The priorities of production have changed for good

Posted: 21/05/2020

As production gradually resumes, it’s clear that beyond short-term social distancing measures the pandemic will have long term consequences for workflows and the workforce.

Throughout the content supply chain, companies have been mobilised to create working practises that allow every individual to work remotely where possible.

Working remotely is all about flexibility. It’s the flexibility to scale up teams beyond the capacity of physical studios. It’s the flexibility to draw on a global talent pool to help a production work around the clock, or to bring in an entirely different element of creativity born from rich local cultures.

For business continuity and sheer business adaptability, the cloud gives productions flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances, from a world pandemic to a minor clash in production schedules.

The option to spin up an environment on-demand to fit the requirements of a particular project and then reconfigure it for the next project is a game changer for many content producers.

Reality TV shows can take advantage of AI and machine learning to quickly turnaround growing volumes of footage. News teams can aggregate footage from anywhere and rapidly clip, finish and publish online. Sports editors can generate clips, highlights and longer form content from the comfort of their own homes.

Technology plays a key role in making that a reality, making it seamless to share content between remote locations, avoiding conflicts in handling assets and providing low latency streaming experiences that allow creatives to work naturally.

With the economics of the industry hard hit, productions will be looking for even more cost-efficient means of content creation going forward. In a time when businesses globally are acutely conscious of their carbon footprint, remote collaboration will become core to production in ways it never was before.

As scarring as the virus experience has been, there will be positive consequences resulting from production lockdown. Chief among these will be an enlightened attitude to the practicality and benefits of the work-centric cloud.

For many people in the industry this was not an obvious assumption but today we know, with our direct first-hand experience in the most difficult of circumstances, that remote production is possible while maintaining a high level of productivity and quality. 

No-one wants this enforced experiment to be permanent. The industry thrives on the creative magic that happens between people, when those people are in close proximity.

But the economic, operational and creative benefits of remote production can no longer be ignored. Technology such as Blackbird is proven to deliver the zero latency connectivity required to maintain gold standard production.

Before COVID-19, remote collaboration was employed by a pioneering few. Post-pandemic it will become the norm for any member of production to do more of their work from wherever they may be, reducing costs, improving speed, supercharging agility with a long lasting positive impact on media, business, culture and economics.