That was the year that wasn’t
Roger Burlinson looks back on Mediapack’s 2020
So, 2020….. discuss.
I deliberately decided to hold off writing a review of the year until this time because I think putting a little distance between yourself and something is a good thing. It helps you look at it more objectively and that’s certainly what happened for us in terms of 2020.
Now, obviously the elephant in the room with last year is, of course, the terrible suffering and pain it caused, whether it be in terms of the loss of life and the personal tragedies faced by so many families or the utter devastation it wreaked on people’s livelihoods and job security. The industry I work in - the production industry - especially the live sector, being a particular case in point. But this isn’t a review of the year in general, it’s a look back at our year in Covid and taking the objective view (now we’ve put little bit of distance between us and the dreaded ‘20), in all honesty we had some really positive moments.
So, taking the terrible events of last year and my respect for everyone directly affected by them as a given, here’s my take on how 2020 was for us.
First of all, while the volume of work was lower than normal (obviously), the projects we were able to undertake for clients were particularly enjoyable last year and highly fulfilling, so if I were to look at the quality/quantity matrix, I’d definitely have to rate 2020 as a good year.
It started normally enough with a couple of edits - one for Precision Hydration following our filming trip with them to hang out with cycling’s Team Sunweb in the Netherlands the previous year and a promo for the European Canoe Slalom Championships to be held that spring.
Then it was time to embark on one of my favourite annual projects - producing the award winner profile videos for British Canoeing’s Volunteer Awards event. This is about as good as it gets for me because it means a lot of travelling to different parts of the UK, meeting some pretty amazing people, seeing where they paddle and capturing a snapshot of their canoeing activities on lakes, rivers and canals. Divine!
This year was no different to previous years, with locations in Northumberland, Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Essex, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Surrey. We produced ten packages in all and the event managed to take place just over a week before the first lockdown was imposed.
What did make this production different to previous years was the ever increasing sense that the virus was becoming a real and present risk. From the first location shoot right through to the last, I took additional precautions - sanitising my hands discreetly in all the hotels after touching everything. We weren’t yet in the place where people were wearing face masks and the medical advice at that time was quite strongly against mask wearing but I certainly took on board the messaging about hands and this became something of a covert stealth habit for me at each overnight stop. I’d go down to dinner and cleanse my hands under the table after touching all the doors on the way in. Then, I’d limit what I touched and would give people a wider birth than usual on the way back up to the room, before immediately washing my hands again once safely inside!
It didn’t feel like overkill on my part at the time, it just felt like a sensible precaution but I did notice how I was among the very few at that stage (around 4-5 weeks before lockdown) seemingly taking any form of precaution.
Once we’d delivered all ten packages, on time and on plan, I felt relieved that we’d successfully been able to complete the project before lockdown and, also, that our client had been able to make use of the content. You invest so much in a project like this and you really want those people you interview to get their moment in the spotlight and for their stories to be heard because they really deserve it.
We had two further large projects scheduled to start a week after the British Canoeing Awards production had concluded but, as you can probably guess, they soon had to be shelved. I had planned to have a bit of an enforced quiet period after these next two projects had concluded, so I simply decided to take the path of least resistance and embrace lockdown and all the DIY and gardening potential it brought (except that you couldn’t get DIY or gardening supplies or delivery slots for love or money).
When lockdown eased we were in a position to restart location production work, albeit with an added layer of Covid security and this began with a couple of new shoots for Oakwood Physiotherapy, building some core video components for their website, their reception display and their social media channels.
An Oakwood client talks candidly about the impact MBST treatment has had on his sports injury
As a practice with one of, if not the only, MBST machine in the UK - a device born out of the MRI scanner, which uses magnetism to stimulate the regrowth of cells (quite a draw as you can imagine) - capturing some client testimonials and supporting footage of the machine in action was a priority.
Overall during this time, the filming process didn’t really change for us. All those images you see on the news with broadcasters seemingly falling over themselves to show the world that they’re being responsible by using long poles and keeping away from contributors is just what people like us do all the time when filming! We use microphone poles to help us build distance between the camera and the contributor because, basically, it gives us a nicer shot! Being further apart helps create that shallow depth of field, especially with broadcast cameras that don’t have super 35mm sensors, so all that ‘look at me I’m using a pole’ stuff was rather funny.
