Keeping Actors Cool During Summer Movie Productions

By producing several videos at different times of the year, I have noticed essential factors that are necessary for keeping cast and crew comfortable on set. The summer season can pose many challenges for independent movie productions. These challenges can occur whether you are shooting indoors or outdoors. Actors are one of the most important elements in any movie production. It is important to make sure that they remain comfortable even in the hottest weather conditions. Here are 5 inexpensive ways to keep actors cool during summer movie productions. These steps work well and can go a long way during your production schedule.

Invest in a good fan
Air conditioners are the best items to have on location in the summer. However, all locations may not provide air conditioning. This is where you should take out $30 from your filming budget and invest in a good fan. Despite what you may be told, the quality of fans does indeed vary in size and manufacturer. A good fan will be large enough to cool one small room and small enough to carry.

These fans usually have three speed settings and oscillate. If there is enough money in the budget, you could also get one large fan that sits in one position. These are usually in the form of box fans, which can be very inexpensive. Fans can be purchased at many retailers including Wal-Mart, K-Mart and Sears. Drug stores like CVS may have special discounts on fans as well. However, the quality of fans sold in drug stores may not be very high.

Provide lots of cold water
Buying a package of bottled water is another way to keep actors cool during summer productions. If the actors are hot and uncomfortable during production, they may execute a poor performance. Water can also help with preventing dehydration on your movie set. A pack of bottled water can be purchased at any grocery store. If you are filming at an indoor location, keep all water in the refrigerator.

It is best to purchase a cooler to store the water in for outdoor locations. You can keep the water cold by picking up a few bags of ice from any local grocery store. There is also a neat task that you can do to make sure that the water will remain cold. Place all of the bottles into your freezer the night before filming. When you remove the bottles on the day of your movie production, they will be frozen solid. The water will then begin to thaw out while your cast members are performing at the outdoor location.

Serve lunch meat
Filmmakers must provide food no matter how warm the weather is outside. The most efficient food to serve during summer movie productions is sandwiches. You can purchase a variety of lunch meat, cheese, bread and lettuce at the grocery store. This will ensure that your actors will not starve during the production. It will also keep them energized and motivated to complete their scenes. If you are looking for more food related options, the article titled "Cheap Lunch Ideas for Summer Film Productions" provides great information on creating a mouth watering lunch for your cast and crew members.

Quick Breaks
Movie productions should operate smoothly, not like a sweat shop. This is especially important if you are making a low-budget film and paying the actors little or nothing. You should not work actors like they are farm animals. Allocate time for small breaks between your scenes. This will help actors cool down in summer weather conditions. The breaks do not have to be very long. A few 15 minute cooling breaks will get your through the movie production without having severely exhausted actors.

Be prepared
You must be prepared at the beginning of each filming schedule. This will allow everyone to complete each scene quickly without dull time. Being disorganized will only create a more uncomfortable environment for everyone on the movie set. Bored and unmotivated actors can get restless. These conditions will worsen in a hot atmosphere.