The future lies in our ability to play

As we emerge, bleary eyed, from two years of video calls, there’s a lot of talk about what the future might look like for creative and production. 

John Cleese argues that “the essence of creativity is being able to play”. Play, or embracing spontaneity and experimenting freely without consequence, is that elusive thing; 'the love' that many feel is missing as creative collaboration has gone remote. Play is not only the key to great work but the thing that makes us really enjoy what we do.

Play is not only the key to great work but the thing that makes us really enjoy what we do.

As we approach a new year, it’s a good time to reflect on how we might choose to work in the future. Across creative, production and post production, let’s apply the play filter to decide what we keep and what we consign to Room 101, never to be talked about again.

Above: What will we keep for 2022, and what will end up in Room 101?

Writing

While collaboration and bouncing ideas around are, of course, crucial to play, so is sitting with your feet up on the table and staring into the distance. Happily this can be done anywhere with a table. Albert Einstein relished in what he called Gedankenexperimente; ideas that he twirled around in his head rather than in a lab.

As one director put it, good actors are good at pretending. If they can’t pretend to have chemistry, they’re probably in the wrong job.

Casting

In many ways, casting sessions as we had them were the enemy of play. Actors traipsing into Soho, sitting around in a waiting room, then being faced with the very long odds of getting the part. Perhaps not the best way of getting a performance out of someone? So, remote casting certainly seems here to stay. What about chemistry in the room, I hear you say? Well, as one director put it, good actors are good at pretending. If they can’t pretend to have chemistry, they’re probably in the wrong job.

Above: Remote shooting doesn't allow for 'happy accidents', and even Stanley Kubrick, arguably cinema’s preeminent perfectionist, allowed for improvised takes.

Shooting

Over the past two years we’ve been able to shoot in ways never before possible. Recently we had a small team shooting in Prague, with the director in London and clients in multiple global time zones. It showed how – with planning and attention to detail – we could achieve amazing results.

However, many directors I have spoken to have commented on how remote shooting can stifle their ability to play around with ideas on set, to allow for the happy accident that no one can foresee. Even Stanley Kubrick, arguably cinema’s preeminent perfectionist, allowed for improvised takes.

Even Stanley Kubrick, arguably cinema’s preeminent perfectionist, allowed for improvised takes.

So, my prediction is the majority of directors will want to be back with their feet on the ground, with the occasional remote crew capturing pick up shots in distant locations where it simply doesn’t make sense to fly the whole crew.

Given Kubrick’s hatred of air travel, he too may have warmed to the idea of sending a small crew to a remote part of the globe to grab a two second shot, while he sat watching in his Winnebago in Pinewood.