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Coronavirus: How will productions change how they shoot during the near/mid term future?


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3 hours ago, Brian Drysdale said:

Thank you.

2 hours ago, Miguel Angel said:

Just as an update. 

There have been around 4 or 5 commercials made in Madrid, Spain, this week, very small crews (for what people are used to) and with a lot of precautions.  

Next week there will be another 4 or 5. 
 

? 

Oh that's cool.

We almost always have a very light crew and never waste time. At most there will be 8 people at a time in the same room while shooting and that's only one scene. Most of the scenes are outside so that shouldn't pose any problems either. 

I think that all should be well since we're taking the required precautions. I've even gotten an email confirming that all our precautions are in line with the government recommendations. Accept for postponing the shoot another couple of months and missing this years window I don't know ho much more we can do.

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We just got our first commercial rental since February. We have another short film rental at the end of the month. I already have one camera in shop for service and another being dropped off this weekend. The company I work for is starting production June 1st, but I believe it's a "call-in" show, where they'll have a very small crew on the soundstage shooting the host and everyone else calls in. I already have call's coming in for post work as well. 

Once Fotokem reopens, I'm going to get started shooting the rest of my new interview series AND I got a short to shoot on 35mm as well. 

I hope we have a good summer, we all need it after the shitstorm that has been the last 3 months. I know come winter, we'll be screwed again virus wise no matter what, but if we can just get through the summer, I think it will be really helpful for everyone. 

 

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8 hours ago, Brian Drysdale said:

The armband is genius! 

If I were to get into a multi-month production right now, I'd bring my crew in 2 weeks early and have them all stay at the same hotel. Everyone would have to isolate in the hotel before the shoot started and anyone that showed symptoms after 2 weeks would simply not go to set. Keeping people away from the main shooting area is brilliant, the armband system should help with that. But all in all, being outdoors in the sun, is probably going to be a deal killer for the virus, we don't know yet. 

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5 hours ago, Vital Butinar said:

Thank you.

Oh that's cool.

We almost always have a very light crew and never waste time. At most there will be 8 people at a time in the same room while shooting and that's only one scene. Most of the scenes are outside so that shouldn't pose any problems either. 

I think that all should be well since we're taking the required precautions. I've even gotten an email confirming that all our precautions are in line with the government recommendations. Accept for postponing the shoot another couple of months and missing this years window I don't know ho much more we can do.

I like having 0 people on set other than the director and the gaffer (if needed for hand-holding a poly) so I'm quite happy about the workers restrictions on the actual set while filming.
Maybe everybody will get super comfy on the chairs in the videovillage and they won't want to come to the set anymore ? Here is hope! ha!

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On 5/14/2020 at 11:13 PM, Uli Meyer said:

So you succeeded in preventing disaster and your response to that is that it wasn't necessary to shut down? The mind boggles.

No, my point was we were sold lies as the basis for our lockdown in NZ. (80K deaths in NZ, which is ridiculous. A total lie, no way that would have happened. That number for instance is far higher than in Sweden. Which has double the population of NZ, and not to mention is in a very different situation: is closely connected to the rest of Europe, vs a very isolated island nation) 

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15 hours ago, Miguel Angel said:

I like having 0 people on set other than the director and the gaffer (if needed for hand-holding a poly) so I'm quite happy about the workers restrictions on the actual set while filming.
Maybe everybody will get super comfy on the chairs in the videovillage and they won't want to come to the set anymore ? Here is hope! ha!

Yeah I prefer having less crew as well. 

Since what we're shooting is a TV series pilot episode for a local streaming service there was always going to be less crew since it's a proof of concept and we're shooting it on our own dime. So light crew and as few locations as possible was in the plan from the get go. 

But I'm used to that. I've never had the luxury of being able to go to someone and ask them to do something because I've always been the guy to whom people came and asked me to do something. So I've had to do everything myself and now I usually have people who I trust and work in the same sort of way that I do. 

