copywritten for Ambient Skies
As film and TV production tentatively resumes it's clear
that things will never revert to the way they were before Covid-19. Production
is being permitted to start up in countries across the world provided social
distancing and sanitization measures are adhered to. It’s to be hoped that
these will reduce and fade over time, particularly if a vaccine is developed,
but the industry’s enforced experiment in remote production coupled with the
scarring financial cost of lockdown will mean permanent changes to workflow and
best practice – not all of them onerous or negative.
Here’s a guide to what we know in the immediate and some
best-guess ideas of mid to long term change.
Safety First Guidelines
The industry has been forced to innovate and shown it is
possible to create new drama even under the most restrictive conditions.
ITV Studios – the production wing of UK commercial
broadcaster ITV – conceived, shot and aired four 15-minute original dramas in
just weeks. Featuring actors the caliber of Eddie Marsan (Vice) each Isolation
Stories drama was shot inside the actor’s homes on Samsung smartphones
with lighting, camera position, set dressing and make-up duties performed by
their families. Instructions on direction and cinematography were relayed by
Zoom with rushes uploaded to Google drive.
Every state and country is on a different track to lifting
lock-down with differing restrictions and within that there every production
will have to find hygiene and social distance rules that fit its
circumstance.
Broadly, though the guidelines for shooting in the immediate
living-with-COVID-19 period are similar. Crew members will have to wear masks,
actors will have to social distance from the crew, catering will be pre-packed.
There are also rules on the number of people allowed on set – depending on the
nature of the production. Clusters of crew are discouraged.
The Association of Independent Commercial Producers has
released extensive (but by no means final) guidelines for the restart of
commercial productions. They make a pretty good template for any other type of
show.
While not mandatory, they need consideration in light of
state/government employment law. They will also need constantly revising as new
information emerges. Items will be added, removed and reconfigured as we get back
to work and learn from experience.
It notes that obtaining permits for on-location filming in
homes and businesses might prove particularly difficult. “Neighbors or
neighborhoods may have a diminished appetite for the presence of film crews.
Acquiring signatures will be difficult logistically. Fewer people will be eager
to provide signatures for filming activity on their street.”
The production-specific guidelines include recommendations
on casting, talent, wardrobe, hair and makeup, video village, camera and sound,
transportation and the handling of equipment. The post production-specific
guidelines address such areas of concern as supervised sessions, studio
procedures, client requirements and social distancing.
It asks productions to consider a temporary barrier between
actors while establishing marks and positions. Alternate shot set-ups, camera
angles, and lenses should be considered to allow for maximum separation (depth
of field can simulate greater proximity). Its list is as detailed as suggesting
a separate pen for each acting extra to keep while completing paperwork (or do
it digitally).
If the actor can’t show up having done their own hair or
make-up, then the Hair or Make-Up artist should wear appropriate PPE and use
single-use brushes and applicators if proper disinfectant cannot be guaranteed
(increasing environmental impact in the process).
Props could be simulated by using an actor’s own possessions
(such as a phone); similarly, wardrobe specifications could be altered to use
more of the actor’s personal clothes.
Stagger scheduling
Scheduling should be altered to stagger call times and work
day start and end times should avoid rush hour commutes. Question whether prep,
pre-light, or strike days will be required. It’s desirable that the same
staff/freelancers stay with production for its duration (as opposed to
individuals swapping in and out), to minimize the amount of interpersonal
contact.
Alternative lodging may need providing to house talent and
crew for the entire duration of the shoot to avoid them returning home. This
could even involve two-week quarantine of actors/crew ahead of restarting
shooting. This is doubly important for shoots at a multi-stage facility where
other productions may be taking place.
Handling of camera equipment should only be done by members
of the camera department. Audio kits such as Comteks and Lav mics should be
disinfected before and after each use. Perhaps boom-only audio (as opposed to
rigging Lav mics) is a more appropriate safety-first option.
Quarantine supervisor
To coordinate all of this, the new position of ‘quarantine
supervisor’ or similar point of contact should be designated. They will each be
responsible for supervising and enforcing social distance rules and hygiene
protocols, checking in with each crew member, perhaps even checking their
temperatures.
Australian soap opera Neighbours is already back
in production with measures including replacement of background extras with
crew members – something that has already got SAG warning against similar
happening here.
