Filming During A Pandemic: Of Morale, Professional Attitude, and H&S on "The Pillars of Cre
As already blogged about in my last blog entry “Prepping “The Pillars of Creation”: Of Practical Effects and Lighting Issues”, we ran into a couple of issues regarding the lighting equipment that required my immediate attention and time in order to be kinked out just in time for principle photography.
But wait, there’s more!
As the saying goes “Misery loves company”, this was not the end of it. As such, we had a couple of more issues to deal with. Thus, let me expand on the subject a bit more and walk you through the forest of issues that was to surround us during our first week of filming “The Pillars of Creation”, before I venture into the solutions that we put to them.
Issues Love Company – Most Preferably Their Own
So at the same time I ran into issues with our lighting equipment, and due to the subsequent loss of my workforce for these two days, the preparation of the set itself – as well as the set dressing – also ran overtime. Whilst we did have Eline on set delegating her work in the most efficient manner, me having to solve unprecedented lighting issues took away a set of hands to help out.
This was especially visible in the fact that we were left with no time to rig the LED-lighting around the windshield of the space pod itself – which was a major part in my lighting design from day one. Thus, it was obvious that we would have to find an alternative solution to the lighting issue and make up for falling behind in our schedule at the same time.
As such, we decided that we would start our first week of filming four hours later than initially planned, as this would allow us to sort the final bits and pieces out before truly going into production, whilst at the same time improving the overall quality of our production and avoiding recurring hick-ups due to haphazard conclusion of the pre-production phase. Thus, we started filming at 12.30 instead of – initially planned – 8.30.
Although this already sounds like enough of an issue to deal with right before the start of principal photography, there was more to come.
For those of you that are reading or watching the news, it may not come as a surprise to you if I say that the current global Corona pandemic might be causing an issue also for us. Since the outbreak of the virus in Wuhan, China, ever since December, the numbers of infected people and deceased has grown worldwide. It was not until this week however, that the World Health Organisation had officially declared the virus outbreak a pandemic:
As such, and because of the high risks surrounding the infection rates and also the virus’s heavy run of the course, Germany has already banned any mass events that could entail more than 250 people attending. This not only includes festivals, music events, and big cinema screenings, but also educational facilities at large.
And the same might hold true for the UK as well.
As such, the Covid-19 outbreak made it difficult to work on set as it was, and it turned out to be a major struggle keeping the morale up with the constant flood of news and emails upon the situation. But I will come to the effects of that – and my learning in that regard – in a bit.
Thus, and during the course of Tuesday, we were being informed that we – both as a university but also as a production – might be shut down at any point in time with no knowledge of when or how we would be able to pick up again. At large, we weren’t even sure whether we would be allowed to film beyond Wednesday of this week, or what the procedures could look like to ensure that we would be able to finish our project (or our degree at least), or – lastly – what issues else this would cause us.
So in order to prepare for the worst-case scenario though, we were being asked whether we would be able to film the entire film in one week. Whilst this was a well-meant proposal, it was also an almost laughable suggestion born out of desperation. From what it looked like at this point in time, the 17 days that we’ve planned for the entire production would be fully needed, as we had a total shot number of 373 shots, including cutaways. Whilst the workload itself would be doable with an average of 21.9 shots a day – it is still a big feat for a student production like ours.
So much for a little rundown of the issues we were facing. It seemed like we – and our productions – are being cursed. We were already suspicious that everything had worked out perfectly fine for this one – up until now!
However, no use in dwelling on the past, so we decided to put some solutions to our issues and soldier on for as long as possible.
Our Solutions and Contingency Plans
Whilst soldiering on was the only feasible solution that we had been given in this situation – and although we collectively reminded ourselves to keep working as if Corona was not happening, it would have been foolish to do just that without having at least a few contingency plans in place. Thus, here follows the diary of our solutions and contingency plans:
Catching Up With Our Schedule
So in order to contain the unravelling chaos and get some crisis management done at least for the lighting and set issues, we decided that each head of department would compose a department’s to-do-list to be put up on the walls.