As for videovillage I don't much care for those. I'm usually there and can see what's going on either directly on camera or on my monitor. Others who just want to lurk and watch don't really have to watch. 

Edited by Vital Butinar
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12 minutes ago, David Peterson said:

No, my point was we were sold lies as the basis for our lockdown in NZ. (80K deaths in NZ, which is ridiculous. A total lie, no way that would have happened. That number for instance is far higher than in Sweden. Which has double the population of NZ, and not to mention is in a very different situation: is closely connected to the rest of Europe, vs a very isolated island nation) 

Why do you think you were sold a lie? To what end? An unknown virus that quickly spreads across the planet is a serious risk to any population. Nobody ever had the disease, there is no medication, no vaccine. The transmission factor had to be brought to below 1 otherwise even more than 80k could have died. It is not difficult to understand that.

Don't fall for any of the conspiracy theories out there. Governments had been warned for many decades that one day such a virus could occur and it could have been a worse one. A lockdown is necessary to avoid disaster and bring it under control. Only then can you reopen the economy. New Zealand dealt with the situation much better than most countries.

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18 hours ago, Miguel Angel said:

I like having 0 people on set other than the director and the gaffer (if needed for hand-holding a poly) so I'm quite happy about the workers restrictions on the actual set while filming.

Do you only make music videos?? What about boom ops....
 

2 hours ago, Uli Meyer said:

otherwise even more than 80k could have died


Nope, I simply don't buy the claim our PM made that 80K kiwis will die unless we got put under pretty much house arrest. 

That was a total over the top reaction our government did, we could have taken a more moderate balanced approach instead. 

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54 minutes ago, David Peterson said:

Nope, I simply don't buy the claim our PM made that 80K kiwis will die unless we got put under pretty much house arrest. 

That was a total over the top reaction our government did, we could have taken a more moderate balanced approach instead

You can't just say 'Nope, I don't buy it. Please do try and answer the question why you think you were lied to. If you can't answer that question, there's something wrong with your thinking.

Did your government have any reason to think that this unknown virus can't be as lethal as it had the duty to assume it is?

I'd love to hear actual answers to those questions from you.

 

 

Edited by Uli Meyer
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9 hours ago, David Peterson said:

No, my point was we were sold lies as the basis for our lockdown in NZ. (80K deaths in NZ, which is ridiculous. A total lie, no way that would have happened. 

When you say NZ was told 80K deaths who told you this? Was it the only figure you were told and were you told it was definitely going to be 80k or was it one number in a range of official projections? How do you know it is a lie, what information did you have at the time that showed it was scientifically wrong? 

 

As Uli has pointed out knowledge of this virus has been limited and is changing by the day as scientists ignore the noise and get on with unravelling what makes this virus tick.

It could just be that the NZ government is made up of rational types who didn’t want people to die and made decisions based on the best information they had. Take my home country, even the brigands in office in Canberra had to take account of rationality and compassion (two things very difficult for them). However, the usual suspects have been calling for science to be ignored and if a ‘few’ people have to be sacrificed then they will be glad to sacrifice them (I kid you not) for the greater good of restoring the flow of readies into the trouser pockets of those who tell you they deserve lots and lots of readies.

Edited by Jeremy Cavanagh
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10 hours ago, Uli Meyer said:

You can't just say 'Nope, I don't buy it. Please do try and answer the question why you think you were lied to. If you can't answer that question, there's something wrong with your thinking.

Where are the 160K+ deaths in Sweden?
The proof is lacking.
While we're certain to experience economic devastation. We're on the fast track to double digit unemployment. (if we're not there already)

  

9 hours ago, Brian Drysdale said:

The logic behind the NZ 80k figure is explained here:

Based on a discredited model. 
That article was from March, don't think anybody can say with a straight face now in May that we'd have got 80K deaths without a nationwide lockdown. 

Edited by David Peterson
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4 hours ago, David Peterson said:

The proof is lacking.

