Edited by Cátedra de Comunicación y Salud

ISSN: 2173-1675

Received 15/08/2020

Accepted 23/09/2020

COVID-19: AUDIOVISUAL CONTENT FROM THE USE OF HOUSEHOLD TOOLS

Resumen

INTRODUCTION

Crises hit all productive sectors and the audiovisual sector, in particular, is usually one of the hardest hit. In times when the economy is faltering, each industry adapts and modifies to the needs and challenges that arise.

Already in 2011 and 2012 the Annual Television Analysis (Barlovento, 2009-2013 in Francés, 2014, p. 146) reflected that, given the situation of global economic crisis, the audiovisual production market was going through a bad economic moment as a result of the advertising funding crisis and, more importantly, there was no hope for growth in the short term. Fewer and cheaper productions were being commissioned.

Times of crisis imply a change and an adaptation of the industry to the new circumstances. As economic situations become more complicated, employment suffers, leading to job insecurity in all professional profiles along the value chain of the audiovisual industry (Francés, 2014).

Francés (2014) also points out that the mass media have had a relevant presence and role in every historical event since their birth in the mid-twentieth century. So the first pandemic of the 21st century has been an active part of the media and, consequently, it is necessary to know how it has affected them.

Technological development and different computer applications have also been progressively implemented in audiovisual productions (Clemente, 2004). But what has played a fundamental role in the way of working and producing in television has been the growing use of communication networks through the Internet.

During the confinement, video calls have taken over the screens, which indicates the correctness of the trend reflected by Menéndez-Manjón (2003) that the improvement in digital communications and data flow drives the production and distribution of content.

What has been observed for years is that it is no longer necessary to leave the newsroom to know what is happening in the world, (Heredero and Reyes, 2016) and that, in the current working conditions of communication professionals, subject to the law of "do it yourself" (DIY-Do It Yourself, in English), they have to produce, write, record and edit their pieces. This is one more consequence of the integration of technology in the workflow, which not only makes the media professional a multitasking subject, but also imposes the difficulty of competing with all those who have the same technology at home.

One of the most relevant effects of the 2008 economic crisis in the audiovisual sector had to do with the total replacement of analogue technology by digital technology. This led to a reduction in the costs of procedures and tools, boosted, moreover, by the rise of platforms such as YouTube (Heredero and Reyes, 2016) that allowed greater reach in the distribution of content.

For years, to create any audiovisual product - a simple press conference, for example - required a large amount of technical and human resources (Casanova, 2016). The evolution towards digital production technologies has examples of low-budget production such as the music video Lost Ones, by the artist Joan Thiele, directed and produced by Giada Bossi for the Universal record label, in which the entire budget -including all the phases- was 5,000 euros, using a reflex camera with the capacity to shoot in 4K (Pérez-Rufí, 2018, p. 297).

The effects of the crisis also meant the democratisation of production: as access to audiovisual technology to produce is cheaper, new formats such as webseries appear, in which companies find a new advertising window influenced by social networks. (Segarra et al., 2017). And the fact is that "video clips have positioned themselves as one of the central formats of audiovisual renewal due to their ability to adapt to digital distribution channels and hybridisation with other formats" (Sedeño et al., 2016).

COVID requires research on television that analyzes its role in communication and its effects, as indicated byHermes and Hill (2020) where they point out that television offers ontological security and undoes social distance.

The financial crisis of 2008 also led to the birth of the figure of the multitasking worker. The emergence of cheaper technology and the loss of the requirement of technical quality in certain products brought with it, as we have seen, production strategies based on the low cost in which quantity has been prioritized over quality. This new paradigm known as the democratization of digital media, brought with it a significant reduction in human resources, the absence of job stability and well-paid productions, a consequence that continues today (Casanova, 2016).

Another fundamental factor, a consequence of technological development, was the appearance of smartphones. In the early days, their use as a platform for the distribution and consumption of content was already being envisioned, and different specific proposals were formulated to adapt them to their small and portable format and also to viewing in short periods of time and in any place, outside the controlled comfort of the home or cinemas (Vinader, García, & Abuín, 2010).

In a single device we have a high resolution camera, audio and video editing and post-production programs and the possibility of data transmission. This feature has been, at this time, of vital importance to maintain communications with the intention of broadcasting television content. Until very recently, we went from needing complex communication systems; such as terrestrial satellite transmission antennas (DSNG), to simpler devices; such as 4G backpacks, which still required the contracting of certain services.

