COVID-19 reared its ugly head in Texas on March 4, 2020. South by Southwest was cancelled on March 6 and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo closed on March 11.
Our business, which relied on interviewing people on camera, shooting b-roll and aerial footage, was in a tailspin.
March 16 was the last day (for the foreseeable future) that our Storyhive team worked under the same roof.
Working from home became the new normal for our “Hivesters” and we all stayed as productive as possible with our makeshift home workstations and new office mates (partners, kids, pets, parents, lawn guys, etc.).
Working less on set meant more time working on edits, animations, script writing and pre-production. The team adapted and focused their efforts to help The Storyhive move forward regardless of the current environment.
Our small business and others around the country needed to pivot fast. In our minds, small business owners became the new super hero and deserved their own character.
For some reason, people began the quarantine by hoarding toilet paper. In March, our graphics artist, Jeff designed this image accompanied by the slogan “we are all in this together.”
Exactly one month into quarantine, Eric snacked all day but shopped less, resulting in multiple trips to a less-than-exciting pantry. While standing in complete silence, staring into the pantry, trying to decide which variety of canned something-or-other to pull out for lunch, he had an idea.
The rest of the team had ideas for videos brewing as well.
Alden realized he was moving less and gaining weight (because when there's a quarantine you stock up on Oreos, right?), decided to capture his transformation, and his attempt at reversing it, for all to see.
For Tom, life in lockdown meant even the most mundane tasks could become highly-rewarding adventures.
Benjamin, Alex and Matthew hit the streets to shoot footage of life in lockdown.
“It didn’t take long before artists started creating COVID-19 inspired murals around Houston and the country. We shared a few photos of our favorites and decided that it would cool to make a video showcasing some of the COVID-19 art around our hometown." - Benjamin
“It felt odd to fly our drone in downtown Houston at noon in the middle of the week with no one around.” - Alex
“If I wanted an angle that put me right in the center of the street I could walk right out and stake my claim. Normally in the Houston sun, I cover myself fully and look like Scorpion from Mortal Combat, albeit one who hasn’t worked out in a while. Now, my attire fits right in with safety precautions that we all must don.’’ - Matthew
A regular check of a backyard security camera, resulted in some pretty funny comments from Jena’s mom. So Tom decided to edit together the goings on in his backyard over a one-week period.
A video series was not the original idea, but that is what emerged. Not only did this project help us stay busy during downtime and generate “buzz” (pun intended) on social media, but it also injected a little fun and humor into our current, uncertain situation. We hope these little creations will put a smile on your face.
As we ALL navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, we hope you will “hive” good spirits, “bee” kind to your fellow man, keep your mask on and WASH YOUR HANDS.
While we are all in this together… let’s remember…