reality became a fantasy, almost overnight. Now, with the advent of vaccines and COVID-19 treatments, our former reality could be making a comeback. But what will this “new reality” mean for content producers? Will there be a “roaring 20’s” of video production and live action shooting? Will in-person events flood venues around the world? The answer, of course, is…maybe. How we return to producing content is going to change, and in some cases, for the better. The pandemic created a lot of things, including opportunity – an opportunity for you to make your videos more relevant, engaging and inclusive.

In our pre-pandemic world, video production values were always the goal, for good reason. The overriding belief has always been that the more thought, design and effects you could “see on the screen,” the more engaging and effective the story would be. These high-quality productions were either filmed on-location or created entirely through digital post-production.

Stories, however, don’t stop. Companies like yours have always had stories to tell, but during the pandemic, it became difficult to tell them in a relevant way, especially with in-person location shoots nearly impossible to produce. How are you going to interview subject matter experts or get footage of your new manufacturing plant? DIY. People started generating their own video content, and while some was good, most of it did not have the production values any of us are used to. So while it got the job done, something even more interesting happened.

Experienced content producers developed a few DIY ideas of their own…and began using existing technology to remotely capture content at a higher level of quality than ever before. Combining remote recording technology with live remote directing, content producers were able to capture people saying or doing things anywhere in the world…without any COVID concerns, and with much smaller budgets.

Here’s an example of how these new pandemic techniques could be used to everyone’s benefit in a post-pandemic world.

Your company is producing a video showcasing your revolutionary new product. A production crew has already shot interviews on location, captured beautiful b-roll, and the editing process is on schedule to finish the video in time for next week’s sales conference.

But then, you get the call. A key opinion leader in Australia needs to be included in the video and is only available next week. A few years ago, this type of call would turn your entire production process on its head, but now with a little scheduling, a pre-production meeting and ensuring basic equipment is onsite, you can easily and efficiently record the interview remotely. An experienced director can help ensure the new interview footage will be consistent with the rest of the video, and monitor a screen to review the shot and direct the interview…all at a fraction of the time and cost it would have taken to send a crew around the world to shoot one interview.

Will this workflow replace traditional video production? No, probably not. Will it become another valuable and effective tool storytellers can strategically use to make sure your story is told efficiently?  Yes, I think it will.

Content providers and their clients are going to have a hard time letting go of some of their new pandemic-inspired “best practices.” And that’s a good thing. Because many of the inspired innovations made us all think of projects in a different way and gave us increased flexibility as a result. Like everything else in our post-pandemic life, it will be a balancing act between “business as usual” and “lessons learned.”  The pandemic didn’t teach us anything – our reaction to it did – and it may have opened up a world of possibilities…especially in a world that soon will be fully open.