Has post-production changed forever?

In this unusual year, post-production has gone from in-suite to in-home. From a sit-in session to a dial-in session. What will happen in the new vaccine world? Are remote sessions going to stay or were they just an emergency workaround? Post-production has had to continue, even though most production has all but ground to a halt. Series needed to be finished, promos and commercials needed to packaged and an explosion of podcasts needed to be recorded. How has this been achieved, and we will take new work flows into the future?

Companies and freelancers have had to figure out new ways of working. Dan Jackson, a remote Broadcast Creative at Ginger Bear Creative, ‘A lot of the guys I work with are professional voice over artists, a lot of them have their own studios or are in the process of getting their own. But there has been some incredibly creative home suite building, which has been amusing. Quite a few people have utilised the cupboard under the stairs, and few kids dens and behind the sofa sound booths!’

The technology already existed

Some had the technology but it was under utilised. ‘The renderless workflow for long-form grading has been around for a while now’ Ella Soryl, a Colourist at Azimuth Post Production comments, ‘I believe we implemented it last year, however, we still did kind of half and half, but now we're remote its the only workflow we will use. Which has been fantastic, it's been the best workflow I've dealt with my work life so far.’ 

But not everyone was set up to go remote so easily. In-house post production facilities are just not as agile. ’Two weeks before lockdown we had a crisis meeting’ begins Genevieve Jones, Post Production Manger, In house at Ink Global. ’Everybody needs their computer, double screens and all of this. But our system is so advanced, you can't take the actual computers out. It’s a closed system or server. It's really secure.  IT hadn't worked with the kind of data that we were using. They'd set up our laptops with VPN, thinking it would be fine, but it wasn’t geared whatsoever. We had to put our live projects on hard drives, and take them home. Then somebody had to actually physically go into the office and turn on all the computers. IT had to take a chill pill on our side of it. We've got our own secure server now. We needed a new one anyway and this just sped everything up.’ 

Ink Global’s post-production is now running remotely. They’re delivering continuing projects and even rebranded an airport TV Channel recently, with the help of remote freelancers and collaborators. 

‘We had one really lovely big global project’ Jones mentions,  ‘We had a full team doing audio. It was lots of different talent, a collaboration. They all did their own sound bits recorded in their respective homes and sent the files, and we had another guy mix it.’ 

‘I just don’t think remote is complicated’ states Gina Mellotte, freelance voice over artist. ‘People think it is more complicated than it it is. If you are a professional, open to this technology, it’s just going to work.’ Mellotte caveats that with ‘There are sometimes heart-in-mouth moments when something doesn’t work. The internet could go down, or a setting gets changed, but equally, before, trains could be delayed or I could be late to Soho, or somebody could be ill. So remote isn’t really any different to before.’ 

Benefits of already being remote

Being set up for remote at the beginning of 2020 meant some freelancers have capitalised on the new way of working. I’ve picked up work from clients who would never of entertained the idea of remote before’, comments Giles Littlefield, a Tucasa remote audio engineer. ‘I have won work thats purely through lockdown’. 

‘I got myself a new agent, because I’ve got a home studio’ mentions John Last, voice artist and actor. ‘Some people sent work my way knowing it’s tough out there, and they started thinking outside the box. Some would have gone to their comfort zones, and when that wan’t available to them, they then came to me.’ 

It was the same for Dan Jackson too, ‘I have a feeling that work did subsequently come my way because they knew that I was already working remote. The trust element is certainly there as I had worked with them before, it was definitely a massive factor.’

Teaching clients

Creative services have adapted, but so have client. When working remote, communication is more important. ‘That's been the biggest struggle, learning how to communicate with someone that's not right next to you’ Soryl muses. ‘Some know exactly what words to use and some use the exact wrong word. Trying to navigate what they mean versus what they say has been the biggest obstacle and a learning experience. Once you've got it, you’re fine, but it's been a challenge.’ 

