Video Production - A little equilibrium back to the soul

The World of Video Production

Over the last 18 months I’ve barely been a part of the video production and television world in comparison to the rest of my adult life. It’s kind of been a bit like suspended animation for us at Groundbreak. Existing, but not living, creating, or enjoying. Floating in a calm storm of nothingness. It seems like a bit of a blur in truth with life feeling like a weird film plot. I felt as if I’d lost our video production company in a way. Its soul had been removed. Going from the daily maelstrom of dizzying excitement and ideas in our Manchester HQ to a dark void of emptiness.

It’s been tough for all of us personally and many of us work-wise. Video production, film, television, and theatre have taken a massive hit. Trying to keep a video production company ticking over has been grim to say the least. I think one of the hardest things outside of funding and cashflow is keeping your spirits up. A video production company just like any company in Manchester or anywhere around the world needs to be full of positivity. In my opinion quality work thrives in a positive environment.  

Creative Flow

When I’m feeling upbeat, I’m feeling creative. This motivates me. When I’m feeling motivated, I feel inspired. And it’s the times where I’m feeling inspired that I end up creating breathtaking  videos and come up with my best ideas. 

During a pandemic this form of enlightenment is of course harder to come by due to a variety of factors which I’m sure everyone is experiencing. Instead of feeling inspired, the constant bombardment of fear-mongering from the news leaves you in a place where you are anxious about money, anxious about your team, and uncertain about what is around the corner. Due to this your mental health can really take a hit over time. 

My escapism in video production had been removed. I couldn’t hide from life’s normal and often trivial problems behind the camera or in the edit suite because there was nothing to create. My world of video production had gone.

Pre-pandemic I was full of excitement and often inspired. Most of my conversations were about video production and film. What was the best commercial I’d recently seen? Who was the best actor in the latest cult film I’d been absorbed by? Which film festivals would I be attending this year? How could I achieve a specific technically challenging but beautiful shot in a commercial I’d written a treatment for? Where is a great pub for lunch near by a recce I was checking out? Where could the rest of the video production company and I go for a weekend break to talk film and life over plenty of food and drink? When I think back it makes me realise how much things changed, what life used to be like and how lucky I was.

A Positive Look to the Future

The reason I decided to write this blog wasn’t because I wanted to be all doom and gloom. Far from it. I’m generally a positive person and I can feel the positivity coursing through my veins once more. I haven’t felt like this for a while, but I’m starting to see real glimmers of life again and it’s a wonderful thing. I’d like to caveat this with the fact that I’m not daft and am fully aware that the pandemic isn’t yet over and is still ruining and taking lives. It just feels a bit different now.

I think it’s more that the mood has changed more than anything else. Instead of daily dread about this virus we knew nothing about, it is part of our lives now and we are learning to live with it in many ways. I think many people can see the light cascading over the horizon though now. This is the new feeling I’m getting. Instead of everything being shrouded in darkness it appears that for every negative dusk there is an upbeat sunrise in hot pursuit. Often overpowering and irresistible. Just the way life used to be.

Just the fact that life is once again being lived, for better or for worse we are having the opportunity to experience it again and taste the sweetness and the bitterness of the everyday. It’s funny what small freedoms can do for the soul. Life in essence is inspiring and joyfully overwhelming at times with pain sporadically unavoidable. This though, good, or bad, is fantastic for the soul and self-esteem. It’s liberating. Thirst quenching. And it just feels right. We never know what is around the next corner but I for one am going to revel in a bit of positivity for the time being to bring some equilibrium back to my soul.

Please get in touch if you’d like to discuss your next video project or if you’d like an all encompassing guide to all things video production have a read of this blog and it will help with any questions you might have.