Social distancing is beginning to ease but it is still very challenging to put any kind of shoot production together. For starters, travel is still off limits and that’s before all the pre-production, casting, location hunting and actual shooting take place. It will be a while yet.

So what are the alternatives?

We saw a wealth of innovation when lockdown was at its height and it was a real positive to see how quickly those working in creative, production and account management in the ad industry adjusted to working within the confines of all the lockdown measures.

It surprised everyone that most of what we normally do could be achieved remotely at home. Stills and video production were perhaps two areas that proved a more challenging fit for the new normal.

But creativity is really about problem solving – and creatives, art buyers and producers come into their own here; and so it has proved during the Pandemic. It didn’t take long for productions to be up and running in new and innovative ways. We saw a lot of Zoom-style, crowd-sourced stills and footage of consumers’ activities from the confines of their own homes. Lockdown created a new kind of genre of advertising, but out of necessity.

The big question is: How do we use the same tools we used in lockdown in a world where there is no longer lockdown? We learned to be adaptable and quick on our feet, so how can we carry on in that vein and continue to be more efficient and more connected with each other, the idea and the process?

Clients, agencies, directors, producers, creatives and account people have all been attending meetings via Zoom at the same time. This allows for a clarity in all communications. Seeing into each other’s homes is a real leveller and brings a sense of community and trust to proceedings. As a consequence of this, clients now better understand the challenges in the creation and production processes, the timings and the costs. They have witnessed first hand what it takes behind the scenes to work under lockdown and now they have a better understanding as we all move forward of the options available; and stock imagery is one of those options.

Agencies and production companies have always used stock stills and footage but during the Pandemic also became very innovative with user-generated content, as well as remote shoots, where teams found themselves collaborating over distances of thousands of miles.

From Hollywood blockbusters to global ad campaigns, stock footage and stills are increasingly popular. One impressive example of a video that exclusively uses stock clips is Coldplay’s video for ‘Up & Up.’ In it, the Directors, Vania & Muggia composited different stock footage clips together to create a surreal world that doesn’t actually exist.

When the creative team behind the recent Dacia commercial were looking for a director to put together a challenging ad under lockdown conditions, they chose Vania & Muggia, based on what they had achieved with the Coldplay video. The Dacia spot is another terrific piece of creative problem solving, as well as having a great deal of human charm.

Here at Domeble, our clients know that our stock provides them with a real creative freedom; the world really is your oyster and with the sophistication of today’s CGI, anything is possible, particularly in the world of automotive, where our imagery is used as an integral part of the car design process, as well as in the marketing process that follows. It also helps that we produce the highest resolution backplates (landscapes) and 360 Degree HDRIs (High Dynamic Range Imaging) with the highest pixel count available. That creative freedom extends to our offering ‘comp licenses.’ This allows our clients to use as many comps as they need, but only pay for one license.

In the immediate future, if advertisers are able to get back to physical shoot productions, they will cost even more money – as there will be more precautions to take, more health and safety rules to follow, as yet unknown insurances to be implemented – and the team’s travel costs will also be substantial. Domeble offers you the creative freedom of having tens of thousands of high quality, creative, pre-shot visuals at your fingertips. And with good CG Artists and a strong idea for your brand, anything is achievable; and at a fraction of the cost and time it would take to do a physical production.

For more information on how Domeble can help with your shoot production and marketing, get in touch with us at info@www.domeble.com

Written by Ashley Jouhar- COO at Domeble

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