There are a number of risks which come with going out for a day of filming, and I have done my best to recognise every possible negative outcome in the way of a complication regarding health and safety when we are out filming. I have also recently filmed an interview in the TV Studio, which I will have logged in a weekly production journal entry.
Potential Risks and How to Avoid Them
Filming Day at Feed Avalon’s Place of Work
Dropping Equipment
Perhaps the easiest thing to get wrong when filming, dropping equipment is a risk when filming on the go, especially when using such equipment as cameras, microphones and tripods. Dropping equipment or having equipment fall over in general could be a more likely possibility, if we are to be filming on the uneven ground that you would find in a field and so extra care must be taken to ensure that such occurrences do not take place, which have the potential to cause anywhere from minor to mild injuries to an individual such as bruises, grazes and small cuts. I can avoid this by being mindful of where I place my equipment and always having good spacial awareness.
Slips, Trips and Falls
Slips, trips and falls are always possibilities and are a general risk in any production regardless of the location. Due to this, the only way to ensure that the risk of slips, trips and falls is minimised as much as possible, is by surveying one’s surroundings and creating a spacious filming location where there are as little obstacles as possible which could pose a threat, this could include (but is not limited to) nearby fluids like water, anything that could be knocked over like a plant pot and anything which is uneven or hard to predict the terrain of, such as bumpy and rough ground, commonplace in a field. When it is almost impossible to do anything to rectify the issue of a potentially unsafe filming location, the best decision can be to simply move to another which does not pose the same, or at least as many threats.
Smashing Glass
It would not be too bold to assume that being a place where vegetables are grown, Feed Avalon could have a greenhouse. If this is the case, then carrying around a large camera and a tripod with long legs, could pose a threat to shattering the glass on the inside. This is why we must be careful when filming in such places and I see a good way of tackling this obstacle, as quite simply only using the tripod for static shots in the greenhouse, with the feet firmly on the ground and when moving around with the camera, the tripod will not be attached to ensure agility in filming and reducing the risk of anything being broken in the process.
Falling from Heights
The area in which Feed Avalon are situated in Glastonbury is the RedBrick Building, a vast complex which is full of interesting rooms but at the same time, one must venture up staircases of varying stability to get upstairs to some areas and while these staircases are generally stable, there is a risk of falling down the stairs which are on the steeper side if we are not careful enough. To avoid this, we can minimise our risk of falling from heights such as the staircases in the RedBrick Building by watching our step and ensuring that no cables are dangling from any equipment that we could potentially trip over on.
Romano G Media 