Xpression Video Productions: How Covid-19 Has Changed The Way We Operate at Work?
Most of us were trapped indoors throughout the Coronavirus lockdown, and it has given most of us the time to settle, review, and introspect where we are as people and in terms of our work. The first few weeks of uncertainty began to calm down, and we started evaluating our position as a videography company. There are still things that are out of our control, and we find ourselves either watching or listening to the news for any updates on what is going to happen next to understand how we can move forward.
Since the lockdown started a few months ago, our business slowed down. Our commercial video production services took a hit for the worst, but nothing short and compared to the drastic drop in wedding videography bookings and wedding video services for this year. In general, our sales and services were down, and we certainly don’t see this changing for the better, at least in the short term of the next six months.
However, seeing how our government started slowly easing social distancing restrictions, we are hoping the number of bookings affected by social distancing also reduces. According to some online research, some videographers in Toronto expect these changes to affect over 50% of their bookings. However, they only saw a drop of 17.2%, which is not bad at all. Seeing these results shows us that Toronto videographers are expecting the videography industry to start recovering almost straight away. For the most part, our real estate videography and funeral videography services have started picking up, while weddings and special event videography services are taking a little longer to begin.
The global coronavirus pandemic has changed the world, with most companies even changing the ways they operate and their business processes. The lives lost and economic fallout alone represent an unprecedented tragedy that will leave the globe reeling for years, with some of these changes staying permanently, post the pandemic.
And within this broader crisis, each sector of the economy and countless workers are facing catastrophes. Many organizations will not survive the downturn without sparing the photo and video world either.
The crisis has changed not only how we do things, but what we do. Since social distancing came into effect, we have had to do all our in-person meetings through Zoom. We soon realized most of our clients were not financially steady and ready to move forward with our services, so we had to slow down our production activity, which in the end, put us in a financial dilemma. We had no choice but to shut down our office and work from home. The fact that we had to communicate via Zoom or any other online platform certainly put whatever video post-production we were working on behind schedule.
During the early stages of social distancing, we started using online social media platforms, such as Zoom, to discuss projects with our clients. We are currently meeting our clients at our office while still maintaining the rules of social distancing and wearing a face mask. From April till June, we were working remotely from the comfort of our own homes. Since the government lifted some of the restrictions in late June, we are now back working from our office.
Adapting to working from home was certainly a challenge. Having to set a schedule to work and watch a child at the same time was difficult. I was fortunate to have my wife also home during the early stages of the lockdown, and she would assist and maintain some of the house duties. The real challenge was trying to get a meeting going via Zoom with a crying child in the background.
In the pandemic’s initial stages, everyone, professionals and clients, were accommodating and happy to understand what others were going through. My clients understood my situation with a chuckle or two, and the post-production work I was handling was not hampered by location, so they knew the results were not compromised. It was nice to wake up a little later in the day, get the job done and hit the old bike for exercise while saving money on take-out food and car fuel.
Pre-pandemic, we worked from an office, but when the government informed us to stay at home, forcing us to change our setup was a real challenge. With the social distancing norms and everything opening up, we are now working from our offices again, and being back we have implemented some restrictions. At the moment, we are only allowing three people at a time in our office because of its size and the space we have available in our waiting room. Clients are allowed to visit us but have to wear a face mask and stay apart from each other by six feet. At the moment, we are not allowing any walk-ins. Instead, clients book their visit ahead of time, as we are currently accepting by appointment only.
As a precaution and for the safety of others visiting our studio, we are disinfecting our doors and furniture each time a client comes in contact with it. We make sure our washrooms are also clean and disinfected, and that our clients wash their hands and apply hand sanitizer the moment they walk into our studio. We also avoid any bodily contact, such as handshakes.
Our working hours of operation have not been affected since being back in the office. We are working regular hours of operation, but we do make sure to follow the rules to be as safe as we can be. Before social distancing, our video review sessions were held in our studio. However, to avoid any unnecessary meetings, we switched our review sessions online. We found that the video review sessions provided by Frame.io were useful and beneficial, saving us time and money. As a result, now that we are back in the office, we feel moving forward, having a client review their video online is the best option. We have been using Frame.io ever since we found out about it, and it has been a blessing. It opens up our evening availability to meet new clients, and at the same time, it gives the client their time to review the video at the comfort of their own home without having to drive and waste money on gas. At least, something positive came out from all of this madness.
Since the social distancing took into effect, we did not stop working but just started working remotely, from home, and having online meetings with clients. We also took the liberty to pick up and drop off video transfer tapes at their homes. We did our best to comply with the rules while trying to operate a steady business. Moving forward, if a client felt more comfortable meeting us at their home or a local cafe, as long as it is within the GTA, we welcome the opportunity. Seeing that businesses are struggling at the moment, and as long as it doesn’t harm the customer, it’s vital to do what is best for the customer and put their needs first.
We are still currently offering video chat meetings using Zoom or Skype. We are more than happy to adapt to our client's requirements. Some of them tell us that they cannot figure out how Zoom works, and we handle as much as possible over a regular phone call.
We are currently focusing on our strengths and improving what we’re good at through this pandemic, which is why we are not interested in handling any other events. We would much prefer to put that extra time in post-production or planning with new business ideas.
Other than getting all the work done, spending time at home with our loved ones during the early stages of social distancing brought the best out of us all. Myself specifically, I enjoyed spending more quality time with my family, and quite honestly, I enjoyed my daily routine exercises. It was nice to realize that given the opportunity to work from home made me realize it may be something I’d like to explore a little bit more. I thought of the money I could save while maintaining the same kind of service, which I found to be a good thing and a bad one at the same time. But given this opportunity certainly made me ponder and gave me optimism.
If you are looking for a professional video production company based out of Toronto, look no further than Xpression Video Productions. We are a Toronto-based video production studio specializing in high-end wedding videography, special occasion videos, real estate videography, funeral videography, corporate video production, event videos, marketing videos, and transfer or duplication videography services in Toronto and the rest of Ontario. If you have a video requirement, we are the right team to work with.
Under normal circumstances, we are more than happy to meet our clients and discuss all their requirements, but amidst a pandemic, we welcome the opportunity to discuss your video project with precision and great detail online.
We take great pleasure in producing sophisticated and high-quality video productions with the latest in technology, using trendy story-telling and innovative editing techniques crafted to your specifications. If you are looking to understand a little more about the services we provide, please click here. If you want to get in touch with us, either for a quote or since you have a requirement that we could assist with, please click here.
