Blog29 May 2013

UK Film production under stress; keeping the cameras rolling

Andrews Sykes Ventilation Hire keeps production running, on-location

Film sets have always been associated with glamour and excitement. As those involved know, making a film is actually mostly hard work at an industrial scale, and involves bursts of frenetic activity and long periods ‘hanging around’ while sets are made ready. Filming on-location, with less control over the context than in a purpose-built studio, involves even more complexity and risk

keeping the cameras rolling during filming is even more important now.

The final scenes of the latest Blockbuster movie were being filmed at an old water pumping station in London, which a leading production company had chosen as the most convincing setting. Protecting over a hundred production staff from the effects of smoke used to create the right effect, in a spectacular finale, presented real challenges and threatened to delay production and completion.

Andrews Sykes Ventilation Hire was asked to provide a solution that would allow filming to continue safely.
Andrews Sykes Ventilation Hire designed a system which involved two high-capacity FV900 fans strategically placed, one blowing in fresh air via ducting the other extracting the harmful smoke away from the actors and crew. This maintained the special effects required by the film company, kept production rolling whilst protecting film production staff and actors from harm or ill effects.