The rise of the preditor

Social media marketing agency Media Bounty’s head of content Louise King explains how her company has changed its approach to video production. The result is heaps more content, but without a hefty price tag.

Not so long ago, I’d feel a tad skeptical when industry bods claimed they were “do-it-alls”. The jack of all trades, master of none, who’d tell me “I’m actually a scriptwriter, but I also shoot, and I edit on both FCP and AVID, and I can produce too – if you need me to”.

I’d nod at their enthusiasm, and then wonder what role to actually hire them for. I mean – choose your craft and own it, right? I needed clarity, not confusion in my pressurised producer’s mission to pull an elite creative crew together.

This was back in the day, before digital became the new currency for brands to engage with their consumers, and when most of the content we produced was long-form video or ads for the telly.

Everyone had just the one role; the director, the 1st AD, the DOP, the art director, the scriptwriter, through to continuity (can I just say I haven’t had a continuity person on a shoot in about four years!) and the online and offline editor.

The crew list was as epic as the closing credits of a Bollywood movie. The output? Usually just the one hero film, packaged with a voiceover, professional sound mix and grade from a post-production house.

Fast forward to the blazingly high speed emergence of social which has generated a seismic shift towards digital-first content forms, distribution channels, platforms and rich, new visual opportunities.

It’s static; it’s animations, GIFs, cinemagraphs and short-form video. It’s live, it’s 360, it’s 4K and it’s vertical.

The effect on the production industry has been equally profound, eliminating many layers of production and opening the door to the Preditor for social content. The producer, editor, and now, director all rolled into one.

One of our recent jobs was a one-day shoot and the delivery: two premium videos, five social edits, eight GIFs, five stills for Facebook and Instagram. Quality content, featuring talent, optimised for the different platforms too. All turned around in two weeks.

If we’d have gone to the client with a big crew, big budget and a bigger schedule, we would have been laughed out the water, but the even bigger point is – production for content hungry social does work with smaller crews if they have the right disciplinary approach and quality isn’t compromised.

Obviously this isn’t to the exclusion of traditional crew – continuity peeps for instance – the features and drama world love you! For the right content, it works. But right now in social content land, Preditors are worth their weight in gold…you guys help us producers turn out great content like no tomorrow. Thank you, and keep evolving!

If I have offended anyone with my opening, forgive me; please know I have a newfound respect. In the infinite content production world we’re in, all bow to the multi-skilled, multi-taskers who are experienced, diligent and easy to work with…

Roll the new closing credits someone.

Media Bounty makes long and short form videos and commercials for brands like Bosch, Siemens, Luxardo, Seriously Strong and Palmers (pictured above).