How to Take Care of Your Actors on Set – The Winter Edition
- Nov 11, 2018
- 9 min read
If you have followed my research on my role as a producer so far, you will remember that our project ACTION! will be filmed outside in Preston Park. However, since our shoot will take place in either late November or early December in Britain, it is obvious that cold weather will be an issue on the day of filming.
That does not only pertain to the fact that we need to look out for camera equipment and film stock in case the temperatures fall below -5°C, but it first and foremost means that I will need to take care of my cast and crew, especially when filming outside for a longer time span.
Until last Friday, the situation at hand was that we would have filmed in the woodlands of Preston Park from about 10.00 to 16.00 or 17.00. I had prepared my actors that we would be filming outside and thus they needed to bring warmer clothes onto set. However, this is not nearly enough of preparation, depending on how the weather turns out to be for the upcoming couple of weeks. Obviously, keeping cast and crew warm will be an issue to take care of. But how do you go about it, practically speaking?
The Research
This question is why I decided to do a bit of research into taking care of actors. However, this turned out to be a rather difficult bit of research as there are mostly sources out there that pertain to how a director should act towards actors, on how to feed a crew, or on how actors can take care of themselves. However, I decided to take these sources as a first step of gathering information and thus settled to focus on how actors take care of themselves first. I believed that these articles could give me hints as on how to avoid the most obvious mistakes from an actor’s point of view.
However, this kind of source did not get me far as it focussed on only four basic elements that are mostly within the actor’s responsibility anyway, such as:
Exercise
Diet
No tobacco and
Limited consumption of alcohol/drugs.
So, apart from the dietary aspects, there is not much that I can do in regard to my role as a producer on set. Which is why I moved on to another category of sources, the one pertaining on how to keep your crew up and running. And indeed, this turned out to be helpful research.
Avoid the Zombie Crew
As the caption above rightly suggests, the ProductionHub blog I consulted (“Avoid the Zombie Crew: 7 Ways to Take Care of Your Crew on Set”), offered helpful advice as how to keep your crew up and running and furthermore not only keeping them in high spirits, but also keep their clear thinking and stamina on a high level during a day on set. The seven tips I took away from that blog as an additional task for my role as producer were, in no particular order:
Provide consistent, nutritious meals and not too many snacks
Plan meals for dietary requirements and allergies (aka ask your cast and crew for any intolerances)
Bring (healthy) snacks anyway to keep the spirits high in between meals
Bring enough water and ensure that everyone drinks enough
Wear appropriate clothing (which, in our case, would be winter clothing)
Watch your cast and crew for dips in their performances or concentration and schedule minor breaks accordingly
Take breaks as a producer as well.
With these tips in mind, I decided that I would not only provide meals, drinks, and snacks on set, but that I would also attempt to kill two birds with one stone and use the meals and drinks as a way to warm up during the shoot – by ensuring that hot beverages and meals will be ready.
Another good and inspirational source for my quest was the blog ‘Do’s and Don’ts for Feeding Your Crew’, that gave even more practical hints on how to successfully cater for a crew. Some of these additional tips and tricks were, again, in no particular order:
Supply plenty of coffee and water to keep your crew focused
Chose crafty table snacks that are easy to eat and dispose of!
Don’t go for pizza, it is too heavy a meal and slows down performance
Keep it caloric but healthy, aim for variety
Keep it hot and punctual, and
Never consider rationing!
Whilst the last bullet point of rationing could be a difficulty looking at our extremely low budget, I do get that a producer (or line producer) should never skimp on food and meals to much, especially on longer shoots. With my experience on Looted, although I never went hungry, I realised how crucial the scheduling of meals throughout the days have become and of how important of a motivator they actually became on especially strenuous days.
So, how do I go about it?
Since we will be eight people on set for a duration of about five to eight hours, in the woodlands with no access to rooms or electricity, I decided that we would need an airpot with 5 liter of volume on set.
This airpot would be able to contain hot water for everyone, for at least eight hours, and would thus provide a good basis for hot beverages such as tea, coffee, or broth. It would also mean that we would not have to carry three flasks with different beverages in it (logistics is a matter for us after all), but would still allow us all to drink whatever we wanted, just by bringing tea bags, instant coffee, or even stock cubes on set. The warm beverages would thus be able to keep cast and crew warm.
In addition to this, we would then bring insulated cups, a package of water, light or healthy snacks such as bananas, apples, or snack bars (oh, the irony!) and order a meal on the side.
But that lead to another question: Where do I order an affordable, but warm meal that can either be fetched or delivered and is still quite close to our location? After a bit of research online, I found different eateries around Preston Park, most of which where pizzerias. However, this generated another issue, as these pizzerias usually opened at 16.00 or later and would not be able to deliver food for up to eight people before we actually wrapped up our shoot. After a bit more research, I thus found a family-owned diner that was pretty close to Preston Park as well.
This diner would offer a variety of warm and affordable meals that could either be delivered or fetched from them. This eatery would even cover a range of dietary requirements and eliminate the possibility of food allergies as they promoted to take care of these issues as well. The only ‘downside’ to it was the fact that this eatery would need a 24h notice to prepare for such a large group as ours and would close by 14.00 in the afternoon.
Since we might be tight on time anyways, I thus decided that we would not collectively drive to and eat in the diner, but that we would send someone with a car to drive and fetch the meals. However, that requires me to settle another issue: The seating of eight people eating and ordering a meal that can be eaten without the use of cutlery, a table, or even a seat.
Thus, I did a bit more research, and found that – right next to our set – a couple of picnic banks and seats were located that would allow us to sit down and eat like proper people while still being able to keep an eye out to equipment. It would furthermore help us in preparation, as the seats there would mean that we would not have to bring camping chairs – which is a major asset considering the amount of equipment we will have to carry down onto location anyway.
