Health & Safety

When working in the Media health and safety always has to be considered before starting any production.  The day we decided that we would be filming Fame, the Location/Floor manager Beth Ford went down to the Performing Arts Theatre and see assessed all the risks that could occur during filming, she also had to make sure it was safe for all the equipment we are using and make sure it was safe for all of the crew.  After she returned and told everyone about the risks, I then created a risk assessment about all the risks and had to figure out a solution to solve all of them.  I had to notice any heavy lifting, height, flammable material etc.  The risk assessment was based on the specific production which we was filming which was Fame and that you have to asses if with all the equipment in there set up like a multi cam production.

As we arrived at the theatre we had to remove to back row of chairs so that there was enough room for every piece of equipment and with moving the row of chairs it meant that there was enough room to move about without struggling.  Moving all the equipment into the theatre we had to be careful because there was some expensive equipment but also some of it is quite so you have to carry it properly because otherwise you could injury yourself.  Once everything was plugged in there were a lot of wires so we then used cable protectors and when there was no cable protectors left we used Gaffe tape, when this was done all wires were out of the way and it was safe so we wouldn’t trip up.  We had to check all equipment was working by double checking everything and we left the cameras on for half an hour to see they were fully working and make sure nothing over heated.  Once all equipment had been double checked and everything was working we spoke to the director to see if any of the cameras were in the way of the performers and once we had the all clear from the director we were ready to start filming.

When considering health and safety you have to look into every single detail because if there is one little thing it could end up ruining the production and it would have been a waste of time after all the effort that had been put in.

Once the performance had finished we had to pack everything away and we had to make sure everything was put away back in the right bags and boxes and made sure it was put in safely and that nothing got broken whilst putting the equipment away.