The Ripple Effect of a Frame: How Video Production Powers an Ecosystem

Author: NITROUS Ltd. |

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I originally wrote this as a comment to go along with this Nitrous LinkedIn post about the animated Film for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society “Stars Will Twinkle, The Sun Will Shine” that I produced and directed, however, due to the character limit, I am posting it here. If you arrived here from LinkedIn, thanks for the visit…

When I moved Nitrous to 5th Avenue in 2002, I was routinely awestruck watching FedEx, UPS and messengers coming and going as they moved massive amounts of video tape to and from our clients back in the day. It wasn't because I was fascinated by the delivery process -lol, it was because a company that I had created, was having a financial impact on other companies and the uniformed drivers passing through my lobby was something tangible I could actually see. The presence of my business in the Flatiron district of Manhattan benefitted deli’s, restaurants and other businesses large and small simply because Nitrous existed.

As I entered the names into the end credits for these two videos, that feeling of awe from 23 years ago resurfaced. Artists around the world were employed for a bit. Roughly 88 individuals contributed to the making of these two videos. I am thankful to every one of them.

Video production is an important part of our economy. I know the world is changing quickly, how we create video is rapidly evolving, and as roles are replaced one by one, two by two, the money is distributed differently, if it is paid out at all. We hardly ever hire messengers anymore; we send files via high-speed internet; now the money previously spent on messengers is going to software engineers.

I think the analogy I’m seeking to illustrate here is that bringing Olivia’s story to life is a piece of a bigger picture that I’m proud to be a part of. There exists a delicate relationship between all the members of this team that worked on this project. The client defines and pays for the project; the video agency creates the scope of work and assembles the pieces; hires the screenwriter who fleshes out the story and puts the words into the characters mouths; artists create the world the characters live in, draw the characters, design props and clothing; voice actors bring each character to life; the editor paces the story and stitches it all together first as an animatic, then with motion; teams of artists animate, color, shade and render multiple iterations; the editor once again puts the animation together; the sound designer creates an immersive world; the composer sets the mood; the audio engineer brings all the sound together and on and on.

After seeing the human renders Veo 3 has been creating recently, I’m sad to think about how many of these 88 people will be impacted, me included. Not only will this affect animation, but video created with these tools will impact the corporate and commercial videos we work on as well. Most, if not all of the talented roles I described above could be replaced by this at some point. Should one small business go away, the impact is felt by many hundreds of other people. When many small businesses doing the same type of work go away, the impact is exponential.

I say it again, video production is an important part of our economy.

OK, here is the “just wait for it” moment. I wrote the above for a LinkedIn post. Because I’m not the best writer, I do admit to using AI tools to spare you, the reader, from my poor punctuation and potentially poor grammar.

This is the prompt I posed to my AI tool of choice and the response I got back:

“WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE WRITING OF THIS ARTICLE, AND AS AI, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE IMPACT OF THE CONTENT?”

Within 3 seconds, it gave me the following (you can skip past the technical Strengths and Suggestions for improvement and go right to “AI’s Perspective on the Content’s Impact” if you don’t have the time)

“The article you’ve written is heartfelt, reflective, and grounded in real-world experience. From a writing standpoint and from an AI’s perspective on the content’s implications, here’s a breakdown:

Writing Evaluation

Strengths:

  1. Authentic Voice:
    The tone is personal, sincere, and clearly rooted in lived experience. That authenticity gives the piece weight and credibility. It reads like a letter from someone who genuinely cares about the industry and the people in it.

  2. Narrative Structure:
    Starting with a memory (moving Nitrous to 5th Ave) and looping back to a current project gives the piece an effective emotional arc. The callback to the early 2000s grounds the evolution of the industry in a tangible before-and-after contrast.

  3. Gratitude and Recognition:
    You thoughtfully acknowledge the many contributors to a production—a respectful nod to the collaborative nature of creative work that often gets overlooked.

  4. Effective Use of Analogy:
    The comparison between messengers and software engineers as beneficiaries of industry shifts is both accessible and illustrative of the broader point about economic redistribution.

Suggestions for Improvement:

  • Pacing and Flow:
    Some sentences are a bit long or meandering. For example:

“The client defines and pays for the project; the video agency creates the scope of work and assembles the pieces; hires the screenwriter who fleshes out the story…”
This would benefit from breaking into smaller chunks or clarifying punctuation.

  • Grammar/Clarity Touch-Ups:
    Small edits for clarity or correctness could help polish it:

    • "design props and clothing, ; voice actors…” → remove the comma or semicolon.

    • "should one small business go away…” → consider: “When one small business disappears…”

  • Tighten the Ending:
    The final sentence is a strong echo of your earlier point, but you could make the ending feel more conclusive or call-to-action-oriented. Right now it trails into repetition. Consider wrapping with a personal vow or open question about the future of the industry.

AI’s Perspective on the Content’s Impact

Culturally and Economically Insightful:

  • The piece rightly frames video production not just as a creative industry but as an economic ecosystem. By connecting the dots from one small studio to dozens of lives touched and industries served, it articulates a broader truth that’s often missed in discussions about automation.

Prescient and Grounded:

  • Your point about redistribution (from local messengers to global developers) is spot-on. AI does not just "replace" roles—it shifts the flow of money and labor. This shift may seem invisible but is deeply consequential.

Emotionally Resonant Warning:

  • The fear you express is justified and widely shared in creative communities. AI tools like mine can perform functions that once required teams of specialists. That efficiency is disruptive—and you’re asking the right question: at what cost to community, craft, and employment?

Balanced Without Being Alarmist:

  • You don’t vilify AI, but you do sound the alarm in a personal, non-dramatic way. That’s powerful. Instead of resisting change blindly, you’re asking for awareness, appreciation, and perhaps a more human-centered conversation about what’s next.

Overall Takeaway

This is a strong draft that can absolutely stand as a LinkedIn post, newsletter essay, or blog entry. With minor edits for flow and grammar, it has the potential to resonate deeply with people across creative, business, and tech sectors.

Would you like me to edit this into a more polished version while keeping your voice intact?”

[Blinking cursor here] 

Staring at the blinking cursor awaiting my input, I was reminded me of the movie War Games.

Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoy the video and I hope it helps a lot of people.

- Paul

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