At the moment that has disappeared. Only the mobile terminal is enough. It is the smartphonograpy, which is defined as:

The tendency to capture the everyday, what accompanies us in our day to day, the urban landscape, to represent the scenes around us from the most creative look, with personalized touches through multiple applications to finally disseminate and publish its content. (Casanova, 2016)

This trend has jumped directly from the domestic to the professional sphere. Although what can have negative consequences when it comes to certain work relationships and quality, it also has positive consequences such as uncovering creative talent that before, without access to professional tools, were difficult to discover and manage.

But one of the variables that have changed the most in the 2020 crisis compared to the 2008 crisis has been the environmental variable. On the one hand, there has been an increase in plastic waste due to the increase in the consumption of packaged products and the use of masks and sanitary waste (Cepeda, 2020). On an industrial scale, the halt in activity has meant a decrease in the emission of polluting gases into the atmosphere. Resources are finite and since the mid-70s of the twentieth century, there was already concern about the legacy that would be left to future generations (Gómez, 2020). (Gómez, 2020). The interaction of human activity with the environment has to maintain a delicate balance:

It has been confirmed that health problems are always subject to the interaction of each civilization with its environment, which depends, in essence, on the character of the human-nature relationship. (Gomez, 2020)

So there is a direct relationship between industry and the environment.Gómez (2020) states that "we must learn to responsibly manage the waste that is generated, because what is done today will have implications in the future and what is done in one place on the planet will have repercussions in another, because this world is a single, continuous and three-dimensional whole".

In terms of entrepreneurial activity, Lopez and Bulmer (2020) point out that:

At a business level, sustainability has to exist from the core of the business and be present transversally throughout the organization. And if we are talking about sustainability, it is necessary to focus, from the beginning, on the fulfillment of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. (López & Bulmer, 2020)

That said, it is crucial to consider new workflows in audiovisual productions that take into account the environmental factor, as well as technological resources, global distribution capacity and virtual management of human resources.

The current crisis has brought with it a double consequence: health, forcing people to confine themselves indoors, which has modified, among other aspects, the space for interaction with audiovisual content and, on the other hand, a financial crisis caused by the economic standstill it has entailed. If any time of crisis implies reinvention, adaptation, resilience and learning from previous lessons learned, the following questions arise:

How have the production and production processes been adapted to the circumstances of zero mobility? Has this zero mobility had an impact on sustainability issues? Also, given that employees had to stay at home, what impact has it had on human resources management?

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this research is to know the way in which the audiovisual industry has continued with its activity during the confinement, motivated by COVID-19 and in what way it has influenced these companies in order to be able to propose management modes and workflows applicable in the near future in the audiovisual sector.

It is therefore essential to establish or, at least, to reflect on the possibilities, within a real scenario, in which the important technical needs to produce television are integrated with the correct training on the use of these tools. The objective is to establish reliable workflows with the capacity to create a quality product in line with what viewers are going to demand.

The scenario that teleworking has brought with it, has also generated new employment opportunities conditioned by the technical and operational possibilities used in the television processes.

And in relation to the environment, the general objective is the study of the implementation of sustainable practices in production as a fundamental variable to understand the future of the economy.

To this end, it is necessary to approach the research from two perspectives:

• The first has to do with the academic point of view since, although a crisis such as the one raised by COVID-19 had not occurred previously, there are research works in relation to low cost production and new audiovisual production formulas that imply economy in the means of production.

• Second, it must take into account direct professional experience. Audiovisual production, and specifically television, has suffered an extraordinary increase in audiences during the pandemic. From March 16 to June 21, television consumption increased 22% more than in the same period last year, 278 minutes per person per day (Barlovento Comunicación, 2020, p. 4). And as a result, the most watched programs have had to adapt their production strategies in a mandatory way to comply with state regulations.

It should be borne in mind that the situation being experienced by COVID-19 is so exceptional that, in all likelihood, it will be difficult to repeat it under the same circumstances.

Therefore, the specific objectives we will try to achieve are:

• To establish which of the research works and the results achieved for low cost production formulas, can help to explain the possibilities that have appeared with telework explained as a reality assumed by companies and workers.

• In this environment, the solution to the problems arising from the situation of reduced mobility will be investigated, as well as the solutions and improvements provided.

