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COVID-19 Guidance for Gaffer & Lighting HODs
Below are some of the feedbacks we've received from the COVID-19 New Working Practices form.
LATEST FEEDBACK
LATEST FEEDBACK
"Mask wearing was generally great, though difficult in hot weather whilst working with heavy kit at the usual speed!"
"Distancing worked well for 95% of crew but slipped as the day went on"
"Day started with a “5 crew rule“ inside location. This was easily doubled in the early afternoon (mainly due to creation of a “2nd unit”). There probably needs to be a designated AD monitoring numbers."
"I politely suggested that two crew members check their distance (they were talking closely and with masks on chins) and was met with “We’re in a bubble”. I suspect this was untrue, and even if it were, allowing unnecessary “bubble” contact on a job is impossible to navigate, or monitor safely and would, I suggest, lead to a slow breakdown of distancing and mask wearing throughout."
"Exemplary planning from production. Hand washing stations and hand sanitising stations at every entrance and exit. PPE, disinfectant wipes, sanitiser etc all available in abundance upon request. £5k spent for a 5 day shoot! Extra time and crew allowed for Rig and de-rig days was budgeted as required. Covid-19 officer was a H&S official from 1st option. This was an excellent way of ensuring H&S across all departments, C-19 or otherwise."
"On set, the attitudes to mask wearing was notably slack as the days went on. Mask checks could have been more thorough. An education on how to wear a face covering is 100% required. Lots of noses out."
"I’d like to see daily safety briefings, ideally even twice daily, if only to let the crew know what the plan of action is for the next half of the day so that they can all plan their movements"
"Catering was excellent - 2 people to each trestle table in a marquee. High touch areas were notable, especially around the tea table. Touchless dispensers should be used, for cups, water etc..."
"Producer and PM very receptive to crew requirements. A larger stage was booked to allow space for everyone. PPE as required - it’s important HODs ask for exactly what they need prior to shoots."
"Very slack mask wearing overall, although adequate Social distancing was possible due to the space we had."
"C-19 officer was an in-house PM. Rarely seen on set. As call times were staggered, the 1st AD sent out a recorded video for each department to give them advice and guidelines. Fantastic!"
COMMERCIALS
COMMERCIALS
"A safety briefing laid out clear working practises for all at the start and middle of the shoot"
"More could be done to work in sequence and minimise personnel on set"
"Good mask and sanitiser availability. Good dining area."
"Exterior woods, lots of social distancing, hand sanitiser, honey wagons cleaned after each use. Individual hotbox breakfast/lunch"
"Insufficient mask discipline ... especially from the ADs"
"Good with PPE, honey wagons and sanitiser"
"Covid specific H&S briefing at the start of the day"
"PPE was made available and temperatures taken inline with guidelines. Discipline however was extremely low"
"Did a commercial last week that was very simplified in terms of what needed to be shot. Looking one way only, filming single person, 2 shots per scene"
"Not enough honeywagons"
"Interior shots took place in small rooms and AD did little to control the amount of people working at one time"
"Covid supervisor was member of running team with little authority to ensure PPE was used"
"Top of the day crew meeting from the 1st AD was excellent, with follow up words from the medic, who was acting in a dual role as the covid supervisor. For a crew size of 15, the dual role worked fine. The Medic was senior and had enough production experience to manage any C-19 requirements. A second crew meeting post lunch is absolutely necessary to reiterate C-19 observations and to induct new people to the set"
"PM did an excellent job in ensuring a safe working environment for crew, assisted by 1st AD"
"Cold lunch (cooked and portioned off site), afternoon break was like a school packup which was nice. Late break was preordered for once and fine"
"Hand wash stations were dotted around both locations, temperatures were monitored and PPE was abundant"
"Staggering calls and allowing the floor to one department at a time should become a standard practice, in my opinion" "Shoot went late (12:36 truck shut) honey wagons shut up early so while there where hand sanitizer to use there was no where to actually wash our hands despite derigging in mud from a morning’s worth of rain"
"In addition to surgical, FFP2 masks were made available to all working inside and discipline was mostly good with some lapses. Notable lapses by Director, VFX Supervisor, Costume and DOP. Concerns were reported to the Gaffer and on to 1st AD/PM whereby announcements were made"
"Common surfaces were cleaned at regular intervals. Ozone machines were deployed on interiors after shooting/prelight, as well as additional cleaners, in full PPE, cleaning surfaces at the end of each day"
"This production struggled to comply with Covid standards, although there were attempts made. They had masks and handsanitizer, but compliance was not strong or withstanding"
"At one point everyone started to wear masks because someone on set who was respected was wearing one. It was an incredibly muggy day and people stopped wearing them quickly"
"I felt that because there was that as there was no example set by production other depts failed to follow suit and even when they started off with a mask or keeping social distancing, that lapsed quickly"
"The location didn’t seem to have been chosen with the current situation in mind; tight hallways, bad parking (they asked people to avoid driving in.... which I assumed meant using public transport), one toilet and lots of pinch points. No direction for traffic was set up and kit was handled by lots of depts"
"I did continue to wear a mask throughout the day, but you do feel like an outlier very quickly. It made me certainly question whether I was upto date or not on whether I should use a mask when working in doors. Peoples understanding on how to wear face coverings was also exposed with many people wearing them upside down, back to front or not covering their noses"