It was actually the pre and post shoot procedures that had the biggest impact. The van and all equipment to be used had to be thoroughly cleaned before every shoot. I used both a mask and a face shield during filming to give protection both to contributors and to me and limited the gear I used to only that which was needed for that shoot. Usually, I have a whole raft of cameras and toys to cover different opportunities but during this time, options equalled risk, so we pre-planned more than normal and just took the essentials.
The other time-impacting factor of filming during Covid was the need to get completely changed out of my filming clothes and have (as much as possible) an all over ‘wet wipe bath’ as soon as I returned to the van after completing the shoot. I used my copious supply of dry bags to accommodate ‘soiled’ clothes and once all the offending garments were in there the bag was sealed and then left in the van for at least four days before being brought in to be washed. I don’t know if this made a difference but at that time, the information available suggested the virus would only survive on surfaces for hours, so leaving them for four days seemed safe!
Once all my ‘in van’ procedures had been completed and I was back at base, all the gear needed to be disinfected, at first, just a spray and wipe of the bags so they could be taken inside to the gear room. Then, the next day, every piece of kit would be thoroughly disinfected and wiped clean before being repacked ready for the next shoot. This was a laborious process but it’s either that or not film, so there was no point really getting fed up with it. What’s the point of being fed up with a virus?
Around about the time of the first Oakwood shoot, Precision Hydration, a specialist sports drink brand and a long term client - needed us to produce a TV advert for them. Given the limitations eased lockdown still placed on what it was possible to do, we needed to create something out of all the existing footage we’d shot previously for them, as well as using some stock shots supplied by Team Subweb, who Precision Hydration sponsor. You can read the full story in a separate case study but this was another really enjoyable project. We did need to be quite inventive and shoot some missing clips from home using family members (all part of the service) but they say creativity is born out of adversity and I think on this occasion, that quote was absolutely right!
Aleksandra - Mediapack’s Commercial Director and keen cyclist recruited for ‘extras’ duties!
The high summer saw us concentrate quite a lot on our Sport Walk brand and undertake more edits, including a re-working of two ‘how to’ videos for British Canoeing to bring them up to date. Then, we were off up to Nottingham again for production of a training film for Nottingham City Council all about disability awareness in their leisure centres. The previous year we had completed a landmark film for them showcasing the work they had done to improve disability access to sport and activity and it was nice to be back in the city again, even if this time things were far from normal.
We also started production of a number of Content Packs for them, all featuring footage shot in the previous year’s production. Based on their ‘Stay Safe Stay Active’ campaign, we created over 30 short clips for social media using this footage as a background to various statements and calls to action around health and activity, giving Nottingham City Council a significant resource to promote an active lifestyle both during lockdown and afterwards.
High summer saw further Sport Walk production as we took the opportunity to focus on filming content during the good weather and getting ready to launch a new monthly Sport Walking show on YouTube in the Autumn.
Then, in September, our focus moved to ping pong, with two short promos for Table Tennis England. Their TT Kidz programme gives children a structured path into table tennis and we filmed with two groups of children (to cover the numbers needed in a Covid secure way) in a club setting in Horsham over one long shoot day. Then it was into the edit to create both promos.
After a brief break at the end of the summer, it was straight into production of a This Girl Can promo for Hampshire - one of the shelved projects from earlier in the year. By this point, our area was in Tier 3 restrictions, which brought a certain impetus to the proceedings but production in all the settings needed was still viable and, working very closely with the Project Manager from Energise Me - a long standing client who had commissioned the piece, we set about filming all the different women and activities that were to be featured. Eleven separate shoots later, we wrapped filming the day before the second full ‘circuit break’ lockdown! So, seven lives left!
World Champion Strong Woman - Farah Fonsecca coaching a client during filming
We pressed on and completed the edit for the promo in time for a virtual online invitation event but, things being as they are, the promo has yet to see the full light of day and is awaiting a public premiere when the situation is safe enough. It’s a little tough not being able to share it but the time will come soon enough.
And so, the year ended with more Sport Walk releases and a studio renovation ready to begin a new chapter in 2021 - that of production coaching, workshops and online courses but that’s another story!
All things considered (keeping in mind what I said at the top about the flip side of 2020), for us it wasn’t a great year but, equally, the projects we were able to take on were for some of our favourite clients and involved some really great times and we’re really happy with the results of that work and, at the end of the day, you can’t really ask for anything more than that, can you!