The soap’s studio is split into quadrants with no more than
100 people a day in any area. Fremantle Australia chief executive Chris
Oliver-Taylor told the BBC, "We're going to assume if someone does
get sick we don't need to shut the entire shoot - we just close that group and
carry on."
The Bigger Picture
Away from the day to day of production during quarantine,
there will be more substantive changes.
Insurance
Insurance will be playing on the minds of many producers.
The French government has launched a state-backed fund for productions that are
unable to get insurance cover because of the pandemic and its on-going
associated risks. UK producers’ guild Pact has identified this
as the critical issue to be resolved as quickly as possible, because
even if productions are able to go ahead within government guidelines they may
still be prevented due to a lack of insurance.
Travel
Travel, and air travel in particular, remains a massive
problem. Currently in the UK, where productions including The Batman remain on
hold, there’s a two-week quarantine for anyone flying into the country.
It’s one reason why filming is likely to begin in local
areas first, with locations adjusted to minimise travel and keep within smaller
footprints. In turn this could mean more productions turning away from
traditional tax credit territories like Montreal, London even Vancouver and
toward the financial incentives or other perhaps more rural (less populous)
states and cities.
Smaller Teams
Indeed, it is smaller, indie teams that are the key to
restarting film and TV production worldwide according to a panel of locations
and production experts talking to Screen Daily -
“There aren’t going to be as many people employed as
previously,” said line producer and unit production manager Sam Breckman, whose
credits include Tomb Raider, Jason Bourne and The Monuments
Men. “Maybe our industry has got too bloated. There’s a point where we’ve just
got to say, ‘Sorry, you can’t have an assistant of an assistant of an assistant
anymore, you’ve got one.’”
Art director and prop master David Bridson, told
Indiewire That one solution could be drastically reducing the number of
people on set to the key people from each department, leading even big shows to
go “documentary style.”
Remote working
The reduction in crew, even key creatives, attending set is
likely to continue in place long after Covid-19 forces remote from home
working. Virtual remote work is no longer a ‘love to try it someday’
scenario but one in which we all have real world experience. Executives too.
“There will be positive consequences resulting from
production lock-down,” asserts Chuck Parker who runs private fast fiber network
Sohonet. “Chief among these will be an enlightened attitude in Hollywood and
beyond to the practicality and benefits of a distributed content-production
workforce.”
Expect more production tasks to stay remote for more of the
time. Casting sessions and callbacks could be done remotely (this is part of
the AICP guidelines).
Line producer, production manager, buyers and
post-production staff (editor, composer, sound mixer and VFX can all be done
remotely without too much overhaul in current workflows or any reduction in
quality.
Lightstorm, for example, was making long distance reviews of
VFX during editorial between LA and Weta Digital in New Zealand for Avatar in
2008/9 and is doing the exact same for sequels 2 and 3 currently in production.
The parts of the process that technology has yet to solve
are the extremely data intensive real-time color grading final reviews and
sound mixing, which both require access to expensively equipped rooms and
calibrated monitors.
Facilities group Light Iron points out that there may be
compromises during principal photography (such as shorter work days, fewer
personnel to equip proper lighting) which will require productions budget
additional time in post to fix issues.
Virtual production
If under current circumstances it is easier to green-lit a
pared down contemporary drama (like Locke which effectively
dramatized actor Tom Hardy in a car) than giant cast, multi-location epics
like The Irishman, we may see studios and streamers commission more
animated shows which are pretty immune to impact.
Into that bracket comes virtual productions like The
Lion King with little or no live action element. Other shows, like Avatar which
are hybrid animation/live action can capture performances separately and
integrate the data virtually and in real time using games rendering engines.
What is interesting is that this cutting-edge type of
production need not cost millions of dollars. Indeed, British filmmaker Hasraf
HaZ Dulull remote produced animated sci-fi short Battlesuit in London
with just two other crew during lock-down. He built and animated the graphics
in Unreal Engine, composed shots with the DragonFly plugin from Glassbox
Technologies, processed it all on a Nvidia GPU powered laptop and shared assets
on Dropbox, Vimeo Pro and Trello.
“Indie filmmakers can use the same tools as the makers of
Marvel and you can do it in your own home,” he says. “Tools like these reflect
the exciting revolution of real-time filmmaking that we are all currently
venturing into – where indie filmmakers with small teams can realize their
ideas and cinematic dreams without the need for huge studio space or large
teams to set up and operate.”
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