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Coronavirus: How will productions change how they shoot during the near/mid term future?
  • Over the years there has been a general trend to do more TV series and feature films be shot multi-camera. 

    I wonder if (until we find a vaccine for COVID-19, or it naturally burns out) in the near future we'll see a shift back to more single camera shooting instead? 

    Could mean more shooting days, but there could be a strong desire to shoot with the smallest minimal crews possible. As the bigger the crews, the bigger the risk someone comes down with COVID-19, causing the entire production to be shutdown!

    With one exception, I can see the sound department needing to add an extra boom op than they'd usually budget for. Because lav-ing a person is quite intimate, I can see for the next few weeks/months that lavs will be avoided. Thus it becomes even more essential than usual to make sure you get the best possible coverage with the boom. 

    Wonder too what will happen to the generous film incentives these scripted productions get from states/countries? When their state budgets are already under massive stresses from increased costs and a reduced tax intake, they'll be looking to cut "costs" (although I'd argue it is not a cost, but merely a tax rebate? Tax money the state would have never got otherwise, if the production wasn't shot there).

    These tax rebates / film incentives will be especially vulnerable to attack if they were implemented under the basis of being "marketing for the region" to help promote tourism. Was where is the tourism now?? Dead. There is very little tourism to promote, and many regions would not want to promote tourists coming! As they want to lock out everyone who is "non-essential".

    Moving on from the scripted narrative world, to the corporate world of videography and also event shooting. Am expecting a rise in live streaming. Soon nearly everyone will need to offer, just like the shift from SD to HD, everyone had to offer HD. (and we're almost at that point with 4K now)

    Who charges extra for 4K these days? Most don't, or only a small token extra amount. 

    So will be the case with live streaming I think, you'll either throw it in to get the job or just a modest upsell extra cost. 

    And because an ATEM Mini Pro costs only US$599 you can easily eat that cost, as if it only gets you a couple of extra jobs that you wouldn't have otherwise, then it is worth it!

  • 12 Replies sorted by
  • @IronFIlm

    Calm down, all thill be same, and even more cameras.

    70-80% of population will catch virus, but initially they will select crews based on antibodies tests.

    So one thing you'll see among some desperate and young part of crews is intentionally infecting themselfs to get past it and get the job finally.

  • Post COVID-19: "I can't wire the actors it's against the mitigation guidelines from the AMPTP, SAG and the studio. We'll need 3 boom operators and a Utility Sanitizer person."

  • Egypt's soap operas defy a deadly virus for Ramadan prime time. But at what cost?

    "Postponing or not shooting is not an option," said Mohammed Gamaleddine, a line producer in an upcoming Ramadan drama, told CNN. "We are freelancers, not rich stars. There are hundreds of people who work in this industry and most of us may stay at home with no job or money from year to year. It could be the only gig we have," he added.

    Despite these appeals and the concerns expressed by crews and actors, shooting only stopped on productions that were so behind in their schedule that they would not have been able to meet their deadlines while working under the curfew​, according to several industry insiders who spoke to CNN. ​Those who had finished 70% of filming ​acquired permits to work through the curfew, scaled down the production, halved the number of crews on newly sterilized sets and brought physicians on site​, they said.

    https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/17/middleeast/egypt-soap-operas-coronavirus-intl/index.html

  • Hollywood Is Facing an Existential Crisis

    The industry is confronting a grim future: What if theaters stay dark all year? What if people are too afraid to go back when cinemas reopen?

    https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/03/post-pandemic-future-hollywood/608620/

  • I say we've made enough films ! ....go to any torrent site and you see hundreds of new films everyday you've never heard of, and most likely would suffer to watch. The art of film making with crews should die an ignoble death. The rich and famous actors and directors should be left to their own means to find meaningful livelihood. Scorsese's average budget is bigger than some nations gnp. Maybe 360 or AR will be a bridge to something entirely new, although I fear even the newest visual technology is just films on their last leg. Maybe reality itself is more interesting than any facsimile of it. But somewhere some young eadweard muybridge is brainstorming a solution to a problem not even conceived of yet, as different to films as films were to shadow puppets.

  • Kurth, Cinema is both generational and temporal. Since its advent, all generations have had the right to see a cinema that bears witness to themselves and their time. It is both a weakness because people do not like old movies too much ... but it is also its greatest quality because cinema testifies well to the time and to those who live it. And personally, I hope to see new narrative forms, new faces, new talents. The quantity of films already made does not have to put an end to the production of works, it does not make sense.

  • @flash....it wasn't just the quantity, if you read the sentence, it was also the quality. And that explains why cinema's gone to shxt... too, like contemporary music, which is embarrassing in it's banality. A couple of times a month, in reading the news, I come across another "the great new artist" article. I've got an open mind, and still hope to hear some relevant music coming out of this generation...always to no avail. And if I see one good film a year....and I watch many, I'm satisfied. So flash , even if you were unaware, you've added another nail in it's coffin, because this is the generation that has white boys mimicking black ghettotalk, and wearing baggy jeans below their asses. They couldn't make a baloney sandwich, much less an 8 1/2.

  • Kurth, if you don’t like cinema anymore so stop watching it.

    Quality ? If you want that, don’t watch feature films but series. Not all of course, but many of them are impressive.

  • I watch it just so I'll come across a film like Parasite. Was there any others worth watching last year ? ...hummm...Us maybe ? I agree about series. We just finished the 3 seasons of Narcos. It was excellent like sergio leone. The Night Manager...The Young Pope were excellent. First 2 seasons of West World were entertaining. But to illustrate...2 new series we watched...The Outsider and Devs...both starting out with 2 excellent episodes, and then the remaining were crap....so. But the point @flash, is not what I do...it's if cinema will survive. Imho, digital hasn't helped the quality of storytelling. And most films worth watching are made outside the american system....so therefore I applaud it's collapse.

  • I will see Parasite on VOD.

    I don’t go anymore to theatre for watching movies, I prefer series.

  • Fargo (impressive low cost serie)

    The Nights Off

    Homeland

    Mind hunter

    Unabomber (Jacques Ellul is inside !!!)

    You

    Suits

    The Americans

    Vikings

    Ballers

    And books when I want better ;-)