Hold for Exposure! When Covid-19 Put Everything on Hold
I still cannot believe it.
It happened at last. What I – and we collectively – hoped would not become a reality during our last week of filming “The Pillars of Creation” indeed came true:
University – and with that our access to all our facilities we need for completing principal photography – was prematurely shut down due to the Corona pandemic. And that's not all of it: The UK, as of Monday evening 20.30, is on a minimum three-week lockdown as well. It’s the first and only time in my life that I’ve been faced with a true lockdown and all the limitations it entails.
The Latest News
It was announced during a press conference held by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and came as a surprise only for some – but especially for me. For being only 30, I’ve lived in 5 decades already and I’ve had my fair share of contemporary history – the German reunification, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the turn of the millennium, the introduction of the Euro, the Indian Ocean tsunami, and the Tōhoku earthquake with the subsequent nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
But I never lived through a lockdown. Or through a full-blown pandemic. Epidemics, yes, but a pandemic? No. Even though there have been a lot of prophecies and claims that the next pandemic was overdue, I had never really paid much attention to it. I’m a very sceptic person at the best of times and I tend to see things with more than a grain of salt. To me, talks about a new super-pandemic that will wipe out substantial portions of society sounded like crazy stories spun by people who were bored to no ends and dreamt of some kind of Purge. Rebels without a cause, so to speak.
And now it has indeed become a gruesome reality at the best of times. A reality that we all need to act on if we want to protect the most vulnerable in our society and thus society at large. It’s a reality with a level of seriousness that I’ve only ever heard of from my grandparents, when they were talking about Second World War. A reality that we will have to live with for the next few weeks at least.
Recap – Our Contingency Plans
I was already blogging about the possible issues surrounding Covid-19 and our contingency plans to combat them in last week’s blog entry “Filming During A Pandemic: Of Morale, Professional Attitude, and H&S on "The Pillars of Creation"”, which not only entailed 1) asking our actors whether they would be willing to filming the pick ups later than the initially arranged dates, and 2) minimising the level of distressing that had to happen between the back half of the script and its front half, but 3) also slimming our shot list and cramming – as well as streamlining – as many shots into each day as was safe and possible under the previous and newly imposed Health and Safety measures.
With the latter, I was optimistic that we would manage to compress the initially three weeks of filming into only two weeks. It was obviously not an easy task and it would demand a lot of everyone involved. But both cast and crew were still extremely passionate about the project and every single one of them was willing to walk the extra mile if it meant that we would be able to finish the film in time.
Thus, we were ready to fight until the end and give it our all.
How We Responded to That
However, with the university shutdown, and the nationwide lockdown announced on Monday, it was now obvious that we will be on hold for our production of “The Pillars of Creation” for the foreseeable future, without knowing how, when, or whether we will be able to pick up our FMP.
Upon being hit with the news that our university will close prematurely, and with only a four hours’ notice, we had to abandon everything on set apart from the most vital equipment that I took with me for safekeeping. Thus, we decided to film what we collectively perceived to be the most important shots of the entire film – emotionally, but also plot-wise – to have at least them secured for the worst case scenario, which is not being able to finish the film, but have it be reduced to a trailer instead. Together we then rewatched these last scenes shot and took a group photo together in the hope that we would soon be reunited again.
Since we currently definitely lost out on two full weeks of teaching due to the premature closure of our university, the entire university received a blanket extension of about two weeks, which, with the Easter break, almost amounted to a total of five weeks extension for each and every module. As such, the deadline for Professional Practice is currently sat at 11 May, whereas FMP is set to 26 May.
Whilst we technically should have enough time to pick up the missing half of the script and at least create somewhat of a resemblance of a short film, there’s currently no guarantee for anything.
And Now?
Since the number of infected people and deceased are constantly increasing – and people have been disregarding governmental recommendations and guidelines to social distancing in the past few days – the lockdown was the only feasible solution of curbing the pandemic in the UK. As such, no one is allowed to leave the house unless it is considered essential, such as e.g. essential groceries, runs to GPs and pharmacies, one set of daily exercise outdoors, and anything to do with work that cannot be rescheduled to home offices.
Luckily, and as far as I know, no one of us is currently infected by Corona and we – as well as our loved ones – are all safe and healthy. However, this situation is currently still frustrating to endure as we would have only required about 6-7 more days of filming in order to have Pillars wrapped up and thus safely enter post production. We were all healthy, all but one actor were still eager to keep filming with all the necessary precautions in place and we also quickly found a befitting replacement for the actor dropping out.
Having vented that frustration, it is a matter of nature that we will accept this force majeure and act accordingly. It is a serious pandemic that is cause for a lot of tragedies, loss, trauma, and suffering across many nations, classes, generations, and races. Whilst our frustration might be understandable at first glance, it is a first world problem and a minor inconvenience compared to what is actually happening on a global scale.
As such, and as much as I hate being held captive by a pandemic, I’d rather endure this uncertainty and the overall hiatus now and keep as many people safe as humanly possible.
