It’s been really interesting to see how agencies are now actively looking to use Virtual Production to fulfil the sustainability values of the brands they work with. We’ve seen several agencies actually win pitches to deliver campaigns by committing to using sustainable production methods like Virtual Production. The market demand for low-carbon costs on content production, drives the demand for agencies to provide this, which has meant the rise of Virtual Production in TVC’s and social is only continuing to rise.
Since we partnered with Adgreen, we were looking to collaborate on a showcase example case-study and were delighted to team-up with Silver Circle to demonstrate the sustainable benefits of this amazing production technology.
We used Virtual Production to create this content for Wye Valley Gin which will be used to launch their refill cans and reusable glass bottles. We made a number of specific choices within this production to ensure a low carbon footprint. For example, we knew from previous projects through using the calculator, that the biggest impact always comes from the travel associated with location shoots. When you factor in numerous trips such as a location recce, mobilising full crews and talent and even possible re-shoots due to poor weather, it can add up hugely. We filmed everything within the studio, all with our own team and in just one day.
The second biggest factor tends to be the use and disposal of physical sets and when using real kitchens this can add considerably to the carbon calculation. It now seems crazy to us that we’d actually be so wasteful and inflexible in our approach to build a kitchen and then later fill a skip with it! For me this is the greatest delight of virtual production, the visible lack of waste at the end of a shoot is such a pleasure and the fact that the calculator allows us to report back to our clients on this is very satisfying.
Additionally, we always try to keep tabs on all the smaller contributing factors such as offering meet free menus and using resuable plates, water cups etc, it’s amazing to see how all this add up when it’s factored into the calculator.