A Possible Moment Of Clarity...

Consider everything television or film pre 2020 that you've EVER seen.

How often are plots driven by meetings in crowds? Physical interpersonal interaction? Sex?

What about all that casual stuff like hand shaking or just handling an object that was just in someone else's hands?

Pretty damned often.

So I'm watching a show where the plot is driven by some of the above and I find myself thinking, "How did they film this safely?" before remembering that it was put on film 10 years ago.  How quickly social distance and contact avoidance has become normal.  The big question is are we on the cusp of a permanent shift, not just in our personal lives but on a more pervasive, cross-cultural level?

During my travels yesterday, one of the few people I spoke more than two words to said something casually that I just can't shake.  As part of THE conversation we all seem to have been having for the last three months, he simply said "The world has changed."  Well, duh. 

But that simple statement packs a helluva wallop. 

If science doesn't find a real, stable vaccine for this virus, the last three months become a model for the foreseeable future. 

What that means, long term, is anybody's guess but one thing I do see is a big shift in the way film and particularly serialized television shows are filmed.  I've already heard of soap opera productions planning on using actor's spouses or even high end inflatables as body doubles for love scenes.  CGI crowds will get more use as will clever editing and the rapidly advancing face swap software. 

Somehow I can't really imagine the billions of dollars tied up in entertainment production are going to sit idle much longer, so there's going to be some sort of "safe filming" protocol put in place and it's pretty tough to imagine that such a protocol won't be readily apparent when viewing pre and post 2020 shows and films.  Even with all the high end Hollywood trickery there's bound to be bits and pieces that will expose the new limitations, at least if one is looking for them.

Are we going to someday be able to divide film and television into pre and post Covid production eras?  Perhaps one day I'll be posting about a wistful moment when an old crowd scene makes me remember those days of yore when crowd scenes were filmed with actual human extras.  I would love to be able to point to this post a year or so down the road and laugh at my pessimism. 

Watch this space.