The car park of the academy is the first thing you see when arriving into Kent Life. As it can be imagined from a wildlife centre, the road leading into the car park and the car park itself is similar to a dirt track, in terms of how bumpy it is. If it's been raining, I can imagine that the car park would be very muddy. A wet and muddy ground can increase the risk of slipping / tripping over, so to prevent this I will keep an eye on the weather. Although, the ground is a small thing to keep in mind, the condition of the ground is important in terms of health and safety, which is what the risk assessments are meant to outline. If the weather is bad, I will consider postponing the shoot day. This would put us behind schedule, but the safety of our my cast and crew is most important. In addition to making the ground muddy and slippery, bad weather could also damage the camera and sound equipment and it could ruin the look of the shots.
We are filming on a weekday, therefore, the car park shouldn't be too busy as most people should be at school and work. However, I must also consider the fact that there may be school trips, which could mean large groups of people at the academy at one time. The benefit with filming in the car park is that if there are more people around than we expect, the public should only be around their cars to enter and exit the academy. The car park is very long and narrow, so if it is busy we will move as far back as possible to keep away from the public. During our previous test shoots, I have noticed that the car park tends to be busier at the front and becomes emptier towards the back. Understandably visitors want to park as close to the academy as possible, especially if they've got children (which the majority of people who go to the academy have, as the site is aimed at younger people). As a result of noting down how the car park works, I have planned to park the van at the back of the car park in the quieter area if there are large amounts of public around.
To show this visually, the photo below shows the middle of the long car park. Behind this photo is the front car park which has space for some cars, but it's mainly for disabled users and coaches for trips. The rest of the public can park where the cars are positioned in the first photo below, however, to the left is the overflow car park (shown by the arrows).
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| Main car park |
As it can be seen from the photos, on the day I went to recce the car park it was relatively busy in the main car park, but the overflow car park was empty. This was in the middle of the day on a weekday, which could have been the busiest time of the day, for example, with parents visiting with smaller children while other children are at school. The photo above shows more space the further back you go in the car park, so if it was even busier then the overflow car park would still be quite empty. Looking at the two photos below, the overflow car park is as long as the main car park as they run parallel to each other.
The photo above of the overflow car park is the one we would aim to film in due to it being out of the way and not as busy as the main car park. It is also just as long as the main car park, which means the busier the car park may be, the further back we can go to get an emptier area. To make it clearer as a car park, I have put in while lines to signify car spaces. We will have my car, along with 2 other crew cars and the Vet Van on location which would be a safe place to put the equipment in while we're not using it. As we are filming outside we only have the vehicles to put the equipment in as there will be no tables or chairs or a clean carpet / flooring to put them on. Once we leave the area to conduct the night shoot, I will ensure we take all equipment from the cars as it'll be safer with us.
As we are filming in a car park, the immediate risk is that there will be moving vehicles around us. As I said previously, we will aim to park at the back of the car park in order to keep away from the public. Parking away from the public should also allow us to be a distance away from any moving vehicles that don't belong to crew or cast. In order to prevent any risk between us and vehicles, we will have a runner with us who can watch out for moving vehicles. As I could see from the previous visits, there are a few car parks leading backwards. If a vehicle enters the car park we are in then the runner will inform us and we will hold filming until the vehicle has stopped or left the car park. Every member of crew will be wearing high visibility jackets so we can be seen easily.
The Kent Owl Academy car park risk assessment:
As it can be seen from the risk assessment above, filming in the car park of the academy is low risk and it now signed off to go ahead.
The Kent Owl Academy
As we are in a closed site which is only available to the public through purchasing tickets, we are in a safe area. When we conducted test shoots, we were taken round the back of the enclosures which is where we said we wanted to film. Filming behind the enclosures means that we will be away from the public as this part of the site is not on the general public route round the academy. This means that we shouldn't be interrupted and the shoot day should go smoothly.
Similarly to the car park, the ground to the Owl Academy is muddy and uneven. They have paths around the academy directing the public to the attractions but where we will be based at the back of the enclosure, there are no paths. The ground behind the enclosures is grassy, muddy and bumpy which could increase the risks of slipping / tripping over. I will inform the cast and crew of the uneven areas and tell them to mind where they step. We have walked through the scene in the test shoots and the path where Tim and Luke walk in and towards Mollie is on an even part of the ground. As it can be seen from the photo below, the pathway in which Tim and Luke will walk towards Mollie is relatively even. However, it can be seen behind the trees in the photo, that part of the ground is quite uneven so we wouldn't film in that area. The ground behind where I took the photo is quite uneven also, so I will make sure we stay in the area shown in the photo. There will be a point when Tim and Luke walk away ready to fly the owl, I will ensure they walk on the most even part of the ground below to avoid any hazards. I can also look out for where they are walking in case they start to go off track, I understand that where they're walking will be the last thing they'll be thinking about while acting.
Again, the weather will be a risk but I will keep an eye on it through the days leading up until the shoot day. As it can be seen from the photo above, there is an area which is under a gazebo which would come in useful if it started to rain. However, I understand this is only a small area and all the crew and cast wouldn't be able to fit. The gazebo is only a temporary measure, if the weather became really bad I would postpone filming and we would go inside the main building.
