If they were able to talk, how would beer glasses describe 2020?
I’m going to start by not stating the obvious. We all agree that 2020 will be a year to remember until we move on from this world. And after that, it will most likely be studied in history books. For various reasons, mainly related to how it affected people’s socioeconomic well-being. But what if objects or even consumable things had feelings and a sense of their own? How would they describe the COVID-related events that occurred over the last 12 months? What if, for instance, beer glasses could speak? What would they say?
I tried to answer these questions in the following short film.
I was looking for a way to express how I felt over the last few months, especially during the second, longest, lockdown. However, so many others have already done the same by speaking up and sharing their minds, that I didn’t want it to feel like just another “me too” video. Instead, I thought of sharing that story from someone else’s perspective.
I struggled a bit with finding the right approach. I couldn’t find something that most people will resonate with instantly. That was until talks in the UK about the upcoming reopening of the pubs and restaurants made headline news. The biggest impact this lockdown had, was on socializing. And the UK’s main reference of social connectivity is having a beer with friends. That’s when I thought it would be interesting if we could hear the same story from the perspective of a beer glass.
Being a meticulous planner myself, I started drafting the storyline and the scenes that I needed to record in order to tell my story. And that’s when I hit my biggest hurdle. I needed footage showing the beer glass in various situations resembling past activities. But being in lockdown meant that I couldn’t film any scenes before COVID hit. Instead, I opted in for stock footage. While I’m not a fan of using someone else’s work, in this case, it helped me tell my story and express my thoughts in ways I couldn’t have done otherwise.
I ended up using a combination of stock and owned footage demonstrating the past and the present. And while everything was filmed before the UK existed lockdown and the pubs reopened, it tells the story until just before then.
I would really like to hear your thoughts, as well as let me know how you’ve experienced the last 14 months .
Until next time…
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