Most Great Ideas Start in a Garage
HostGator came to us to produce a YouTube series that can make sense of how their users can better utilize tools available for their websites, and Scott and I got to work. But there was a catch - the coronavirus pandemic really threw all of us off kilter. As we watched work get postponed throughout the industry, we knew that it was important for us to be flexible and provide different solutions to the same challenges now that we couldn’t physically be together.
We finalized plans for the YouTube series to be a tongue-in-cheek play on ‘The Soup,’ with live audience banter and audible laughter. Usually this sort of production would require studio space, but with the shutdown, studio space wasn’t a possibility.
Enter Scott’s garage.
We stayed flexible and thought of efficient ways to get this job done and developed a workflow that achieved the look and feel of ‘The Soup’ without compromising people’s safety.
We set up the green screen, sound blankets, three cameras for multi-cam viewing and a teleprompter to help Scott get through the material. Did I mention Scott was also our talent? So talented.
We leveraged our significant others and a close group of friends as our audience. Everyone in attendance tested negative for COVID-19, so we knew as long as we stayed in our bubble together we could keep shooting.
Because our clients were also quarantined, we made special arrangement to create a “virtual video village” (trademark pending) to ensure they had eyes and ears on the entire process and were able to give their feedback between takes.
Our virtual video village gave our clients a look at all of our cameras as well as a program feed so they remain part of the process without being on set physically.
All told we were able to shoot five episodes in a night, with plans for much more content in the coming weeks and months. A big thanks to our significant others and our friends for helping make this idea into a reality all while remaining flexible with new safety concerns.
We’re grateful for the opportunity to think quickly and be flexible! If you want something shot in a garage without looking like it’s shot in a garage, let us know!