Moving on to other issues, how would I else be able to keep my actors warm? I decided that the actor’s downtimes would be the most problematic moments, as they would not be moving about then but rather be waiting for their turn, which is not only boring, but can also turn really cold. Thus, I looked up further options to keep them warm, which brought me to the use (and possible purchase) of blankets.
However, looking at them, I realised that another issue could very likely creep up, one of which would be high humidity (not a seldom occurrence in woodlands during autumn)! With that, I realised that normal, woollen blankets would not help much but rather worsen the issue as they would quickly collect humidity.
Thus, I moved on to insulated picnic blankets. However, this was also quickly rendered as unhelpful, since a single one of these blankets would have cost more than our budget allows, and we would have still needed at least three of them. Finally, they would not have provided enough comfort as they are quite sturdy and not really compliant when attempting to wrap them around one’s body.
And then it hit me.
What about using metallic-foil emergency blankets as used by ambulances and especially in mountain rescue services?
These metallic-foil emergency blankets would immediately solve any issue related to the cold weather, as they would effectively prevent our actors from chilling through. These emergency blankets can be bought cheaply and would cost less in bulk compared to a single picnic blanket. As they are made up of a silvery and a golden side, they could furthermore be used as reflectors if needed be and could, in case of extreme cold weather, even serve as a cover for the SR3 camera, keeping the film inside at a constant temperature. And they can easily be reused for future film sets if properly taken care of. If it’s good enough for the Austrian mountain rescue services, it’s definitely good enough for us!
However, there’s yet another issue again that comes along with these blankets. When I asked a friend of mine, who is working as a paramedic in Germany, about the effectiveness, pros, and cons of these blankets, he pointed an important issue out: Since emergency blankets are made of metal foil, they can indeed be very noisy if the person within in moves about a lot. Which is why we would be required to keep the actors using the emergency blankets at a distance from the actual set to avoid the noise being recorded. However, I deemed that the distance of the picnic seats near the set would be sufficient enough to cancel most of the noise out, depending on the equipment that would be used on set.
Which is why I went and asked our sound operator Katie as to what her opinion on the matter would be and whether it would be fine to go along with the blankets or whether we would have to change our equipment for that reason. After a quick chat, we’ve both found that, with the sound equipment chosen (directional Røde microphones and the H6 Zoom), the blankets would not be much of an issue as the Røde does not record a sphere of more than two to three metres in diameter, and as the picnic seats would be about 20 meters away from set anyway.
Putting Things Into Motion
This is when I decided that I would acquire not only an airpot for our shot, but also the emergency blankets. I thus started out by looking at Amazon deliveries. While the emergency blankets would come in a pack of ten or a dozen blankets and would still be fairly cheep (with an average price of about £1.30 to £1.40 per piece), the airpots took my breath away, as they quickly went from £20 to £40 and more. Thus, I decided to postpone the purchase and ask around first whether anyone owned a 5l volume airpot that we could loan for a while.
However, no one of our crewmembers had one at home and also the kitchen staff at The Northern School of Art had to answer in the negative when I enquired about one. However, since £40 is a fifth of our entire budget (and we need to cover meals and travel expenses for cast and crew), I decided to do more research and browse stores in hope of finding a cheaper solution.
However, since a lot of organisation is required to make the care and catering on set as smooth an endeavour as possible, I devised a quick catering list so that I would not lose sight of important bits and bobs along the way:
Crafty Table Contents:
Bottled water
Milk (or soy milk and almond milk)
Airpot with hot water
Insulated cups
Apples and bananas
Granola bars
Biscuits
Instant coffee
Tea bags (black tea and fruit tea)
Beverage stirrers or plastic spoons
Permanent marker to name one’s own cup
Bin bags
That comes in addition to the purchase of:
Warm meals in either bulk catering or platter orders
Emergency blankets
In addition to that, and for the worst-case scenario, I decided that I would furthermore ask for a filming permission at an internal location in the likes of a green house in case the weather turned too cold to quickly. Which is why I decided to ask for a filming permission again at Sunderland Museum’s Winter Gardens. However, I’m still awaiting reply.
With the research done so far, I feel that I am now more prepared in my role as a producer. However, I will ensure to go over the list and amend multiple times before the actual shoot to ensure that I do not forget a crucial element in the last minute.
A fed artiste and crew is a happy artiste and crew after all!
References:
Bartscher (2018) Edelstahl Isolierkanne 5L/Stainless Steel Airpot 5l [online] Image taken from: https://amzn.to/2OOr3Mb [Accessed on 11 November 2018]
Bright, K. (n.d.) Taking Care of You: Four Ways Actors Can Protect Their Whole Instrument [online] https://www.nycastings.com/taking-care-of-you-four-ways-actors-can-protect-their-whole-instrument/ [Accessed on 11 November 2018]
Harvey, S. (2016) Do’s and Don’ts for Feeding Your Crew [online] https://nofilmschool.com/2016/11/meals-production-crew-crafty-set [Accessed on 11 November 2018]
Migimi (2018) Rettungsdecken/Emergency Blankets [online] Image taken from: https://amzn.to/2qThAts [Accessed on 11 November 2018]
Schumacher, E. (2016) Avoid the Zombie Crew: 7 Ways to Take Care of Your Crew on Set [online] Image taken from: https://www.productionhub.com/blog/post/avoid-the-zombie-crew-7-ways-to-take-care-of-your-crew-on-set [Accessed on 11 November 2018]
Taurel, D. (2017) How to Take Care of Yourself as an Actor [online] http://www.douglastaurelactingblog.com/2017/03/take-care-actor/ [Accessed on 11 November 2018]
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