How to Create a Safe Shooting Enviroment

Why Health and Saftey Is Important

Health and safety is a key thing to keep in mind before and during filming.

Not only due to the safety of your staff and crew but to make sure that shooting goes as scheduled without safety precautions or bare minimum safety requirements delays can happen in your production due to talent needing recovery time to do the shoot or having to hire new staff/crew to replace the injured ones.

It is a requirement to understand the proper etiquette and boundaries of your environment in order to make sure that risks are minimised. You should always talk to the owners of your filming locations before trying anything not outlined in your contract, they might know something you don't about the environment around you, whether you shoot ina studio or out in the wild.

Risk Assessment's

Before the shooting process in production, this is valuable when your site contains unpredictable variables like unpredictable weather conditions, etc.

A risk assessment concludes the risks of a shooting location and offers solutions/precautions to lessen and avoid risks to the best of your ability. There are of course fewer factors affecting an indoor environment like a studio if you have done your research before coming on-site to prepare for these factors and to already be coming up with solutions if you know you want to shoot on the roof of a building you must make sure that the roof is secure and safe for your state and crew to stand on. The more detailed a risk assessment the safer everyone will be.

Here is an example of a Risk Assessment from one of my previous shoots.

Health and Safety/Risk Assessment 

Location contract:  Mark Robinson acting as site manager

Director and Location Assessor:  Rory Robinson

This assessment was to check the safety of the location and how to limit and protect from hazards during filming on location in the alleyway. 

Hazards Identified in the Assessment 

HAZARDS	CONTROL METHODS
Poor weather leading to slippery pathways and working areas.   It rained during the night before and during the filming day.	Wear strong footwear and suitable clothing  Never run and follow safety instructions given by the site manager  Stay vigilant and aware of the watery/slippery surfaces
Trip hazards  E.g. scrap from the site being used in the alleyway, such as bricks and old Funiture (ironing board)	Never run and follow safety instructions   Stay vigilant of dangerous obstacles
Climbing over the fence stunt, ending with dropping onto a brick floor	Set up suitable fall padding for the stunt performer (myself) and a hidden barrier between the actor and the dangerous hazards (scrap) in case they fell directly into it
Other control methods	Aware of the location of emergency exits and the distance from local emergency services if they are required  Jacob Robinson received first aid training allowing him to be the one to act in case of injury on site
Bystanders and onsite personnel not aware of the shoot as is near a public park	Get the site manager to block off the shooting area and to inform all those on the site of our presence  Shooting will be taken place early in the morning to avoid as many bystanders as possible interrupting or causing injuries on set

 

All risks were minimised/controlled according to Rory Robinson as the Assessor and Mark Robinson as the Site Manager. 

Name of assessor  Rory Robinson	Signature	Date: 17th March
Assessment agreed by site manager Mark Robinson	Signature	Date: 17th March

 

Health and Safety 

Safety Document for Staff and Crew 

My employer is not reliable for any accident that occurs on set and I willingly consent to all aspects of the set during production and will not sue in the case of an accident/injury that occurs while filming this project and I accept that I will not receive compensation if the injury effects turning up on set. 

Safety Equipment 

Safety padding for the climbing over the fence stunt and sensible footwear and clothing to ensure we prevent slips and falls on wet surfaces. 

How to be safe when using Camera

Use only approved attachments to my camera that are in good condition this can be the batteries as you could use a battery that doesn't fit properly into your camera as it could possibly damage its internal mechanisms.

You want your wires in good condition to avoid fires onset in case the exposed inner working of the wire start a spark. Overall I recommend avoiding large bodies of water with you delicate camera equipment and be generally be patient with the shooting process turn the camera off and with its buttons rather than taking the batteries out and watch the camera during the charging process as issues may occur if the cable is connected correctly.

How to be safe when using Lighting Equipment

Be careful to not handle the bulbs of none LED lights with bare hands as you could suffer burns, keep in mind the heat of some key lights (spotlights, stage lights, etc.). Avoid shinning directly into subjects eyes for too long during a shoot as it could become quite painful. Keep members safe from tripping on lighting wires by having wire covers and have warning signs. As some could fall and hurt themselves or knock over light and cause an electrical fire.

