Thinking Creatively During Lockdown.
Kat Volkova is the Director and creative behind the House of Content. We spoke with her recenlty to find out how constraints imposed by the ever changing pandemic regulations had made her creative with her photography. She talks about in particular challenges faced when producing a project for Good One sodas.
As a small business owner, how important is it that you stay creative and adapt to your circumstances? How have you adapted to the current circumstances?
Staying creative and adapting to changing circumstances is vital as a small business owner. We currently live in a climate that's continuously ever-changing with a constant influx of visual stimuli and can be difficult to keep up to date. At House of Content, we love to test out all the new tools, techniques and approaches that become available to us and apply it to our way of working.
With the current circumstances, we've adapted by using tools to stay efficient and keep track of ongoing projects, also by creating designated spaces for working to balance working from home and still existing as a place of rest.
How has your thought process changed when creating content for your clients during lock-down? Have the physical restrictions allowed you to think more creatively?
Through lock-down, I couldn't rely on the usual method of shooting on location and having one or two members of the client's team with us to approve layouts throughout the day. As a duo, we've had to reinvent our approach to shot lists and mood-boards and ensure that signed off shots also have a range of variety for the client.
The physical restrictions have enabled me to be more resourceful with space and available styling pieces I had at home. It's funny actually because it's made me realise the value of having a designated work area and resulted in me moving to a bigger flat which I now double as a home studio - truly resonating House of Content.
How can content producers / creative agencies inspire confidence in their clients that content can still be produced safely and creatively?
I think that complete transparency and consistent communication can reassure clients that content can still be produced safely and creatively. Discussing the COVID protocols that will be undertaken during shoots and as mentioned before, solid confirmation of mood-board, shot-list and further potential ideas prior to production day.
What have you learnt during the pandemic that you will take with you post-covid?
Disciplining my time and being realistic with how long each task can take, organisation is definitely key. Working from home through COVID has blurred the balance between work and time for myself. I've become more conscious of my time and allowing myself to take breaks during the work-day and shutting off to be a person.
What was the brief for Good One? What was the purpose and emotion you were trying to convey?
Good One approached us just before they launched and needed photography for the first campaign. The brief was widely about the Good One lifestyle, they sent us over their brand guidelines and was really amused and excited by their concept: luxe with a touch of satire. We were then heavily inspired by 70's print ads and an over the top approach to class and glam.
What were some of the challenges that instantly cropped up with the production of the project and how did you overcome them?
I think the challenges that cropped up with the production was the prop-sourcing. The photography guidelines plus the mood-board were specific and needed exact pieces to fulfil the mood of the shoot. To overcome this, we’ve agreed on budget and exact prop list in advance because we had to source online and needed to allow for delivery time.
Where to find Kat - @houseofcontentldn