On this shoot day we are scheduled to be filming with the animals. They could become distressed with the amount of people around, however, I have been advised by the owner and staff that the animals are really well behaved and are used to larges groups of people when they fly for the public. There will also be a member of staff near at all times. The site isn't very big so they won't be far if they're busy throughout the shoot day if we should come across any problems. We will be around the enclosures during the night scene so we should expect to hear some screeching from the owls as they probably won't be used to people walking around the enclosures in the dark. However, we don't plan to use the animals in the night scene so they are at no harm. The owl screeches could also add to the sound design of the scene when Luke enters the enclosure to 'drug' the owl. As the enclosures will be occupied by the animals we will not actually enter any in the night scene, this will only happen during one of the takes during the day. For the night scene we will just rattle the lock to make it look as if Luke is trying to enter the enclosure.
The Kent Owl Academy risk assessment:
As it can be seen from the risk assessment above, filming at The Kent Owl Academy is low risk and has now been sign off to go ahead.
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| Overflow car park |
The photo above of the overflow car park is the one we would aim to film in due to it being out of the way and not as busy as the main car park. It is also just as long as the main car park, which means the busier the car park may be, the further back we can go to get an emptier area. To make it clearer as a car park, I have put in while lines to signify car spaces. We will have my car, along with 2 other crew cars and the Vet Van on location which would be a safe place to put the equipment in while we're not using it. As we are filming outside we only have the vehicles to put the equipment in as there will be no tables or chairs or a clean carpet / flooring to put them on. Once we leave the area to conduct the night shoot, I will ensure we take all equipment from the cars as it'll be safer with us.
 |
| Chosen spot for car park scene |
As we are filming in a car park, the immediate risk is that there will be moving vehicles around us. As I said previously, we will aim to park at the back of the car park in order to keep away from the public. Parking away from the public should also allow us to be a distance away from any moving vehicles that don't belong to crew or cast. In order to prevent any risk between us and vehicles, we will have a runner with us who can watch out for moving vehicles. As I could see from the previous visits, there are a few car parks leading backwards. If a vehicle enters the car park we are in then the runner will inform us and we will hold filming until the vehicle has stopped or left the car park. Every member of crew will be wearing high visibility jackets so we can be seen easily.
The Kent Owl Academy car park risk assessment:
As it can be seen from the risk assessment above, filming in the car park of the academy is low risk and it now signed off to go ahead.
The Kent Owl Academy
As we are in a closed site which is only available to the public through purchasing tickets, we are in a safe area. When we conducted test shoots, we were taken round the back of the enclosures which is where we said we wanted to film. Filming behind the enclosures means that we will be away from the public as this part of the site is not on the general public route round the academy. This means that we shouldn't be interrupted and the shoot day should go smoothly.
Similarly to the car park, the ground to the Owl Academy is muddy and uneven. They have paths around the academy directing the public to the attractions but where we will be based at the back of the enclosure, there are no paths. The ground behind the enclosures is grassy, muddy and bumpy which could increase the risks of slipping / tripping over. I will inform the cast and crew of the uneven areas and tell them to mind where they step. We have walked through the scene in the test shoots and the path where Tim and Luke walk in and towards Mollie is on an even part of the ground. As it can be seen from the photo below, the pathway in which Tim and Luke will walk towards Mollie is relatively even. However, it can be seen behind the trees in the photo, that part of the ground is quite uneven so we wouldn't film in that area. The ground behind where I took the photo is quite uneven also, so I will make sure we stay in the area shown in the photo. There will be a point when Tim and Luke walk away ready to fly the owl, I will ensure they walk on the most even part of the ground below to avoid any hazards. I can also look out for where they are walking in case they start to go off track, I understand that where they're walking will be the last thing they'll be thinking about while acting.
Again, the weather will be a risk but I will keep an eye on it through the days leading up until the shoot day. As it can be seen from the photo above, there is an area which is under a gazebo which would come in useful if it started to rain. However, I understand this is only a small area and all the crew and cast wouldn't be able to fit. The gazebo is only a temporary measure, if the weather became really bad I would postpone filming and we would go inside the main building.
On this shoot day we are scheduled to be filming with the animals. They could become distressed with the amount of people around, however, I have been advised by the owner and staff that the animals are really well behaved and are used to larges groups of people when they fly for the public. There will also be a member of staff near at all times. The site isn't very big so they won't be far if they're busy throughout the shoot day if we should come across any problems. We will be around the enclosures during the night scene so we should expect to hear some screeching from the owls as they probably won't be used to people walking around the enclosures in the dark. However, we don't plan to use the animals in the night scene so they are at no harm. The owl screeches could also add to the sound design of the scene when Luke enters the enclosure to 'drug' the owl. As the enclosures will be occupied by the animals we will not actually enter any in the night scene, this will only happen during one of the takes during the day. For the night scene we will just rattle the lock to make it look as if Luke is trying to enter the enclosure.
The Kent Owl Academy risk assessment:
As it can be seen from the risk assessment above, filming at The Kent Owl Academy is low risk and has now been sign off to go ahead.
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