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