Update, Thursday 16 April 2020
As of today, 16 April 2020, it has been announced that the lockdown has been extended to another set of three weeks. Although we were supposed to learn about a possible extension of the measures already on Monday 13 April, the death tolls were still inconclusive as to whether the UK was already beyond its peak of the pandemic or whether this was just a coincidental dip in the numbers and the peak was yet to come. With an incubation period of up to two weeks and the outbreak period of another, it was only natural to assume that we would go into another three weeks of lockdown.
Whilst this makes our picking up of Pillars more unlikely, our cast and crew is still hoping to be able to pick up as many scenes as possible. Since we are in constant daily contact with each other already due to our friendships, and in order to combat mental health issues, we are also still talking and planning about the project itself.
As such, we are in a Schrödinger’s mind-set of sorts where we are prepped for both the project to be made and to remain inconcluded at the same time – thus ensuring the best hand-in possible under the circumstances at hand – while, at the same time, being able to hit the floor running and re-commencing production within a turnaround time of only two days if being given the chance.
Update, Sunday 10 May 2020
As of today, it is now official that we will remain in lockdown for another lot of three weeks. At this point, and looking at the hand-in dates for both Professional Practice (11 May, so tomorrow) and FMP (26 May, so in two weeks from tomorrow), it is obvious that we won't be able to complete our hand-ins to the usual standards and that our project "The Pillars of Creation" is currently put back on ice.
As such, I would like to put out a disclaimer for the hand-in for Professional Practice, as this lockdown has inhibited the quality of my submission.
Whilst I've already written elsewhere that the quality of my showreel (especially the title cards and cutting to the beat) is not as polished as it would have been under normal circumstances and access to an editing computer, I herewith also want to point out the issues with my film poster (I had to retreat to using a free billing block template instead of creating my own due to facility restrictions - and thus time restrictions) as brought on by the Corona pandemic.
Furthermore, due to the professional and legal uncertainties in employment brought on by the lockdown in the UK, I was furthermore unable to gain access (and thus provide) written evidence of future employment with Digitalfire as covered by an employment contract.
As such, I've decided to substitute the missing documentation with rather informal chat protocols with my current boss that went as a precursor, as well as with invoices for work that I've already completed for him in my function as a freelance camera assistant.
With this note made, I wonder how media will shape how we remember this Covid-19 pandemic. But all we can do for now is hone our (adopted) Britishness, and tweak a famous poster quote to fit the situation at hand:
Keep calm and stay home.
References:
Arun With a View. (2014) The Story of the Euro. [online] Image taken from: https://arunwithaview.wordpress.com/2014/05/17/the-story-of-the-euro/ [Accessed on 28 March 2020].
Council on Foreign Relations. (2015) The Eurozone in Crisis. [online] Image taken from: https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/eurozone-crisis [Accessed on 28 March 2020].
East Meon History Archive. (n.d.) Millennium Videos. [online] Image taken from: https://www.eastmeonhistory.org.uk/content/catalogue_item/millennium-videos [Accessed on 28 March 2020].
Encyclopediæ Britannica. (n.d.) Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/event/Indian-Ocean-tsunami-of-2004 [Accessed on 28 March 2020].
Erpenbeck, J. (2019) Watching the fall of the Berlin Wall: 'I downed almost an entire bottle of schnapps'. [online] Image taken from: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/09/30-years-after-fall-berlin-wall#img-1 [Accessed on 28 March 2020].
Fisher, A. (2019) The Berlin Wall fell 30 years ago. Here’s how people who were there in 1989 remember the historic “Mauerfall” today. [online] Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/berlin-wall-fall-30-years-anniversary-witnesses-remember-mauerfall-2019-11?r=US&IR=T [Accessed on 28 March 2020].
Gov.uk. (2020) Coronavirus (COVID-19): what you need to do. [online] Image taken from: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus [Accessed on 28 March 2020].
Guardian News. (2020) UK coronavirus lockdown expected for at least three more weeks, says Raab. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2axKYqLXso [Accessed on 16 April 2020].
Live Science. (2017) Japan Earthquake & Tsunami of 2011: Facts and Information. [online] Available at: https://www.livescience.com/39110-japan-2011-earthquake-tsunami-facts.html [Accessed on 28 March 2020].
Matthews, C. (2014) Poor Germany: Why the east will never catch up to the west. [online] Image taken from: https://fortune.com/2014/11/09/germany-east-west-economy/ [Accessed on 28 March 2020].
Sky News. (2020) Lockdown Britain: PM announces tough new coronavirus measures. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qiew4dgbihU [Accessed on 28 March 2020].
Suciu, P. (2020) How Social Media Could Shape How We Remember The COVID-19 Pandemic In Years To Come. [online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu/2020/03/31/how-social-media-could-shape-how-we-remember-the-covid-19-pandemic-in-years-to-come/ [Accessed on 31 March 2020].
Taylor, A. (2016) 5 Years Since the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. [online] Image taken from: https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2016/03/5-years-since-the-2011-great-east-japan-earthquake/473211/ [Accessed on 28 March 2020].
World Vision. (2019) 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami: Facts, FAQs, and how to help. [online] Image taken from: https://www.worldvision.org/disaster-relief-news-stories/2004-indian-ocean-earthquake-tsunami-facts [Accessed on 28 March 2020].