risk assessment

The purpose of risk assessment whilst participating in production of any media piece is to simply review a situation in the process of production, i.e. filming a particular scene, and seeing if there are any risks involved in order to maximum the reduction of any accidents. Risk assessments are a filming requirement and aid in forming a beneficial health and safety regulation to adhere to in all situations. Therefore, any hazards and risks can be made aware of as well as identifying exactly whom is at risk; in this case, is it the actors/actresses or filming crew? Risk assessment also helps to establish what the most appropriate measures that must be taken are. During the risk assessment process, we have laid out a plan B so that there are no hindrances during the filming and therefore we can stay on schedule. Having a risk assessment will ensure that everyone in the group is aware of any potential dangers and will immediately know the alternative and rectifying course of action to take. 

Conclusively, my group and I did largely follow our risk assessment as much as possible. As we were already aware of any potential dangers, we will be continuously trying to take precautions whilst filming to reduce any problems as much as possible. For example, for the performance scenes where we used candles, we came prepared to the filming location with battery candles as well as real-life candles as we were aware that there could be high-risks. During the filming of the London scenes, I took a friend with me to help with the filming. This was actually extremely useful for me as she helped with keeping an eye on the equipment whilst I tried to look for good locations which were less-populated. However, there were some issues during filming. For example, during the running scene, there were weather issues such as high-level of winds; this caused the equipment to be knocked over. Therefore, this became an obstacle for Amy whilst she was running and was exceedingly dangerous. We quickly came up with a solution for this issue; someone who was not in charge of a particular shot would ensure the tripod is stationary throughout the filming. We also had an issue with the weather affecting the camera; as it it is not waterproof and it was raining, there was a risk of the camera not working any more. In addition, water drops kept getting on our camera lens and therefore obstructing the quality of the visuals. Therefore, we were forced to reschedule. The weather itself was the main risk through our entire production. A lot of the other risks that we mentioned did not pose to be an issue as we ensured that we took precautions to prevent any risks from occurring. Whilst filming the performance scenes that used candles, we still used the fire candles as opposed to the battery candles as we took measures to avoid any risks: we places them in the centre of the top of the piano with nothing inflammable around them. Overall, the risk assessment was extremely helpful as it reduced any risks as much as possible.