Coronavirus Impact

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Informative and beautifully written article by Arundhati Roy about coronavirus in India: https://www.ft.com/content/10d8f5e8-74eb-11ea-95fe-fcd274e920ca

The takeaways are that India was unprepared because they were distracted by domestic politics before the virus. Then they instituted a sudden lockdown without regard for welfare or how it would impact the working poor and homeless who don't live in gated communities. The result was chaos and mass exodus. The virus hasn't spread widely yet but they fear the worst. She thinks this pandemic will be a break from the past and we may be able to build a better future.
 
ahalpert said:
Informative and beautifully written article by Arundhati Roy about coronavirus in India: https://www.ft.com/content/10d8f5e8-74eb-11ea-95fe-fcd274e920ca

The takeaways are that India was unprepared because they were distracted by domestic politics before the virus. Then they instituted a sudden lockdown without regard for welfare or how it would impact the working poor and homeless who don't live in gated communities. The result was chaos and mass exodus. The virus hasn't spread widely yet but they fear the worst. She thinks this pandemic will be a break from the past and we may be able to build a better future.
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Exactly the same excuse being given here, by some.

*NOT A POLITICAL POST. Just ironic that that exact excuse is being used in more than one country.*
 
Run&Gun said:
Exactly the same excuse being given here, by some.

*NOT A POLITICAL POST. Just ironic that that exact excuse is being used in more than one country.*
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Right - obviously they should have been better prepared. The author is definitely not defending her government. I think she's just remarking that there was a lot of Muslim-Hindu sectarian violence in the lead-up to the pandemic but not a lot of pandemic response strategizing.
 
Holy crap - check out this radical editorial in the Financial Times: https://amp.ft.com/content/7eff769a-74dd-11ea-95fe-fcd274e920ca?__twitter_impression=true

"Radical reforms — reversing the prevailing policy direction of the last four decades — will need to be put on the table. Governments will have to accept a more active role in the economy. They must see public services as investments rather than liabilities, and look for ways to make labour markets less insecure. Redistribution will again be on the agenda; the privileges of the elderly and wealthy in question. Policies until recently considered eccentric, such as basic income and wealth taxes, will have to be in the mix."
 
ahalpert said:
Holy crap - check out this radical editorial in the Financial Times: https://amp.ft.com/content/7eff769a-74dd-11ea-95fe-fcd274e920ca?__twitter_impression=true

"Radical reforms — reversing the prevailing policy direction of the last four decades — will need to be put on the table. Governments will have to accept a more active role in the economy. They must see public services as investments rather than liabilities, and look for ways to make labour markets less insecure. Redistribution will again be on the agenda; the privileges of the elderly and wealthy in question. Policies until recently considered eccentric, such as basic income and wealth taxes, will have to be in the mix."
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This is getting close to "politics". No doubt society will look different after this epidemic. But to get away - somewhat - from politics and somewhat back to what this thread was supposed to be about: how will work for film/video people look in the future as a result of this experience?
 
Run&Gun said:
Exactly the same excuse being given here, by some.

*NOT A POLITICAL POST. Just ironic that that exact excuse is being used in more than one country.*
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That's societal default... "normalcy bias," some call it. We bop around day after day, embroiled in routine and immediacy, to the extent that we willfully shut out obvious, distant signs of extreme danger. Of course, I question why anyone was surprised at one of the most carelessness and pathologically dishonest nations responsible for the most murders in world history being careless, dishonest, and possibly murderous, but hey... above my pay grade.

This was a giant telegraphed punch that most of us were too busy or too poor to do anything about (except Taiwan, that knows the evil better than anyone).
 
Benjobe said:
It looks like Blackmagic is positioning itself for post-covid video workflows.

https://www.newsshooter.com/2020/04/04/blackmagic-design-releases-atem-mini-pro/

I imagine that large gatherings may be cancelled for the next year or so. Live streaming events will become more popular. Might be time to transition into live streaming production.
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I think you're right, and it's interesting that their sample shots depict a wedding. I haven't seen any increase in job requests for livestreams yet, but everything is still locked down... I don't think this will be a permanent trend after the vaccine is developed, though.

It's lame that the Atem Mini requires an HDMI connection. I live streamed a 3-camera concert last year with the Sling Studio Hub and it was a dream! Plug and play, HDMI to wifi boxes on the cameras so you get a wireless signal going into the hub. And from there the hub connected to ethernet. In that particular situation, it would have been awful to run long HDMI cables.

Although I suppose you could buy your own HDMI wireless video transmitters to connect to the switcher...
 
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OldCorpse said:
This is getting close to "politics". No doubt society will look different after this epidemic. But to get away - somewhat - from politics and somewhat back to what this thread was supposed to be about: how will work for film/video people look in the future as a result of this experience?
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I suspect that Ben is right and livestreams will be very popular until the vaccine. After that, I expect things to return to business as usual (and hopefully government will be better prepared for the next novel virus.)

