Video Produced for the County of Alameda
During the Darkest Days of COVID
September 13, 2021 | Andy Linda
Pre Production
The County of Alameda Office of Sustainability had a great plan to commission a new video production which was to be used for employee orientation and training. Then COVID came along, everyone went to work from home and there were no new employees to train. Luckily, the County engaged the services of eIMAGE Video Productions, so a quick pivot in the scope of work was a breeze.
eIMAGE took COVID safety protocols seriously, so we designed this video production to happen within the guidelines. All pre-production meetings with the County of Alameda were held virtually and we wrote the script always mindful of what could and could not be shot. Interviews were out of the question, even outdoors, because in the spring of 2020 the CDC discouraged all nonessential person-to-person contact. We couldn’t shoot on the streets of Oakland because they were deserted. We wanted to avoid showing masks worn all around Alameda County because they would date the video production too much. It didn’t leave much to work with as we bounced around ideas of an all-animated video.
Production
What saved the day was that Alameda County Office of Sustainability decided they wanted a video production celebrating the past decade of their work. That called for historical, archival footage, and the Office had quite a collection. We wrote the script around what could be illustrated with this footage and what we could shoot safely. This included some excellent drone footage shot by our favorite drone pilot Daniel Gamburg. We shot other scenes with our gyro stabilizer and then tied it all together with various custom graphics. We even threw in, at no extra charge, our own stock footage we shot of the aftermath of wildfires in Redding, as well as a shot of the infamous “orange day” we all endured in the Bay Area.
Overall this video production was a big success. You can see the final video on our Portfolio page. We stayed on budget and Alameda County was flexible with their timeline. After all, it was produced during the darkest, most uncertain days of COVID and we are grateful to the Alameda County Office of Sustainability for sustaining us with this video production through at least a portion of the pandemic.
eIMAGE Video Productions
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