Evaluation of my Risk Assessment and Protocol Toward Safety

Overall, in my opinion, I understand the requirements and needs of my cast and crew to remain and feel safe on set. And I feel I have outlined how to conduct a safe work environment, however, I feel I could gain better understanding health and safety by working with larger filming groups as with each new member of the crew is another safety concern to consider.

Giallo Video Essay

Giallo Video Essay

Evaluation

In my Giallo New Wave video essay, I discuss the origins of the wave from the yellow covered pulp novels originating in the 1920s and '30s that were which inspired the man who meant consider to be the creator of the new wave Mario Bava and his inspiration like Alfred Hitchcock. I broke down the wave into its building blocks how it inspired early slasher horror in 1980s America and analysed 3 films from Giallo auteur Dario Argento and how they represented Italian fears of female independence with the rise of the sexual revolution and the counter culture movement as well as the transition of Italy's economic transition from rural poverty to Urban and rich in the 1960s. This was due to the “Economic Miracle” that took place over the 1940s and 1950s as trade union restrictions were lifted after the fall of fascism within Italy and the increase in the making of consumer products. Britannica.com.

However, in my opinion, I could have better improved this video essay in multiple ways, from a technical standpoint I would have liked to individually label the footage throughout the video in order to better credit my sources to Harvard referencing standard but due to time constraints, I thought I would better focus on other aspects of the video like my analysis of my 3 chosen films. I would have also liked to improve my microphone audio in some segments of the video, due to lockdown I have been able to record my audio in a soundproof environment meaning I had to construct and schedule my voiceover but unfortunately not all my audio was up to my standard.

In order to improve my video, I would have liked to discuss in more detail about Italy in the 1970s and how this impacted Dario Argento's work from the discussion of The 1970s form the law on divorce and 1978 law on abortion, Life in Italy "Life In Italy 1970s To 1980s". But to be honest, adding these aspects to my analyse on Dario Argento's films would have been extra credit as I already discussed how the rise of women independence from men was found in his films.

Overall, in my opinion, I successfully created a video essay that showcased the origins of the wave and its context through the 60s and 70s, yes there could have been some technical improvements but I completed my goal to educate those who watch it on what Giallo is and how it still influences work today.

Peer Assessment Data Breakdown

I showcased my video essay to my class during one of our sessions, after they had watched it they provided me with comments about how to better improve my video essay and what worked well within it.

My classmates enjoyed the clear structure throughout the video essay as I outlined the troupes of the New Wave with elements of filmmaking from the use of sound (Exaggerated/Foley) and cinematography techniques (P.O.V/Handheld) commonly used in Giallo.

They thought I successfully educated them on the context and impact of the new wave, from Italy's Economic changes of the time to the sexual revolution of the '60s and seeking of female independence within Italy and the world at large. This was due to my use of editing, which clearly showcased the experience of a Giallo film while visual providing evidence to my talking points such as my examples of Early 80's slashers inspired by this movement like Black Christmas (1974) and Halloween (1978).

However, they had issues with technical elements in the video such as the slight error in the text before my breakdown of The Bird with a Crystal Plumage (1970) as well as a lack of detailed description of the two auteurs I reference in the video Mario Bava and Dario Argento, they thought I should have given them more context within the video about there influences and how that impacted the new wave and overall more in-depth origin of both of these filmmakers as artists. My classmates also had issues with the length of the video and thought it could have been shortened to a more exact length.

Reference List:

Peer Assessment Data Collected from the Following Participants: Katerina Angelides, Cameron Butler, Alexander Wyness, Kateisha Thandy (HNC Students)

Life in Italy "Life In Italy 1970s To 1980s" Published by Ancos, Jan 16, 2017, Available (Online) at:

https://www.lifeinitaly.com/history/life-italy-1970s-1980s/

Britannica.com "The Economic Miracle Industrial Growth" Available (Online) At:

https://www.britannica.com/place/Italy/The-economic-miracle

Black Christmas (1974) Directed by Bob Clark

Halloween (1978) Directed by John Carpenter

Crystal Plumage (1970) Directed by Dario Argento