• To explain and make known the television production and production techniques that have been developed during the pandemic. This objective is valid insofar as it is the same professionals who have carried out this transformation who explain this fact.

• In addition, the possibilities derived from remote work will be addressed and, more specifically, in the area of television, taking into account aesthetic and workflow criteria. The aim is to alleviate production needs in such a critical sector, from an economic point of view, as is the audiovisual sector.

• Regarding the environmental aspect, the objective is to investigate the measures applied by the companies on sustainability issues and if they are present in the implementation plans of the projects.

METHODOLOGY

Two main research methods have been followed. On the one hand, the bibliographic review and reviews in specialized audiovisual websites and national press. On the other hand, a series of unstructured qualitative interviews (table 1) with directors, technical managers and producers of different television channels and audiovisual production companies in Spain (table 2), with sufficient experience and professional qualifications to be considered experts in the field.

Source: Own elaboration.

The interviews were carried out by means of telephone conversations, which were subsequently transcribed and from which the information was extracted.

Given the number of formats that exist in the audiovisual field (news, fiction, reality, docudrama or competitions, etc.), it has been decided to make a map of common elements used in different formats, paying more attention to the procedures than to the final purpose. The intention is to establish a general framework of use in different programmes, without wishing to limit the research to a single product.

In addition, press articles have been reviewed in which solutions and adaptations that have been produced in this situation have been published. The novelty of the object of the research means that there are hardly any references to previous research.

To finish with the triangulation in the methodological research, the results of the data obtained in the research will be analysed through an analysis that maintains the methodological structure of the SWOT method, but which has not had - for obvious reasons - a second wave of analysis.

The objective of applying this methodology is to lay the foundations on which to articulate premises for the construction of a possible virtual production scenario, based on the experience of those professionals who have had to make executive decisions during the pandemic to adapt, almost instantaneously, the workflows to the production needs imposed by the health crisis.

Source: Own elaboration.

ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

In January 2020 the first news of a "mysterious coronavirus emerged in China" (ABC, 2020). On 31 January the WHO declares a health emergency (Güell, 2020). In Spain, on March 13, 2020, a State of Alarm was decreed, forcing the population to confine themselves to their homes.

The main consequence is the dry stop in production, also in the audiovisual sector, which was forced to modify its personnel structures, forms of production and content production.

In the different programming schedules, live programs are no longer broadcasted and the production of delayed programs is drastically slowed down due to the impossibility of recording on set. Adaptation to this new circumstance is imminent, making the maintenance of broadcasting capacity in the event that the coronavirus appears among its technical staff the greatest concern of television network executives (How the coronavirus hits television networks, 2020), so reinventing new workflows is essential.

But at the same time, creativity makes it possible to create television programmes made from private homes: presenters, collaborators, guests, etc., who appear in front of the cameras - with their bookcases on their backs - through their electronic devices, mobiles and computers. El Intermedio or Zapeando (Mediapro Studios, 2020) are produced with all the artistic staff in their homes. El Hormiguero (Acción, 2020) on the other hand opts for a hybrid format with part of the staff on set and others at home. The audience bleachers begin to empty. First to fifty percent of the capacity. Then completely empty (This is how the coronavirus hits the television networks, 2020).

On the other hand, the contents are also affected insofar as new formats and programmes created specifically for the situation arise, made with mobile technologies and with scripts focused on the pandemic (Pérez, 2020), such as Diarios de la cuarentena for TVE (RTVE, Morena Films, 2020), or the production company El Terrat, which launches its webseries Coronavídeos: historias confinadas (Terrat, 2020).

In addition, all sectors within the audiovisual industry are working to adapt to the situation and continue producing as much as possible. An example of this is the film dubbing sector, which implements a workflow so that actors have a professional Newman type microphone at home connected to a computer that, remotely, is linked to the sound system and viewing of takes (fragments of sequences into which the audiovisual product is divided at the time of dubbing work), in order to synchronize and record the takes (Abel, 2020).

For its part, the audiovisual equipment rental company Ovide (Remote production, production and professional streaming for production companies, n.d.), offers a service for remote virtual production where each worker can be at home.

