We’re planning for a New Year full of surprises, hopefully the good kind! With our first video editing bookings already flowing in, it’s already looking like a brighter year for Sonic Eye than the one we’re leaving behind.

2020 – Good Riddance!

Ok I know we’re all supposed to put a positive spin on everything, and a big grin on our faces – especially on social media – but frankly it was a terrible year. I don’t know about you but I wasn’t really celebrating much this New Year’s Eve. It was such a bad year for so many of us, I didn’t see that much to celebrate, although I did help myself to a couple of glasses of champagne to toast seeing the back of 2020!

But with a New Year comes new hope, always. So ring in 2021 and let’s all hope it turns out to be a year we can remember for all the RIGHT reasons. With Covid-19 vaccines being rolled out and a new, sane government taking over in the US of A, touch wood things are looking up.

I’m ever the optimist – I couldn’t run a small business if I wasn’t – but it has certainly been a challenging 12 months for small business, and for me on a personal level as well.

As January 2021 kicks off, I’m just glad to still be here! Although work has been thin on the ground, I count myself lucky that I was able to continue working when so many other businesses have had to fold or stop trading entirely because of lockdowns. Because I already worked from a home studio not much changed with the video editing side of the business, although of course we had to stop video production for most of the year.

That’s not to say 2020 didn’t impact Sonic Eye, we are after all focussed on editing travel footage, and with international travel all but shut down and local travel restricted there hasn’t been a lot of call for those services. I’m so grateful for the repeat clients who sent me work last year, it has kept Sonic Eye afloat during a really challenging time.

Early on in 2020 while other video production and editing services jumped onto advertising for funeral videos, I didn’t follow suit. It seemed tasteless to me to be capitalising on others misfortune, however I found out first hand the importance of tribute videos in farewelling a loved one, particularly for friends and family who can’t visit. My stepdad passed away during the state borders lockdown, so I was stuck in Sydney unable to go visit my Dad or family in Queensland, or to attend the funeral when he finally passed.

My Dad didn’t get taken by the virus, he had been battling cancer so it wasn’t unexpected, but not being able to be there with him, see my family or share in the grieving process after he passed away was really tough. My way of dealing with this was to make a slideshow of images for the service and a memorial video afterwards. It was one small way I could feel involved and connected to my family, even though I wasn’t able to be there.

I found out it is very, very hard to make a tribute video for someone you know and have just lost. It’s not just looking through images and videos of someone you love who has just died, but the difficulty in trying to make a decision of what to keep and what to cut. Trust me, it’s hard!

It also made me realise the importance of sharing those photos and videos with family and how much of a comfort that can be, so I’ll be offering a funeral and tribute video service in future to anyone who needs it. If you have lost a loved one and would like a personal video memento of them including photos and videos that tell their story, please get in touch.

On a brighter note I had time over the Christmas holidays to do a full system re-build here at Sonic Eye, updating my system software and upgrading to the latest versions of Premiere, After Effects, Da Vinci Resolve and a whole lot of other software that I use in my video editing work. Not for the faint-hearted, a full system upgrade when you use it for work is quite daunting particularly one which means you have to let go of legacy software you’ve maybe used for years.

It’s taken some time to complete the transition, update everything and get all my settings back the way I like them – but it’s been worth it! Now fully setup for 64bit processing, I’m already seeing the increase in speed particularly in graphics processing, and taking full advantage of the new gear I’ve put in place over the past few months.

2021 is already looking a little brighter with our first bookings for the year already coming in. Here’s hoping that Sydney small businesses will start to kick in their advertising before too long!

Keep in mind that if you’re running on a tight budget, we specialise in getting the best results from your self-shot business videos as well as offering video production services. Just get in touch to find out how we can improve the video and sound quality of your D-I-Y marketing videos.

If you’re missing travel right now, lockdown is also a great time to get your video files together (I’ve already posted some tips on how to do this HERE) ready for editing. If you want a cinematic video made from your last overseas trip, with new travels some way away (possibly even years!) it’s a great time to re-live your previous holidays – it’s the next best thing to actually being there!

Here’s hoping for an awesome 2021 for all, with all the possibilities that come with a new year.

I hope it’s a happy and positive new start for all!

  • Thalia, Founder and Editor at Sonic Eye video and sound editing company