As such, the task was given to everyone both within and outside of any department (and to anyone finding themselves with nothing to do) to go and pick up a task by writing their name next to it. After they solved the task, they would then have to cross it out on the list and proceed to the next one. With this practice in place, we assured that the schedule would be kept, that everyone knew what was required without the heads of department having to repeat the tasks constantly, and we thus almost guaranteed that there was no running idle on set at all.
Lighting Solutions
Since we essentially lost out on a pair of hands for two full days last week, and despite our schedule management on Monday morning, we had still run out of time to implement the lighting solution that I envisioned for the windshield. Whilst I attempted a provisional setup in order to test the lighting effect, the proper implementation of this would have taken another day that we did not have:
As my avid readers might remember from my blog entry on lighting earlier this year, I was planning on using LED-strips – strung around the windshield for enhanced visual effect and in order to recreate a futuristic ambient lighting scenario – in order to recreate artificial sunrise. Since the aspect of recreating an artificial sunrise did not come to fruition due to the physical restrictions placed by the LED strip lights in the price category that we could afford, I at least wanted that ambient futuristic aspect to be part of the scene.
However, this was still a big job to be done if we wanted to do it correctly, so it was obvious from the start that we would have to find a replacement solution. As such, our art director Eline proposed that we could instead run the light underneath the command table – still allowing us for ambient light. This was even enhanced by the fact that she inserted cut-outs within the table that would allow light to permeate and be reflected in a visually pleasing manner.
Said, done: Whilst this was not the solution that I initially envisioned, it was a feasible replacement regarding our time restrictions and the outcome we desired, so I took that option and was pleased with the result. As such, and after a few hours of final preparations, we were finally able to proceed into principal photography.
Covid-19 Measures in Place
Due to the Covid-19 outbreak and us working closely together on set, it was a given that we would have to adhere to certain guidelines to making working together as safe as humanly possible under the circumstances at hand. As such, we set in place a rigid plan for everyone to adhere to that included the following:
Washing our hands whenever stepping on and off set
The same before and after eating/consuming drinks
Keeping a 10f distance to outsiders
Not going out over the weekend to reduce cross-contamination
Having dedicated bins for each day to be taken out
Having the ventilation going to avoid stale warm air for the virus to spread
Whilst most measures rightly felt like coming straight out of a horror film, the last measure was easy to accomplish. Since the ventilation in that room sounded like the humming of a spacecraft engine anyways, it was part of our plan to keep it running already from the beginning.
In addition to that and in order to ensure that everyone is fully aware of the implications and consequences of filming during COVID-19, and in order to protect the university as a whole, on Wednesday, we signed a waiver stating that we take full responsibility and liability should we fall ill on university premises due to us filming there. I furthermore handed in in a copy of my private liability insurance of over €50 million to cover for everyone and everything on set, including assets, property, items, and people. Here, each individual person is insured up to a sum of €15 million just in case the worst should happen.
Having done all of this, and collectively signed the waiver – which felt like a minor blood pact signed – we recommenced the shoot.
Contingency Plans and Venues
It was not until a day later, Thursday, that we learned that we would most likely be open until including Friday 27th but might possibly have to move to another venue for anything that required filming after that point.
As such, we have been offered up the Billingham Players theatre in case we would need a couple of more days of filming and could not go further than 27 March. After a quick phonecall from our tutors, we have been given the green light and had another contingency plan in place. In addition to that, I also asked my boss whether we would be able to pick up filming in his studio if required. He wholeheartedly agreed and offered his studio space for filming as well, provided that we would manage to get the set and equipment to him.
Amending the Schedule
Anyways, whilst two contingency plans were not enough to ease our minds, I sat down and constantly revised the shot list at the end of each day, making sure that I would not only prioritise 1) the most important shots, but also 2) include all the shots that were left out on that day whilst 3) at the same time find a shortcut that would reduce the amount of time for resetting either the camera’s position, the set, the lighting, or any other element of filming. As such, I ordered each shot on my shot list according to importance, chronology, angles and lens choices:
However, since it was not possible to cut down any further on our shots than we already did, Has and I furthermore decided to instead focus on the most important parts first and leave the cutaways to whenever there was some downtime left.