I've read predictions, though, that Hollywood and the TV industry will shift to more decentralized production - both in terms of spreading production to more regions as well as rolling TV production throughout the year instead of having a concentrated season - to protect themselves from a future shock.
 
This from Scott Gottlieb MD (former FDA chief): "1/2 Absent major technological breakthrough before fall (effective drugs) American life won’t normalize, economic activity won’t snap back. Which makes it frustrating why policy makers seem oddly unfocused about getting the kinds of therapeutics that should be obtainable.

2/2 If we can’t get a very effective medicine cabinet by Summer, and sharply reduce the threat from #COVID19, then the alternative will be to start considering what Fall looks like when we can only operate at a 75% economy — and take more steps now to mitigate ensuing hardships."
 
When coronavirus started to hit the news, I wasn't sure I was going to take a big hit. I regularly do livestreaming and educational type work. I also figured that some retail companies might put more resources into social media marketing and online video. And then reality hit and everything got shut down. I am not concerned that the economy isn't going to be healthy enough to support much of any video work at all. I also think the movie industry might completely crater if the appearance of coronavirus infection is enough to cancel a production and fear of attending movie theaters continues.

I also work in the arts. As bad as i think video might get hit, I think the performing arts is dead as a business.
 
OldCorpse said:
This is getting close to "politics". No doubt society will look different after this epidemic. But to get away - somewhat - from politics and somewhat back to what this thread was supposed to be about: how will work for film/video people look in the future as a result of this experience?
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Can't separate politics from the whole situation, you just can't. This virus exposed every myth and every weakness in many countries, not only US. This virus will continue to spread, because in many contries "social distancing" is just impossible, due to socio-economics.
 
Cary Knoop said:
[...]
This event is a one in a hundred-year event, [...]
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I wouldn't be so sure. In fact, I'd bet otherwise. From everything that we understand, the frequency of pandemics is set to increase sharply, due to both enviromental and cultural reasons. As forestation is cut back and frozen areas thaw out, billions of varieties viruses and organisms unknown in other environments are now released with uncontrollable consequences. And as travel and globalization and connections accelerate wildly, the opportunity to spread it with unprecendenced speed is drastically increased. So it's a double whammy. In fact, there are many studies from epidemiologists, medical scientists, enviromental scientists and so on that predict exactly the scenario where such pandemics become increasingly common, and even concurrent. So you could get something much deadlier than COVID-19, and perhaps even a couple of deadly pandemics at the same time. Buckle up. We're in for an increasingly bumpy ride.
 
OldCorpse said:
I wouldn't be so sure. In fact, I'd bet otherwise. From everything that we understand, the frequency of pandemics is set to increase sharply, due to both enviromental and cultural reasons. As forestation is cut back and frozen areas thaw out, billions of varieties viruses and organisms unknown in other environments are now released with uncontrollable consequences. And as travel and globalization and connections accelerate wildly, the opportunity to spread it with unprecendenced speed is drastically increased. So it's a double whammy. In fact, there are many studies from epidemiologists, medical scientists, enviromental scientists and so on that predict exactly the scenario where such pandemics become increasingly common, and even concurrent. So you could get something much deadlier than COVID-19, and perhaps even a couple of deadly pandemics at the same time. Buckle up. We're in for an increasingly bumpy ride.
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Oh please!
Will the environmentalist ever stop trying to blame everything on "the environment" or "climate change"?
 
Benjobe said:
It looks like Blackmagic is positioning itself for post-covid video workflows.

https://www.newsshooter.com/2020/04/04/blackmagic-design-releases-atem-mini-pro/

I imagine that large gatherings may be cancelled for the next year or so. Live streaming events will become more popular. Might be time to transition into live streaming production.
Click to expand...

I inked a deal with a partnership with my company with a live streaming company a month ago. I heartily agree. IMHO, the future of our business is to stop looking at live streaming as live streaming, if that makes sense?
For us as creative professionals, professional producers, writers, directors, DPs, the future of live streaming is to look at all of this new gear like the amazing ATEM Mini Pro as a TV station that with three high quality cameras
like the PCC 4Ks, gives you a multi stream, multi camera TV station that fits into a backpack and costs less than $5k.

Those positioning themselves as live streaming "experts" and focus on the gear and BS surrounding it will quickly find themselves put out of business quickly, not able to make a living because of tools like the ATEM Mini Pro.
Anyone can buy and use it. Like everything in our business, stuff that used to be technically hard is now becoming freaking easy and somewhat foolproof. The ATEM Mini Pro has 85% of the technical capability of our $20k custom Live Stream
Studio we are using now. So the question is, how can you, as a producer/director/DP sell clients, studios, TV networks your services. Hint, they key is competence, creativity and melding the traditional production and production values with
the immediacy of live streaming and using it as a new medium. Live streaming is already done as a market unto itself.