David, what proof are you talking about? What is it that is lacking? Don't just blurt stuff out.

4 hours ago, David Peterson said:

That article was from March, don't think anybody can say with a straight face now in May that we'd have got 80K deaths without a nationwide lockdown. 

What fresh lunacy is this? You went into lockdown March 25th. How could anyone have known in March what is happening today?

Look, nobody is happy with this virus and the problems it caused around the world. When life changing things happen and we are forced to change paths, people get scared and angry. Don't fall for the voices that are using this situation to cause more division. They are preying on people who find comfort in blaming others.

Each government has done what they thought best in order to avoid a high death toll. In New Zealand "only" 21 people died because of the virus. You should celebrate that. And now put all your energy into a new start. Stay positive.

If you think the hit to your economy is too great, you must answer the question of how many more deaths you personally would have been comfortable with? How many of your friends and family would you sacrifice? Can you do that?

 

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Models are precisely that,  you don't get proof. It's more the mathematics,  based on a certain R number, this is the possible rate of spread and given the death rates  in other places the result may be the death toll in NZ if nothing is done. After that it's a a political decision on the approach, if you go in hard early (possibly with testing and tracing or/and a lock down), or if you wait a bit longer or if you do what the Swedes did, which was voluntary separation . That decision is also based on the nature of the society and where most of the population lives, also health factors like the rate of obesity and diabetes etc    

Hindsight is 20/20, it's something you don't have at the time you're making a decision.

So far, it seems that the economy always takes a hit, no matter what you do, especially if tourism is an important part of your economy. It's how it pans out in the longer term that's a mystery, because there are still unknowns about this virus.

Edited by Brian Drysdale
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21 hours ago, David Peterson said:

No, my point was we were sold lies as the basis for our lockdown in NZ. (80K deaths in NZ, which is ridiculous. A total lie, no way that would have happened.

Over the course of 12 - 18 months, prior to a vaccine and NO lockdown, potentially 80k deaths sounds pretty logical to me. Obviously nobody would have let it get that bad, they would have locked down after a few thousand deaths. 

Let's look at the US for a second. We've been on lockdown slightly over 3 months (April 15th - May 15th) and the virus has been here for close to 5 months (first case was late January). The lockdown was very slow here, but pretty thorough and everything has been shuttered for nearly 3 months. Yet after 2 months of complete lockdown, the amount of new cases continued to go up and so did the amount of deaths. This is partially due to delayed testing, but also it shows the virus continued to spread even after lockdown. 

Here in the US, the initial death evaluation was 200,000 - 300,000 before a vaccine was released (12 - 18 months) and ya know what, we will hit 100k deaths in the next 7 days, 5 months since the virus was first discovered. The first wave seems to have settled down a bit, but the second wave is about to hit, thanks to the trend of mass reopening's across the country. As of late last week, we're already seeing newly infected cases start to go back up again, in states that re-opened. Based on the first wave of outbreaks, we know it takes upwards of 2 months before the death rate starts to go up exponentially. We also know, the states which re-opened are not policing social distancing OR forcing people to wear masks around other people. So this second wave should be similar to the first wave, with tens of thousands new infected every day, increasing exponentially and new deaths in the 2500 - 3000 per day. 

Unlike the common Flu, which does not like being in the sun OR in hot temperatures, the Covid-19 virus can survive much longer. Thus, this virus is going to be very different than anything we've encountered in our lifetime and the outbreak is not going to stop just because it's hot outside. The second wave will be more deadly AND have a much larger economic burden than the first wave. It's going to happen fast, the reaction will be too slow and by fall, everyone anticipates we will be in nearly the same OR worse shape than we were in April. The global economy will continue to shrink and the US dollar will be diluted even more as we continue to print more money as a way to stave off another serious recession. Don't get me started about the 3rd wave, which is what I'm most concerned about. Fall 2020 should be the worst of everything, from civil unrest to a failing economy and 25 - 30% unemployment rate, right before the presidential election.