In addition to this, our producer Hannah ensured that we would have our actors available for filming even after the Easter break in case university should be shut down before Easter but re-open after Easter.
Some Substantial Learning – Of the Importance of Morale and Professionalism in the Industry
Some important key qualities that are not often talked about in the context of filmmaking (or at least not to that degree) – but which is important for our profession nonetheless – is having a tenacity mind set and being able to keep up the morale on a film set
Whilst I initially proposed to work as if Corona was not happening, I also understood that it was impossible to keep it away from set for the entire time. If it were not already for our producer Hannah who needed to remain informed on the current issue to be able to adequately react upon it, it would have been at least for the benefit of our actors who needed to know what was happening as well.
However, the constant flood of information coming in on that issue alone created a terrible environment of stress and uncertainty to work with, robbing especially our actor, but also our crew of emotional capacities and energy. This was further fortified by the fact that a lot of old information sent about was needlessly rephrased and rehashed – creating a strenuous sense of alertness although nothing had efficiently changed.
However, since we could not control the amount and type of information streaming in, I instead proposed that we would at least decide on when and how information was reaching our set. As such, I further proposed that Hannah would only ever inform us in the morning, during lunch, at the end of each day, and whenever there was actual substantial news to be had. This not only helped us keep our energies up, but also gave us a sense of control back that was utterly required under the circumstances at hand.
This decision was agreed to and further fortified by the fact that we could furthermore collectively tell that we started losing efficiency and concentration whenever another email flooded in. Thus, my proposal was agreed upon by everyone, thus minimising the emotional strain on everyone.
However, I also realised the true meaning of having tenacity and grit. As such, I am grateful for our lead actor, as well as our particular crew. All I know is that my cast and crew – amidst all the drama and the constant wave of fear installing, soul-crushing emails and bad news, rumours, uncertainty, and fear-mongering – have been soldiering on like mad producing this film, whilst taking precautions and keeping the morale up with brilliant jokes, witty lines, and a lot of (very healthy) self-irony to combat the feeling of overwhelm, uncertainty, and hopelessness.
I realised that the skill of being able to keep up the morale – especially using humour – is a key part of the job and – used in moderation – also an important aspect of professional demeanour. And that was a big learning curve to have!
For, during the entirety of my educational and work career, I was taught that professionalism and humour are mutually exclusive. It might be a particularity of German work culture and ethic to associate humour with insincerity, immaturity or even unprofessionalism, but if you were to show too much of a gleeful, humorous demeanour, you were basically guaranteed to NOT be hired at all due to your perceived immaturity and for lack of professionalism.
And this situation now was actually the first time I first-hand experienced this relationship between humour and professionalism to not be mutually exclusive. I realised that having a healthy sense of humour and sarcasm (or irony) – and applying that in moderation – can actually be considered part of a professional demeanour.
It was a way to lighten the load that was already there and keep everyone working. Whilst I usually tend to bury my head and occupy my mind with the work at hand, I realised that this is a skill that works in settings where I am alone.
However, in this case, under these circumstances and with an entire crew behind my back that required me to be somewhat upbeat, I realised that blindly soldiering on without any consideration of my emotional state could only bring down everyone else involved as well.
And, in extension, I realised that a good sense of humour might entail the difference between being professional and being professional and great to work with. Which is an important realisation that – I feel – will have more of an impact on my career than my previous understanding of the relationship between humour and professionalism.
You never stop learning, eh?
And in the meantime, I will be reducing the shots so that we would be able to wrap our production on 27 March regardless. Let's just hope we are allowed proceed through next week as well!
References:
BBC News. (2020) Coronavirus confirmed as pandemic by World Health Organization. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-51839944 [Accessed on 21 March 2020].
Global News. (2020) Coronavirus outbreak: WHO declares COVID-19 a global pandemic. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKPWngYf2Wk [Accessed on 21 March 2020].