Since our last blog post, the world has been turned upside down by the Covid-19 pandemic. After a couple weeks of adjusting to a new normal, we’ve developed strategies to keep ourselves and crew/interviewees safe, while helping our clients with their new, urgent need to communicate remotely.
We consider ourselves lucky in that we’re fairly well set up for safety. We already work from a home office, in a fairly isolated village. As a married couple, can work together without introducing new viruses into the mix. That being said, we’re doing all we can to limit our circle to a handful of people and wear masks when it’s not possible to keep a respectful distance.
We’re also taking safety measures borrowed from BBC and Storyhunter to reduce the possibility of virus transmission. Our essential equipment kit now includes hand sanitizer, isopropyl alcohol and masks. You can read our antivirus protocols here, but these are the highlights:
- film from at least 6 feet away
- sanitize microphones between every handler
- wipe down all equipment before and after use
- work with interviewees to place their own lav mics
We tested out this new approach to video production during a recent shoot for the Marine Biological Laboratory. Like many of our clients, the MBL is shifting its fundraising, annual meetings, and popular summer lecture series to a virtual format. It was a little hard to resist the impulse to adjust the mic on our subjects’ lapel, but other than that, it was film business as usual.
Next step: live streaming!
We’re getting lots of requests from clients who want to go beyond a Zoom call for their presentations. We’re also working with musicians to give their fans a live show through the Internet. And while we don’t usually film weddings, we’ve been consulting with couples desperate to include family members in a remote “I do”. To help out, we’re applying our experience with live-streaming ArtBasel’s talks, albeit with a more mobile (and less costly) options.
Stay tuned as we test out the technologies — and get in touch if you need help with a live or pre-recorded video!
