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Paris Thomson
Paris Thomson
Paris Thomson is the Founder and Creative Director of progressive film and motion lab SIRAP.
SB

You’re a creative and a business owner in the world today, how are you feeling?

PT

Wow – what a wild ride the last 8 months have been! I think over the last few months I’ve learnt to truly ride the wave, pivot quickly and have tried to stay as positive and mentally engaged as possible. I’m proud of how our team has banded together to flex and adapt where required, and embrace every opportunity with a limitless perspective.

I also think that due to the challenges we face with COVID from an operations perspective, and the burning need for our clients to constantly create content to connect with their audience, we’ve now got an amazing opportunity to truly push the ways in which we think about film content; how it’s produced, consumed and ideated. Lockdown or not – the show must go on.

“Film content has an incredible ability to communicate a message in a multi-sensory manner and connect brands with their audiences in powerful and emotive ways, that other media can’t.”

SB

Right now, brands need to consider different avenues to connect with their customer in a meaningful way. How can the moving image impact the way brands are communicating?

PT

Film content has an incredible ability to communicate a message in a multi-sensory manner, and connect brands with their audiences in powerful and emotive ways that other media can’t. I think now more than ever, people are looking for a sense of escapism, delight and hope. I think that when married with a unique idea, film is the most effective way to transport people to another world, and if strategically woven into a brand’s story or messaging, can become an incredibly powerful tool to engage a customer.

SB

The increase in screen time at home is indisputable. Are you adjusting your approach to content creation to fit into this new wave of consumption?

PT

I’ve always believed that a great idea will create a powerful connection with an audience – regardless of the noise around it. Nonetheless, we are competing for our audience’s attention and engagement more than ever before, and as a result we are constantly evolving our aesthetic, ideas and challenging the way in which film content is designed and produced. We need to keep creating a ‘newness’.

There is no doubt that on platforms such as Instagram, shorter is better, but also there is an opportunity to sustain audience engagement for a longer period of time if the way in which the content is produced – the design, treatment, sound design and of course, the story – is truly compelling.

“I’m excited about pushing ourselves to re-define the norm of film content production, and looking at our parameters differently.”

SB

As a filmmaker you’re constantly innovating and challenging the way things are perceived. Is there something exhilarating in what could potentially develop out of this unique and unknown time?

PT

I’m excited about pushing ourselves to re-define the norm of film content production, and looking at our parameters differently. For instance, we’ve had numerous discussions with clients around what a ‘lockdown’ production looks like when our crew can’t physically be on the ground, shooting with the talent or on location.

We’re now looking at different practices like virtual directing suites (via zoom), and creating fully sanitised ‘COVID camera kits’ complete with cameras, tripods and framing and style guides to send to our talent, so that they can set up the cameras and record the content themselves, with our virtual direction, upload it and have our team remotely edit the content in our virtual edit suites.

This approach, along with the integration of user-generated content, means we need to consider our production parameters first, understand what the output looks like, and then design a treatment around it. It’s totally flipping it on it’s head, and I absolutely love that.