Jackson agrees, conveying what you mean creatively can be laborious ‘With graphics, it is quite difficult to convey exactly what you want. It’s seven emails to get what was once a finger point. It’s very easy to misinterpret, misread or not read things at all. Our communication is email based, if you don't read the emails we can’t communicate. But now technology is there to make creative briefing easier. Sharing of screens, playback in realtime and sending of files. And as Gina Mellotte points out ‘Since the beginning of March I’ve been getting a quick handle on Zoom, and remote voiceover recording. The conferencing side of things is now massive. That wasn’t a big factor before. Thats changed, for the better. We can easily work remotely. I’ve been in session with people in 6 different countries and it’s great. This year has worked, technology is good these days’.

Littlefield adds ‘Lockdown has been a bit of a leveller for people like me,  you can offer just as good end result, if not better, than a lot of the big post houses’.

What happens Next?

‘When everything goes back to normal, I'm not sure what will happen.’ Soryl ponders. ‘The offline editors do seem to be enjoying working from home versus a busy Soho with long commutes. Some of my colleagues have young children, and have loved working from home. They don't want that to change.’ 

Mellotte also has wishes for the future. ‘I actually prefer this now, I think I am going to find it difficult when this ends and someone would wants me to get on a train and get into town. Now I would always encourage them to record remotely.’ 

And being at home also as its perks, as Genevieve Jones has found out: ‘I think being remote does feel like you’re a bit more in control of your day, which is really nice. Sounds cliche but I like being able to make sourdough whilst I work!’

‘If a lot more people do what I have done, it will go one way’ Last predicts, ‘But if people have got this taped up, bandaged approach then it will go back to pro studios. I imagine we will go to whatever the client wants.’ 

Soryl emphasises if clients want to work remotely, Azimuth can facilitate that. If they'd prefer to work in the suite we can make that work as well. ‘Different projects require different different things. Documentary TV is significantly easier to work on at home than high budget commercials, as the creativity lies in its offline edit. It's not as crucial for you to have three producers over your shoulder compared to commercials where you might be removing people's pimples or doing intense image alterations.’ 

So Azimuth have been future-proofing, Soryl states ‘We have been investing in PCOIP and in remote equipment to enhance our remote working and be more agile’. 

Tucasa audio engineer Chris Amblin adds ‘It’s great to have facilities with expensive acoustically treated rooms, but budgets on productions are always going to be tight, and people are always looking for easier ways to get things done for less money but still correctly and professionally. And this really seems to be the future. It is expensive to maintain and pay the rent on a large studio room and constantly upgrade the equipment. It’s cheaper and easier to do that with a remote system.’ 

So if clients lead they way Dan Jackson reminds us of some of the boundaries ‘I’ve had few audio session where client’s kids have run in, which is fine, but you might have clients that have an issue with that if it were the other way around. Where’s that border between reality and professionalism? I’m not sure that office work is dead, it’s a bit premature for that. The bigger channels would want people to be in.’ And as Last points out ‘Some broadcasters have spent thousands of pounds on in-house post production facilities they will not want to go to waste’. 

And what does Jones from an in-house facility feel about the future? ‘The company was trying to slowly move away from people having their own jobs, and become more of a creative hub. It wasn’t the company vibe at all to be remote.’ 

Last is more hopeful ‘As long as the technology keeps up, and you can have a pro studio, and they have their own audio guy, you can bypass the bricks and mortar studios.’ And Mellotte agrees ‘The advantages for clients are they are not going to be paying a big fee.’ Jackson adds ‘Freelancers are going to be like, why do I need to go to an office ever again?’

‘When it goes back to normal, everyone will be like — Raaah! - then there will be a step back and a look at the balance a bit more.’ Mellote concludes ‘Everything has changed, and it’s an opportunity for us all the learn new technologies and new things. And I don’t think we will every go back to how it was. There are voice over artists who live everywhere, and not everyone’s going to come up to London, Bristol or Manchester or wherever. So this is a good thing.’ 

Amblin agrees ‘There has been a push in the last 10 years for productions to be based outside of London, and it makes sense to move somewhere cheaper as London is so expensive. Remote working helps, as jumping on a train to London to do a mix when you’re based in Leeds doesn’t make sense. That’s the advantage to having to all these remote pockets around the UK.’ 

Is remote post-production the future? At Tucasa, we believe remote post-production is a cost-effective solution creating a more diverse industry, working with talent based anywhere. With constantly improving technology and the ability to collaborate on global projects we believe the future’s already here and it will absolutely stay.

How do you want to work in the future?