Let's not forget a critical aspect of this virus; It's new and it's still mutating. We're already seeing people get re-infected months later and suffering even worse than the first time around. So even if there is a magical vaccine released, it may only work for the original virus, just like the Flu vaccine only works for a few strains. 

So we as a people have two choices. 

1) Ignore the virus and focus on the economy. Money is more important than our loved ones right? Forget the deaths. Forget the doctors/nurses who are being overwhelmed. Forget the science. Lets just be selfish and re-open so everyone can have a great summer and well, another 200k or so dead in the US alone isn't the end of the world now is it? The virus is a liberal hoax anyway right? 

2) Stay on lockdown until there is a vaccine and forget about the economy, which is NOT going to survive this crisis anyway. Extend unemployment insurance (which they just did), give every citizen who makes under 75K/year $1200/month for the next 3 months. Force companies to continue working from home. Force schools to stay closed. Hotels should stay closed as well. Any indoor public or private gathering places should be shuttered and the only places allowed to be open are outdoor's like drive-in's, parks, beaches, boardwalks, golf courses, etc. Let people enjoy their summer outdoors and not inside where the virus can much more easily spread. There should be a drive-up testing facility at any major outdoor public location for people to get instant tests, not a requirement, but helpful. 

Remember, poor people won't be able to get the vaccine, so that's 40 million people in the US who won't be inoculated. Just imagine how high that number will be in places like Africa, India and China. 

The moment they have a stable vaccine, it will be a requirement to get it if you want to work, doesn't matter the industry, doesn't matter if you've had the virus. It will be the new requirement and certification we will all need to work. 

Today's estimate is that by January of 2021 we should be able to do tests of the new vaccine. The ramp up for distribution will take months and there will be a bidding war on who gets it first. With over 7 billion people on the planet and 1.3 billion of them living in currently effected areas of the world, it could take years to get enough doses for everyone to get it. The rough estimate is 2035 before everyone on the planet is inoculated. 

The economy is dead, the only thing propping it up are the respective governments buying stocks from people selling. Eventually that tactic will not work anymore because hyperinflation will take over and the US dollar which is the #1 trading currency, will loose it's value on the world market. Nobody will want to own US dollars anymore and there will be nobody who wants to buy/trade for other currency. We're already starting to see this happen as the US fed continues to print money, another 3 trillion heading into the banks in the next week or so. There is likely going to be a 3rd stimulus plan before the fall that will be another 3 trillion, which makes the grand total the US printed, close to 30 trillion dollars. The only way to get rid of all this debt and bring back value to the financial system is through a new currency, which will completely disrupt everything we know and make the economy fall further into chaos. 

The only good news is that we have new treatments which are working for SOME of the deathly sick people. So the death rate in developed countries, should slowly decrease. The bad news is that the virus has finally hit Pakistan and Africa. Two places where it will flourish and kill hundreds of thousands very fast. 

So this is a big deal. You can brush it under the carpet, but it will always be right there nagging on you. Where I agree New Zealand should be pretty safe, I wouldn't underestimate this virus. So far MANY neigh sayers have died from the virus and many more will if they continue to act like children and only think of themselves. 

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I recently saw on my social media feed (LinkedIn) that someone posted a photo of a crew returning to work:

onset-quarantine001.thumb.jpg.cf7cecd757501992cdc222d438450483.jpg

I applaud the crew for wearing PPE, but the boom op uncovered his nose thus breaching protocol and putting the cast/crew at risk.

I'm not sure where this production is, but I would assume the US because it's how I discovered it on my feed. This photo illustrates how difficult it will be to return to work as "normal" because an innocent mistake jeopardizes everyone's safety.

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9 hours ago, AJ Young said:

I recently saw on my social media feed (LinkedIn) that someone posted a photo of a crew returning to work:

onset-quarantine001.thumb.jpg.cf7cecd757501992cdc222d438450483.jpg

I applaud the crew for wearing PPE, but the boom op uncovered his nose thus breaching protocol and putting the cast/crew at risk.