In short, the forced production stoppage and the consequent need for reinvention, has reflected positive changes in different sectors:

The irruption of the coronavirus has also left positive traces, such as the heroic work of many professionals, the solidarity of societies, the environmental respite or the boost it has given to teleworking and the Fourth Industrial Revolution and its technologies, to which the press is no stranger in any of its formats. (Corral, 2020)

We can see that the situation has produced changes in different elements of the production process. On the one hand, the production of programmes has left the set and it is essential to consider the efficiency of the solutions to the workflows that, on a technical level, have been adopted for the production of programmes.

The physical space itself has been modified and the personnel who have to travel to the controls have a new element to prevent possible contagion, such as the separation screens between posts (Custom Consoles launches a screen for production controls in response to COVID-19, n.d.). The sets are emptied or coexist with the homes. There is a need to integrate that communication between production centers and the tools available in homes or those that can be brought into workers' homes to create entirely new workflows. And if many people have stayed at home without physically going to the production sites, how has it affected the way they work?

On the other hand, production management is also affected by having to modify location and transport needs. The confinement itself has led to a decrease in the emission of toxic gases into the atmosphere. So much so that the NO2 levels recorded during the state of alarm are the lowest for the second half of March and the month of April in the last decade (Ceballos et al., 2020, p. 11).

In terms of waste generation, targets such as the reduction of plastics have meant a setback in the milestones achieved so far. The reason for this has been the increase in food packaging or sanitary waste such as masks (Cepeda, 2020).

The impact of both CO2 emissions and the increase in the average temperature of the planet show the environmental unsustainability and the urgency of finding solutions to alleviate its effects (López & Bulmer, 2020). The question arises whether production companies take into account sustainability factors for their industry.

After observing publications in the press, reports from institutions and the observation of television programmes, a search was made for specific academic information on the subject.

First of all, it was decided to choose the two most general words: audiovisual and COVID, and the search was limited to the year 2020.

The results returned by Scopus are twenty, all related to telemedicine, virtual reality in medical applications, surgery, radiology. In short, it does not return any topic of interest for our study.

We carried out the same search in Web Of Science, which gave us the same results as Scopus, but added an article by Giulio Latini (Latini, 2020) that deals with the textual analysis of image and communication, based on epistemological and language issues, in a way that is far from our object of study.

Next, we proceed to execute the same search in Dialnet, which yields a total of seven results for the year 2020 and none of the object of our study.

Finally, Google Scholar offers us 3,550 results. Reviewing the first ones, the search returns medical articles, but we have found one that reviews the general audiovisual communication during the pandemic and analyzes the contents, from television programs such as El Hormiguero to social networks such as Instagram (Pérez-Rufí, 2020).

Next, we make a change in the search. We replace audiovisual with television and keep COVID and the time limitation to 2020.

The Scopus database yields 63 articles, mostly from the healthcare environment, but returns two that are close to our purpose. One of them superficially describes the environment and ways of communicating during times of pandemic (Hermes & Hill, 2020).

On the other hand, we found another document that deals with communication tools through the Internet but we have not been able to access it (Suciu, Stefanescu, Beceanu, & Ceaparu, 2020).

The search in Web Of Science offers us a total of 38 results for the words television and Covid in 2020, of which we found one on the treatment of messages and information (Casero-Ripollés, 2020). Another article is also extracted with a reflection on the general influence on content, but without the intention or depth of our research (Ong & Negra, 2020).

On the other hand, Dialnet, once the same search has been made, does not offer any results for the year 2020.

Finally, we searched in Google Scholar. It offers us 6,360 results for the year 2020. Among the first 50 results, none of them are of interest to us since they focus on medical topics. We did find some of the previous references returned in other search engines.

So, having searched the four main engines of academic articles without having relevant information, we have conducted interviews to obtain quantitative data on the impact of the health crisis on the forms of television production.

DISCUSSION

In view of the results extracted from the interviews and the review of the published articles, we can extract the following data that summarize the new environment derived from the confinement. With regard to the technical and software tools used for communications and the realization in the data contained in Table 3 are extracted.

CONCLUSIONS

The appearance of the pandemic caused by COVID-19 has generated radical changes in the way of producing and may open new ways of execution and audiovisual creation. In order to broadcast television and television content, one can opt for a system of domestic tools, unprofessional and without attention to detail; or implement professional broadcast techniques and protocols, expensive and slow to implement.

