It goes without saying but wow, what a year. Never in a million years did I think I’d be recapping 2020 talking about a pandemic that turned our lives upside down. I can confidently say I truly have never been more challenged (or stressed) as a small business owner.
Although it’s been an uphill battle, we’ve become more resilient and grateful to still have a business to call our own. Unfortunately many small business owners can’t say the same, which has motivated us to keep pushing forward to greener pastures.
As they say, when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. Though it’s been difficult, we’re charging forward into the new year and still managed to salvage many happy moments and memories for the Fog Squad in 2020. Here are a few of them:
Steve got married:
Many of you that have worked with us know Steve Cook, our Creative Director and Lead Animator. Steve and Becca got married in August and they now live in Los Angeles where Steve is expanding our animation department and production capabilities. If you’re wondering how this works, let’s just say, we basically live on Google Hangouts :) Congrats to Steve and Becca!
We moved offices (again):
If it seems like we move offices a lot, well, you’re right. We moved offices in November to an awesome location on the Embarcadero in San Francisco, steps away from the gorgeous SF waterfront. We look forward to hosting you in our editing suite once things go back to normal. We’ll also have plenty of snacks, coffee, and beer ready for your next edit session with us :)
Fog Coast Animation:
We’re pleased to announce the launch of Fog Coast Animation! Though animation has always been a part of our service offering, our goal moving forward is to provide a more dialed approach with expanded capabilities; these capabilities include a full-service character animation pipeline featuring character design, modeling, rigging, and texturing services. We’ve been fortunate to work with some incredible motion graphics companies like Territory Studio, which has resulted in millions more people seeing our work.
We (almost) won $30k
During the first nation-wide lock down back in April, the U.S. Census Bureau started a video competition with the goal of motivating hard-to-reach communities to get counted. We found out about the contest just 3 weeks before the deadline and immediately put the wheels in motion. After many late nights and early mornings, our team put together this video which we submitted literally 3 minutes before the midnight deadline. The Census received over 800 video submissions, and though we didn’t win the grand prize of $30,000, we were listed as a top 10 finalist.
As we move forward to 2021:
2020 was a pivotal year for the growth of Fog Coast. For those of you who have followed our journey from the start, you know how hard we have worked to be where we are today. Like many small businesses, we‘ve been hit hard this year, and while we’ve done what’s necessary to survive, we haven’t made it out totally unscathed. The unfortunate truth is that small businesses are suffering. That being said, I humbly ask you to open up your heart and to try to do what you can to help out small businesses during this time. I know you probably hear that a lot but it really is true; we need your help. Helping small businesses does not always mean a monetary contribution; it can be something as simple as sharing a post on social media, giving a referral, writing a positive review, or providing meaningful feedback. It’s about showing empathy, compassion, and realizing that underneath all of our job titles we are all human beings just doing our best.
We wish you a happy, healthy new year and full strength heading into 2021.
Much Love,
-The Fog Squad
Written By: Andrew Klein, Executive Producer at Fog Coast Productions