Our Alejo team went out into the field in June, the first time in more than a year that our crew had all been together on site with people other than our own bubble around us. It was great! Different, but still great. Throughout this pandemic we have been finding different techniques and resources to create our videos: animation, stock footage, motion graphics. It was challenging, fun and really made us think outside the box – Winning! I am very proud of all the work we did during what I’m calling … The Lost Year. We pivoted in our business, we moved our workshops to the virtual world, I personally met and trained individuals and worked with companies I never would have had Covid not forced change. And for that I am so grateful. There were a lot of silver linings during the shutdown and I will utilize everything I learned to better our videos for our clients.
But there’s nothing like being out in the field and collaborating with other professionals to make an idea become reality. Discussing shot angles. Figuring out if those dang cicadas will ruin the audio if shoot we outside (they didn’t). Are the shadows too severe, should we be under a tent (yes)? All this goes into creating our product and as a video producer, I relish it. It’s my comfort zone. Being in the field again with artistic collaborators felt like going home and visiting my best friend. We had some catching up to do but laughter soon ensued.
It was also a bit daunting being around … well … anyone not in our bubble. After 15 months of following safety rules, to be out and about without masks felt freeing and scary. After all, this pandemic isn’t over, people are still getting sick, people still have worries and questions. So we kept our distance, at times wore masks, even stood in other rooms. Boom mics became the primary audio source, our individual mics became back ups. We ate outside under a beautiful blue sky. Every person on this project is vaccinated, including the client’s staff. But some have small children who cannot be vaccinated, and they need to be protected.
Everything is a work in progress, we’re all still feeling our way in this brave new world – but hey – FIELD SHOOTS ARE BACK! and it feels so good!!