Sustainability in the film and media industry

we all love

movies right they can be entertaining

fascinating thrilling

they can make us laugh and sometimes

they even can

make us cry but the production of movies

is not very environmentally friendly

let’s take a look what is going on

behind the camera

interestingly films can be compared

to processed food in a sense

that they look good and give us joy

but we have no idea how they are

made or if there were any harmful

ingredients

in the production process talking about

food when i started to work in the film

industry

i realized it’s not as glamorous as

we may expect especially

for me as a vegetarian when there were

big

plates of meat served so at those film

events

all i could eat was a decoration some

slices of

tomatoes but catering this is just

the tip of the iceberg in a film

production films leave a big mess behind

sometimes in terms of waste and carbon

emissions

the production of a medium-sized feature

film

emits between 650 and a thousand tons

of carbon emissions whereas huge

hollywood productions

even several tons of carbon emissions

what kind of impact does that have

according to a study by the max planck

institute for meteorology in hamburg

for one ton of carbon dioxide

which is emitted somewhere on the planet

three square meters of arctic summer sea

ice

disappear in other words for every

single

film production a couple of soccer

fields of arctic ice

are melting global warming

leads to climate change a glimpse

of how that may look like

did we get in the movie the day after

tomorrow

by roland emery this was the first

hollywood production which measured its

carbon footprint

it inspired me to look for

tools and tricks what we can do

to reduce the carbon footprint of movies

as a green mission i try to convince

people in the film

and media industry that we have to act

more eco-friendly it was in 2012.

most of the people were not really

interested they just wanted to make

movies

even if that meant making a mess some

even had the attitude i’m an artist i

can save the world

which is not so smart who appreciates

art if we all die

thanks to a lot of young climate

activists

that’s changing there’s an increasing

awareness for environmental issues even

in the film industry and there needs

to be one since um there are multiple

factors that create a lot of carbon

emissions

what create all the carbon emissions

and film production see energy supply

if generators are used and powered by

dirtl

dirty diesel that is polluting the air

transportation of cast and crew members

as well as equipment by airplane

and cars waste from set decoration

catering costumes and even

crashed cars for the action

movie fast and furious 7 more than

230 cars were destroyed

for one sequence which was filmed

somewhere

in the mountains of colorado on highway

paths

they react 40 cars

shots like this can be done digitally

nowadays the visual effects have been

improved

so much even elements such as

fire smoke or water

can be produced as computer generated

images another easy understandable

example it’s not a good idea

to use disposable plastic bottles

we have 200 casts and crew members

on set and every one of them drinks

four small water bottles

we have a room packed with empty

plastic bottles at the end of the

shooting day

finally there are some action heroes who

know how to do it better

at least in the comic world like

spider-man

for the production of the hollywood

movie

the amazing spider-man 2. there were

bottles distributed to cast and crew

members which could be

refilled with water by dispensers

that way they saved 193

000 plastic bottles that would have been

enough

to surround manhattan but

beyond the amazing progressiveness

of certain movies there are solutions to

make

all movies greener if that became the

norm

for the energy apply it’s crucial to

avoid

generators and to get the

electric power from the grid

if a production wants to shoot on

location

it’s possible to rent an on-site

electrical box as it is used on

construction sites the connection is

provided by the local energy

company course

it’s always the best to use renewables

if any possible avatar director

james cameron who is shooting

the sequels avatar two and three and

four

and five he installed a one

megawatt solar power system on the roof

of

sound stages to offset the power

consumption

that are produced for the computer

animation and there are further

innovations such as more environmentally

friendly generators with a big battery

in which up to 100 kilowatt hours of

electric

energy can be sought gas generators

and also hybrid solutions which can be

partly solar powered

if it comes to transportation it’s

really the most environmental harming

to take an airplane and if we are

traveling within a country it’s also not

so much faster

it’s much more eco-friendly to go by

train of course carpooling that’s also

good but in an ideal world we would have

much more eco-friendly

cars the best is always to take a

bicycle

or to go by foot but this is only

possible if the accommodation is closed

to the set

and that’s this has to do with good

planning the less locations there are

the less cast and coup have to move

if a production wraps we also

end up with a lot of waste if

all the set decoration has to be

destroyed but it’s really possible

to reuse a lot of elements such as

materials

woods but also doors

and windows in nature there is

no waste but in film production

there is no circular economy

yet but we can also reuse

props and costumes usually

when actors come to the set they even

get underwear

but all these clothes they have to be

produced

and washed and then after a couple of

weeks they are thrown

out because who wants to have used

underwear right and it happens all the

time

that costume designers they buy

cheap clothes and then they try to make

them

look old instead they could just get

some second hand clothes

fast fashion that has such a huge

carbon footprint of course

it takes much more time to look for

props and costumes at stocks and

rental shops and order it online

the advantage is if we can return these

items

after the production webs they can have

a second

or even a third life

plus if anything is

ordered online productions they end up

with piles of cardboard

there is a creative inspiring

example a new york production designer

she

collected all these cardboard and

created an

entire film set with furniture props

walls and a floor made of cardboards

but this is not a solution for most film

productions where

time is money this

is why productions very often

use single use products

because we have to ban plastic

a lot of new products are coming on the

market

with a green and clean promise

plates and cups made of

bamboo sugar cane or

leaves from palm oil

to grow all these biodiversity

is destroyed land consumed

they are treated with pesticides and

shipped with a huge carbon

footprint from asia or south america

and often these products contain

plastic so they cannot even be

processed into compost

but we can do better there are also

new service companies coming up

so they provide porcelain dishes

and cutlery and upon delivery

they take back the used ones

so that way even chefs

of catering on set don’t have to worry

about a dishwasher anymore

for every problem there’s also a

solution

we just have to become more creative and

consider the options which

are there in film production but also

in everyday lives

often there is a missing link

between the actions that we are taking

and the impact that it has

so whenever we purchase

anything we should really consider where

does it come from

what kind of carbon footprint does this

product probably

have how it was produced how long will i

use it anyway

and what is going to happen with it if

we don’t use it anymore

this is also the matter of how we value

things we can find out easily

a few years ago i attended

a film event in helsinki

and then i went to cafe moscow

that is a cult bar by finnish filmmaker

akiko ismaeki he has equipped it with

furniture and props

from his films so you walk in there and

you feel like oh

you’re on set of the match factory girl

there i met two young filmmakers

they told me about their hilarities

comedy

on 100 things so

a guy takes a bet over the course

of 100 days

he is locked up completely naked in an

empty room

and each day he can only have one

item so he has to decide

what matters more to me now underwear

my smartphone

writers directors and actors

they can act as role models on screen

that’s called green storytelling

i wouldn’t necessarily recommend you

to get locked up naked in an empty room

i want to leave you with a question

if this comes to life what would you

pick

thank you

you