For the last 50 years, advertising broadcast and video production has been an outsourced process that utilizes a vast amount of agency billable hours, vendors and freelancers while providing little direct control over the process for the client. It’s not uncommon for a commercial shoot to rival a movie production with the number of crew and semis.

Unfortunately this is often the world where the best talent operates. One where the client is stuck in video village, isolated from the process by a 200-foot video cable, multiple layers of producers and an elitist attitude.

For those that have been trying to ignore the stock market, whose pagers keep buzzing with calls to work as 4th assistant to the assistant on a beer commercial, it’s time to wake up. Clients don’t need to put up with the old model anymore. I suggest you stop making fun of the kid with the 7D and consider buying one yourself.

Thirty years ago we were here in print technology. Every major city had specialized type houses, photo labs, and pre-press shops. There were teams of people who perfected the building and delivery of print ads to newspapers and magazine ads. They were staffed by talented professionals with a high degree of skill. Most of these places don’t exist anymore.

Today we have digital presses and software that enables one person to do it all on the same desktop. But we also have digital cameras that shoot cinematic images at native 800 ISO and products like Adobe CS Production, Apple FCP Suite, and Autodesk Smoke that can potentially complete post production from a single desktop.

This means leaner and meaner crews, no film developing and transfers, and a more integrated production process. It also means that it’s feasible for a single organization to possess the ability to script, produce, direct and complete post production without being a massively expensive company to operate and hire. This is where Fluid Films comes in. Welcome to the future.

Posted on: August 10, 2011, by : Jimmy Gilmore