Here is a shortened marketing brief for my latest video:
Background: We are stuck at home – Covid-19 has turned everything upside down and we’re experiencing life from so many different perspectives. The world is in a state of shock and this pandemic is defining. This time will never come again, so we should capture it.
Who do we want to influence?: Our future-selves, family and friends who have missed seeing us and anyone in need of a some motivation to look at things differently.
What do we want them to do as a result of watching this?: Feel warm, feel happy and reflect on the numbers that matter to them.
Output: A video that captures the essence of our last 70 days.
Cost: Time, chocolate and love
Single-minded proposition: We found beautiful silver-linings in the worst pandemic of our generation.
Mandatory inclusions: The cuteness of the kids
Delivery date: June 1st (70 days mark)
Who needs to approve?: Rayan Prem (my 3 year old)
Being in lockdown has been a crazy, challenging time for everyone, without exception.
One of the many things I’ve lost by being at home is the two hours of daily commute, in and out of the city. Now don’t get me wrong I’m not missing the Central Line congestion, sweat and barging, but I am missing the time I used to sit editing videos.
Yes, I’m that guy, headphones in, laptop on top of my jacket, on top of my bag. Over the last few years, more and more of my projects have been edited by agencies or production houses, so I’ve found personal projects to keep myself creating videos. In the same way people find baking, sewing, puzzles therapeutic, I find editing relaxing.
It also ensures I can continue to edit effectively and more recently I’ve found myself evolving into a better editor as a result of the continual practice. You never know when you’re going to need to turn something around within minutes and waiting on agencies/others to get back to you, causes a lot of frustration, so being able to do it myself has proven to be a key string to my bow.
For the last 18 months, my personal project has been @RayRaySays videos – inspirational quotes delivered by my son to brighten up the day for family and friends. (you can see them here - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCc3JhXG0caHOtJKBfGMfQVrwjGycdZp2). The whole process of finding a quote, finding the t-shirt he wants to wear, getting him to say the quotes and then editing, is so much fun and has given so much joy to our closest.
When we went into lockdown the first couple of weeks were a real shock to the system. Juggling work, constant demands from a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old, anxiety and huge adjustments. As time went one we started to find a routine and part of that was making sure we did lots of activities…walks, crafts, picnics, puzzles, singing, exercise, online music and phonics classes etc. Anyone who knows me, knows I capture everything and being at home didn’t change that.
Quite quickly the storage on my phone got full and when I saw what I had captured, it gave me the idea to create this video. A time capsule of these two months. For us to look back on and get a sense of how it really was and for the kids to see how we got through Covid-19, when they inevitably learn about this at school in years to come.
Carving out some time in the evenings to edit this, in the home office, gave me that sense of calm that I had on the tube. It’s not just creating a video, it’s me spending time doing something I love that I know others will like, it’s me using the creative parts of my brain as I piece together the story and it’s me taking time out for my own mental well-being.
The result is this video. A personal and intimate look at our life over the last 70 days. For us but for those around us that I know have been in some dark places recently to start counting your silver linings and embrace that the brightest days exist on the other side of the dark ones.