I'm not sure where this production is, but I would assume the US because it's how I discovered it on my feed. This photo illustrates how difficult it will be to return to work as "normal" because an innocent mistake jeopardizes everyone's safety.

I don't think it will ever be risk free. The efforts made are to minimize the risk. I read a report that says that masks and visors are reducing risk of infection up to 92% and that percentage keeps going down the longer you stay in the same room/area together.

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10 hours ago, AJ Young said:

I applaud the crew for wearing PPE, but the boom op uncovered his nose thus breaching protocol and putting the cast/crew at risk.

Yeaaaa that's not gonna fly on the big shows. I think the trick for now is going to be isolating everyone in a hotel near the set and simply making sure they don't leave the hotel or set during production. Most films that aren't shot on a studio lot, are made that way anyway. 

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I said it for a while about quarantining cast and crew for the duration of the shoot. Blumhouse is getting ready to shoot a 6.5 million film on the Universal lot and that's exactly what they're going to do. I can't think of another way to have actors being able to interact normally in a scene without being limited. That and of course, as planned by studios, having EVERYONE tested regularly, whether daily (that swab test looks mighty uncomfortable ?) or several times weekly. 

Also, a ray of hope: https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/15/sorrento-finds-a-coronavirus-antibody-that-blocks-viral-infection-100-in-preclinical-lab-experiments/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMxeV4fBdl9jhjtWmYWNdUtZwFRJbpPRfYF1egv2Xk2ElGOjRs23ReKIf5g_eM1ocLADNLXcpP71y8YHF_ENXaMasPQr3E3OSl39HQszBqVRvA7aUlvXjd0-OjvUx7pn2yo01GaZJMMFi7wsoJMOXAnGB1hKJpaF23mqf5gJO5u9

 

"Therapeutics company Sorrento has made what it believes could be a breakthrough in potential treatment of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that leads to COVID-19. The company released details of its preclinical research on Friday, announcing that it has found an antibody that provides “100% inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 virus infection of healthy cells after four days incubation.” The results are from a preclinical study that still has to undergo peer review. It was an in vitro laboratory study (meaning not in an actual human being), but it’s still a promising development as the company continues to work on production of an antibody “cocktail” that could provide protection against SARS-CoV-2 even in case of mutations in the virus."

Something different than a vaccine but that might stop contamination and wouldn't need months to get there, scale up is harder though.

Edited by Manu Delpech
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15 hours ago, AJ Young said:

I recently saw on my social media feed (LinkedIn) that someone posted a photo of a crew returning to work:

onset-quarantine001.thumb.jpg.cf7cecd757501992cdc222d438450483.jpg

I applaud the crew for wearing PPE, but the boom op uncovered his nose thus breaching protocol and putting the cast/crew at risk.

I'm not sure where this production is, but I would assume the US because it's how I discovered it on my feed. This photo illustrates how difficult it will be to return to work as "normal" because an innocent mistake jeopardizes everyone's safety.

I hope that after they filmed that shot of a single woman waist up, they also filmed a dance number with multiple subjects on frame together side by side head to toe. Otherwise that entire effort was killing a fly with a bazooka. You could do that shot with one crew member on a stage a quarter that size.  Not sure anyone is safe in that pic anyway in spite of the PPE.  Given the recent experiment we saw in Japan...

 

Edited by Michael LaVoie
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17 hours ago, AJ Young said:

I recently saw on my social media feed (LinkedIn) that someone posted a photo of a crew returning to work:

 

I applaud the crew for wearing PPE, but the boom op uncovered his nose thus breaching protocol and putting the cast/crew at risk.

I'm not sure where this production is, but I would assume the US because it's how I discovered it on my feed. This photo illustrates how difficult it will be to return to work as "normal" because an innocent mistake jeopardizes everyone's safety.

How about the guy sitting slouched in the chair on the far right that is wearing an industrial faceshield?  Not acceptable protection.

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