Anyone and everyone can live stream. So how are you going to innovate and make money at it? Personally, I say look back at the history of live television, adapt the formats and styles, update it for todays clients and their audiences.
Live multi camera production today is freaking expensive when done on a pro level. Live streaming? The gear is almost free now, so better wrangle your crews, your gaffer, keys, hair and makeup, sound mixer, production designer, art
director, props, wardobe, etc. and get ready to adapt it to the future. What if you are a narrative filmmaker? How can you take your "film" and combine it with live streaming for your audience to engage and become fans about your film,
cast, characters? What if you have a round table discussion with three of your most interesting talent and they interact with fans as a special, invitiation only, private screening room?

Think DJ D-Nice whose Club Quarantine has made him an international celebrity overnight. His sessions are racking up literally millions of views and a month ago, nobody had even heard of him. Sure, it's music and we are talking film, two different things but we are creative. I am convinced that
there are ways to use live streaming to exponentially build audiences in ways that most of us have no conception of. Learn the medium, use the medium, get good with the medium and the sky is the limit. if you are good, you can reach an
audience around the world of millions of people on their phones. it just takes thinking of new ways to use and utilize the medium that is so accessible now it's ridiculous. Huge audiences equal monetary power, sponsorship and brand affiliation.

It's Mickey and Judy and we're putting on a show! (If you're old enough to get that reference, you're freaking old like me ;-)
 
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OldCorpse said:
I wouldn't be so sure. In fact, I'd bet otherwise. From everything that we understand, the frequency of pandemics is set to increase sharply, due to both enviromental and cultural reasons. As forestation is cut back and frozen areas thaw out, billions of varieties viruses and organisms unknown in other environments are now released with uncontrollable consequences. And as travel and globalization and connections accelerate wildly, the opportunity to spread it with unprecendenced speed is drastically increased. So it's a double whammy. In fact, there are many studies from epidemiologists, medical scientists, enviromental scientists and so on that predict exactly the scenario where such pandemics become increasingly common, and even concurrent. So you could get something much deadlier than COVID-19, and perhaps even a couple of deadly pandemics at the same time. Buckle up. We're in for an increasingly bumpy ride.
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I think globalization and open borders is a dead deal for the next twenty plus years.
 
Well, I personally don't care about blame. What I care about is evidence. If environmentalists/epidemiologists - or whoever - can provide some evidence, then that's what I follow, and don't care one way or another about assigning "talking points" blame. Take the previous near miss of Ebola. Ebola is far more deadly, though fortunately not as easily infectious as CV. What environmentalists and epidemiologists traced Ebola to was exactly something similar to CV - "bush meat" or species that were not previously eaten on a mass scale. Those are species that were not cultivated for milennia like, say farm animals. If you have a growing poverty stricken population that resorts to such meat, you are bringing in infectious agents that were not brought in before - note that this was written in 2016... how well did we do?

Planning for the Next Global Pandemic

"The West African Ebola virus pandemic has shown us yet again that the world is ill prepared to respond to a global health emergency. This follows similar statements that were made after the H1N1outbreak in 2009 that “The world is ill prepared to respond to a severe influenza pandemic or to any similar global, sustained and threatening public health emergency”.1 Our response to the Ebola zoonotic ‘spillover’ was delayed and as a result 11,158 people lost their lives in nine countries.2"

"Moreover, weak, malnourished, immunosuppressed populations living in poverty with little or no hygiene, sanitation or running water will always be highly susceptible to new emerging or re-emerging infectious diseases.6 At ‘ground zero’ of the Ebola epidemic it was believed that in 2013, hungry children living in the remote Guinean village of Meliandou killed and ate infected fruit bats."

Fruit bats in Guinea the case of Ebola. From bats to pangolins in "wet markets" in China. We can ignore the evidence, or we can investigate it and act on it. We knew this was coming. How well were we prepared? We can assume that it won't happen again for another 100 years. Or we can look at the accelerating pattern. Just the facts ma'am.
 
It's been entertaining seeing the local news shows do this with field reporters and weather done from their homes. Their doing remarkably well.
 
I mean, these supposed "blame everything" epidemiologists and environmentalists predicted pretty much exactly what we are seeing today: a zoonotic (from animals) respiratory viral pandemic that sweeps the world. The science paper I linked to in my previous post was from 2016 and it was raising alarms about our state of preparedness. Given how these "blamers" prediction was spot on, maybe we should pay attention when they tell us that this is going to increase in frequency because the conditions that precipitate this are increasing as well. Or we can ignore it. The problem is that viruses and pandemics don't care about arguments and blame assigning, they just strike - and we see the consequences today.

If we're told by the same people who were trying to warn us last time, that it's coming again, maybe we should listen this time? Just a suggestion. Better be prepared unnecessarily than caught unprepared again. YMMV.
 
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