On thin ice: Covid and cinema – how does it work?

By the Corona-crisis, the mood in the German film industry is a business severely. Filming has been banned. Actors lost engagement, an unpredictable Situation f

On thin ice: Covid and cinema – how does it work?

By the Corona-crisis, the mood in the German film industry is a business severely. Filming has been banned. Actors lost engagement, an unpredictable Situation for the film industry was created, which will not end in the foreseeable future. But since the last month, many production companies have their work in rotation again. You speak, however, only hesitant about it because of the fear that your Film will be stamped with the stamp of the pandemic. Because of the rules, the limit under the new normal social life, also apply in front of and behind the camera.

A shot right in the middle of the pandemic, the actor Max Simonischek. For the ZDF crime series "Sarah Kohr" he worked until the Lockdown. For him, it was a surreal game, he says, shortly before the crisis. Because while the country is on the state-of-emergency-prepared, was in the Film, everything as before. Filming continued, which led to criticism and a counter-campaign of actors. That as long as it was worked, says Simonischek, was the fact that many production companies would not have insured in the event of a pandemic, and actor due to the legal uncertainty, it was not easy shooting could cancel.

For "Sarah Kohr" have been filming at 24. May resumed. Simonischek has voluntarily made a Corona Test and as well as possible isolated. On the Set the security conditions are restrictive. Nevertheless, the rules were not always adhered to. "It's all a try. The will was there, but the practice is complicated,“ he says. This leads to absurd situations on the Set. Once you have shot a scene the four of us in a car. In front of the door all had to wear their protective mask, with the Action call, they took off the mask, as if nothing had happened.

kicks instead of punches

How to succeed in the film industry in these complex situations, rules and regulations to comply with? The production companies use one of two strategies for the prevention of infections. For one, you can send the production and acting of the team in quarantine, in order to organize the processes in the rotary as normal as possible; on the other, the spacing rules on the Set and the associated amendment of screenplays, camera settings and scenes will be enforced. For "Sarah Kohr" was chosen the second strategy. Therefore, the production company Corona has set a Representative, who will monitor, with measuring rods, if the distance of 1.50 meters is adhered to. In addition, there are staff with the disinfection of bottles and mobile sinks, the run is constantly on the Set, and the Team is encourage to, to wash your hands regularly.

In the case of crime series stunt scenes were particularly difficult, says Simonischek. But the Regis have developed your ideas. So going set for the representation of fights on kicks and not punches; or the camera is directed at a Person, while the other actor is seen only with feet and hands and behind the camera, a protective mask carries.

the Simplest processes, like the Transport of the actor from one location to the other or the Catering, take much more time. Also, the mask-forming agents are limited in their work. There are "mask mobile", portable Styling Studio, the makeup of each actor. In spite of the regulations, which have led some of the shooting controls of the police to the rotation crash is Simonischek happy that the work on the movies and the series goes on. The interruption of the turning process had been for him and his colleagues as a "Coitus interruptus". The silence that had been in a business month stint, which was marked by hustle and bustle and time pressures, new to him.

Date Of Update: 24 June 2020, 16:20