"PPE and washing facilities were abundant and proper consideration was obviously taken during the prep of the shoot"
"Remote Recce from the production office, temperatures taken before entry. Personal mask, gloves and hand sanitiser provided. Remote recces require much more input from the location manager (videos, stills, google earth etc ... in a presentation format). Having a meeting without sharing this information live, on either a large screen or a screen share is unproductive. Overall the remote recces were not greatly successful on this occasion ... too little information was shared, so the kit we spec'd was inefficient"
"It was a very small job. 1 Van, 1 Electrician, 1 Gaffer. Very little requirements for lighting in the end, mostly available light"
"Kit was sanitised as per ASPEC recommendations. I'm not certain if it was quarantined. How things like textiles and soft goods can be disinfected I am not certain"
"Personal surgical mask, gloves and hand sanitiser provided daily. Personal sanitiser works much better than shared sanitiser, even better in addition to shared sanitiser. New gloves provided for technicians daily (at the request of the gaffer), disposed of every day or quarantined for 72 hrs"
"FFP2 was available on request, but it was not really made clear to uneducated crew when it should be used"
"Meals were good, provided wrapped individually. Tea and snacks were given in individual bags"
"After the first day, the meeting from the 1st AD was not reiterated, but it really needs to be hammered into the crew every 5.5 hrs to prevent loose behaviour and distancing"
"The social distancing worked well on 2 exterior scenes and 1 interior scene that had easy wide access and a lot of room inside. More problematic was an interior house location, where even though everyone wore masks inside, physical distancing wasn’t as good as elsewhere. Personally I think the ratio of people per area of the location should be greatly considered when choosing locations. Also choosing locations with more than one access as standard to allow one way traffic like they do in some shops"
"On our lighting part I think there should be consensus between director and DP to allow for lighting from outside where possible, therefore minimising equipment and crew members to go inside the location as much as possible for evereones safety. Obviously that being individual to each job, nevertheless worth making others aware of the issue"
"With regards to covid supervisor role my thoughts were that the enforcement of the rules might be better if it was someone unrelated to the industry therefore more strict with people - kind of staff where you go to a stately home and are reminded not to touch a wall every minute"
"Working in masks isn’t comfortable and at a time I was thinking if plastic shields wouldn’t be a better choice? I think APA could benefit if looked into that. So allowing to either have shield or mask if it’s safe to do so"
"Hand sanitiser station before entering honey wagons. Didn’t notice honey wagons getting cleaned throughout day"
"Social distancing good at first but keeping the set clear grew impossible. No 'clear out for art department' 'clear out for camera' etc. Everyone working on top of each other, but with masks on"
"Unfortunately it very quickly became business as usual with the day finishing as if it had simply been any other"
"Personal PPE bags given at the start of the day containing masks, gloves, sanitiser and snacks"
"Having a medic check in at the start of the day, checking temperatures and ticking names off a list"
"No designated “zone” on set with people being policed going in and out of"
"No social distancing enforced at all. It fell to personal perception to instigate social distancing"
"I think there should be continual medical checks throughout the day of the crew"
"There should be a H&E talk at the start of the day to ensure everyone is on the same page with the guidelines"
"The minute a time pressure arose, the guidelines were discarded immediately. Social distancing was ignored and masks were thrown off due to not being understood"
"My main take away from the experience was that without a 3rd party “Covid Supervisor”, following the guidelines falls to the individual and how concerned they are with the virus. It also becomes a general consensus between the crew, inadvertently testing how others feel about it and pushing the boundaries accordingly"
TV DRAMA
TV DRAMA
"After 3 days on the de-rig everything seems to be running smoothly in terms of adhering to the above procedures. Only one department is allowed on any one stage at a time until there work is complete. Production have allowed us additional time due to it taking slightly longer with certain aspects of the de-rig. We are not using any dailies on the job but have increased our numbers to allow for this, everyone is contracted for the de-rig period. We have split the crew into separate groups so if someone does become infected not everyone has to leave. Due to schools still being closed production have allowed for any child care issues that may arise"
FEATURE FILMS
FEATURE FILMS
AWAITING FEEDBACK
SHORT FILMS
SHORT FILMS
"Everyone was tested the day before the shoot and provided masks, took everyone’s temperature upon arrival and in the evening, hand sanitizer at every doorway.2m apart was difficult to respect at absolutely all times. 1 day prelight, 3 day shoot. Radios: oversight I think on production’s part was not getting radios. Resulted in crew members having to physically stand by in between takes instead of only coming in if radioed that they were needed. Lunch: everyone was required to bring packed lunch. I don’t think this is sustainable in the long run. With the long hours we work, it can become a trade-off between sleep and preparing the next day’s lunch. Also it resulted in queuing for the microwave, which meant some people’s lunches weren't ready until half an hour into the lunch break. Every location would need to have a fridge and microwave available for crew because otherwise lunch choices would be very limited. We weren’t asked to sign a waiver. Overall I think the main takeaways are radios and that packed lunch is not a sustainable option"
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