ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

8 years, 9 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

This is a stunt - only use professionals, the chances of something going badly wrong are huge. Water at 0 degrees has an expected time before loss of consciousness of under 15 minutes, hypothermia is extremely likely very quickly, requiring urgent medical assistance.

Better still, fake the footage/shoot greenscreen/suggest it with editing. We are in the illusions business - find any way to fake this if you can't afford specialist medics and stunt supervisors and actresses.

That would be my suggestion anyway. No film is worth putting people at risk.

8 years, 3 months ago - Cintia Taylor

So I placed this question a few months and Paddy Robinson-Griffin was kind enough to give his feedback.

In the meantime, we have shot the scene and I'm glad to share our procedures with you in case you are considering shooting something similar.

We couldn't afford a green screen or a stunt. But we talked to a stunt coordinator, doctors, winter time surfers, and to a man who goes for a swim twice a week all year round in the North Sea - even when it snows.

Our main concern was safety. We were doing 3 different shots in the water. We postponed the shooting from December to April. On the day we shot, the water temperature was about 5 degrees Celsius.

The key was to keep the feet warm because once the feet go cold, the whole body goes cold. We dressed in a 5mm thick wetsuit and wore diving boots. We talked the scene through in every detail so that we would shoot as effectively as possible. For each camera placement, we ended up shooting twice, no more than 2min per take. After each take, everyone went back to dry sand.

It was not only the being in the water that mattered. The waiting time between takes was also short. When you're wet in the cold wind, it's just as freezing - if not more - as when you're in the sea.

Because there were too many waves, it made it hard to operate the camera (we were shooting on a F5/50), so we did the frontal and over the shoulder shots with the water only up to our ankles. Then we shot the actress from the sand going into the deeper sea. Because it was from a distance, she could wear the full swimsuit and boots underneath her dress without anyone noticing.

On the set (the beach) we had feet and hand warmers, foil thermal blankets, towels, robes, hot drinks, and hot water shower facilities. Most of these were only used after the shooting was done so that we wouldn't increase the temperature shock.

In the last take, the actress went underwater for a couple of seconds and as soon as he came out she was covered in towels and taken to a warm beach cabin.

At no point was she or anyone else of the crew at risk of hypothermia. That is indeed absolutely not worth it for the sake of filmmaking.

8 years, 3 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

Thanks for letting us all know how it went, I'm glad everyone was OK :)

8 years, 2 months ago - giles cornah

I'm going to be facing a similar situation towards the end of this year. Your recent post is very helpful! Teaser: http://gcornah.com/video/196290743

8 years, 2 months ago - Allan (Mac) McKenna

Hi Paddy - 'no film is worth putting people at risk'. The business does this - well, I was going to say 'all the time' but that perhaps is an exaggeration, but certainly it has been known and there is implicit pressure on actors to comply and be 'professional'. I myself some years ago was asked by a group of professionals from Pinewood who were making a somewhat bizarre (and fascinating) short (for reasons of their own) to run divesting myself of clothing through Pinewood forest at 2.30 a.m; in February at minus 7 degrees C. To be fair the A.D directing the scene was concerned and made it as easy as possible for me detailing the make up woman and another to wrap me in duvets and feed me hot soup after each take of approx 10 seconds. There were several takes and the two women seemed genuinely concerned and voiced disapproval. But they were all so damned nice I didn't like to complain. Well I did a bit. Running barefoot through Pinewood forest at minus 7 C at 2.30 a.m for expenses only was pushing it I thought. Thinking about it, it must have been a few years ago. I was a bit younger and fitter then.

8 years, 2 months ago - giles cornah

It's strange one, it can go either way. When I worked as an actor I was twice cast in high budget commercials as a 'rugged mountain man' character i.e.. I ticked 'skilled in climbing' in my casting profile. And I had a beard. On the shoot for one of them, after flying to the Chilean Andes (from the UK), with a crew of over 100 people etc, I was shown a cliff and told that this was the bit where I free solo climb to the top. It was less than 0 degrees centigrade, snowing and my wardrobe a skinny vest and shorts. No one who knew what they were looking at had even been to location to check out if it was even possible to solo climb this cliff. They were extremely good with blankets and hot drinks though. I was actually extremely handy at rock climbing and had climbed a bunch of the hardest routes in the world, but the cliff that they found was totally out of the question unless I could have spent a month practising (which is how these things are actually done). It would still have been extremely dangerous. My point is that often the industry is very good at doing stuff they know i.e. blankets between takes, and much less good at stuff they don't!

8 years, 2 months ago - Allan (Mac) McKenna

So Giles - what happened in the event mate? I'm not a climber and even less a lover of the cold, and just reading what they expected of you scares the crap out of me. OK so you probably got a fair amount of dosh for it (unlike me incidentally) but you sound as if you're doubting if it was worth it even now.