All these new possibilities should be defined in working protocols agreed upon and articulated by the industry, since they modify workflows. These practices carried out during the months of confinement point to the generation of a mixed production system between the classic audiovisual production systems and the workflows made possible by the new information technologies.

In general, the elements used already existed, although they were little used because their technical quality of image, sound, control and availability was questioned. Aesthetic priority has taken a back seat in times of confinement. Quality standards will return once the usual tools are in use, but there are some elements that can be considered to become commonplace:

• Workflows, functions, processes and roles can be reconsidered in a less resource-intensive economic environment.

• Some production processes and techniques will remain in the industry, mainly due to the type of content or the adaptation of new technologies such as videoconferencing systems, high-capacity mobile communications or transmission backpacks.

• The narrative, lighting, number and position of cameras, as well as the scenography and lighting, specific to the quality inherent to the pandemic will be used as a regular resource.

The situation has opened up new labor relations, conciliation and, remarkably, the search for talent that will become independent of its geographical location. It also opens the doors to access direct testimonies in real time that, due to their relevance, can be available to the production at the same time they occur. The new post-COVID scenario opens the way, therefore, to new television formats in which instantaneousness and real time are a priority. This factor will come into conflict or will have to be integrated into the current business model proposal based on the quality of mega-formats whose main success factor is spectacularity and large audiences (Operación Triunfo, Masterchef...).

Technological development will provide portable and low-cost equipment to help implement quality productions, without the need for large technological deployments. Nor should we forget that virtual production systems can add value to platforms such as YouTube and its content creators who want to distribute their creations on a global scale.

In terms of sustainability, it has been shown that less travel is beneficial to the environment and this could be reflected in the audiovisual industry. However, there is some doubt as to whether the impact of teleworking and the use of data communications are as beneficial as they appear. More worryingly, however, production companies are not yet consciously considering the application of sustainable criteria in their work, which indicates that this aspect is neglected and opens up a wide field of technical development and research.

REFERENCES

AUTHOR/ES:

Julio Blas Blas

Associate Professor, Department of Applied Communication. Complutense University of Madrid. Graduate in Audiovisual Communication from the UCM, Master in Teacher Training for Secondary and Vocational Training (specialising in Audiovisual Communication and Processes) from the URJC and Advanced Technician in Audiovisual Project Production from the CES School. He has been an active professional for more than 25 years in television as a producer and editor and is also the founder of Echar a Rodar, Association for Audiovisual Sustainability. At UCM he has been tutor of Final Degree Projects in Advertising and Public Relations, Digital Audiovisual Production and Management and Audiovisual Technology. At OBS Business School he teaches Sustainable Communication in the Master's Degree in Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Leadership.

Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7235-296X

Alberto Luis García García

Associate Professor, Department of Applied Communication. Complutense University of Madrid. Associate Professor of the Department of Applied Communication Sciences of the Faculty of Information Sciences, Complutense University of Madrid. The key lines that define his research career are digital television and radio, virtual reality, postproduction, interactivity and cultural industries. He has extensive professional experience in post-production and television production. Member of the TV Academy. He has an active six-year research period. Lecturer in the Business Area, specialising in Radio Structure and Business, and lecturer in the Audiovisual Media Technology Area, specialising in production and post-production. Both subjects are taught in the Audiovisual Communication Degree. He is a specialist in digital environments and audiovisual production of fiction and non-fiction content.

Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6805-6700

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.es/citations?user=vMeHVQsAAAAJ&hl=es

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alberto_Garcia20

Ignacio José Martín Moraleda

Associate Professor, Department of Applied Communication. Complutense University of Madrid. PDI Professor Department of Applied Communication. Complutense University of Madrid. PhD in Audiovisual Communication and Advertising. Extensive experience in production and production in radio, television, events, live. He has taught in the Technical Master of Radio and Television of the CES, Master in Audiovisual Communication for the Digital Era UCM. Updating trainer in Canal Sur, Telemadrid, Mediaset, Onda Cero, etc. Technical leadership in production and projects of radio, DTT, television, sets, news services, videoconferencing, streaming and LED in Spain and several countries. He has provided production and transmission services for Aviwest, Sony, Panasonic, JVC, Newtek. Professor of editing and postproduction at UCM with participation in several productions. Director of TFGs, TFMs, author of articles on technology, data, television and interactivity.

Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9885-9187

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.es/citations?user=8ASZmoAAAAAJ&hl=en