How to make your next video shoot sustainable
There’s no reason not to shoot sustainably these days. Ethical, environmentally-friendly film and video production is now an accessible and realistic aim for all projects; but where to begin?
For a client planning video, or a small film production with tight margins, it can feel like yet another set of checks to contend with. But it doesn’t have to be— it’s about normalising small actions that add up to larger sustainable practices. Ultimately, your project won’t just be more environmentally-friendly, but a nicer place to work too.
A great place to begin is with ALBERT. Set up in 2011, ALBERT supports film and TV organisations, big and small, to “understand their opportunities to create positive environmental change”. ALBERT is built on two key mandates:
To Inspire; empowering the industry to create content that supports a vision for a sustainable future
To Restore: enabling the industry to make positive contributions to the environment while actively eliminating waste and carbon emissions from production
Still from Mountain Way Film, Growing People, Not Produce.
At Mountain Way, we’ve been incorporating the ALBERT guidelines into our production proposals for several years, and it’s becoming ever-easier to enshrine the guidelines into our clients’ projects. Being clean, green and sustainable isn’t a nice add-on anymore— it’s the way we do business. Here are some of the ways we’ve built a sustainable practice into our production model:
Meat-free, zero-waste catering. Our preferred caterer is committed to providing healthy meat-free meals that do not generate large amounts of waste. When we provide catering, portions and costs-per-head are carefully calculated to minimise food waste. We aim to use washable cutlery and crockery sourced as opposed to disposable single-use food containers.
No single-use bottles. On our call-sheets, all cast and crew encouraged to bring their own water bottles. Production water bottles are labelled and reused from tap-water throughout production.
Where print scripts and paperwork are required, double-sided A5 printing is preferred. Print copies of production paperwork are usually limited to master reference copies, held by the producer; digital copies are circulated to cast and crew, with additional printouts by request only. A tablet is your best friend here!
Use of rechargeable batteries wherever possible.
Recycling facilities provided on-set. It’s a tiny step forward from a black bin bag, but sorting your rubbish and recycling responsibly is one of the most significant impacts we can make.
Pre-production meetings to use video-conferencing to reduce travel. Even before COVID-19, the rise of video-conferencing tools meant that this was an important, and overlooked tool. Now, it’s something that we think will be hard to leave behind!
Where possible, we avoid using petrol or diesel generators. Check with location venues to access wired mains power and use responsibly!
Think about the distance that people, and equipment are travelling. Is there anything you can recruit closer to your location? A useful side-effect of this is helping to ensure employment opportunities in the areas in which you are filming. This saves on emissions and travel, and contributes to local economies.
Use of LED panels for primary lighting.
Encourage car-sharing and use of public transport to locations.
If you’re looking for sustainable video production for a new project, get in touch with Mountain Way Pictures today.
