大象传媒

1. How did we make Funny Festival Live safe for everyone during filming?

Everything possible was done to protect our comedians and crew during the filming of Funny Festival Live as part of 大象传媒 TWO’s Festival of Funny. We created a completely Covid secure environment under the supervision of our expert Covid Safety Consultants stringently following Government and trade bodies’ guidelines. These guidelines included, but were not limited to, RT-PCR Testing every single person on site, Risk Assessment, Use of PPE, Social Distancing, Robust Hand Hygiene Practice, Regular Cleaning of Contact Points, Regular Temperature Testing (36hrs after testing and again 24hrs later), Additional Ventilation and government signage and production signage everywhere around the venue.

We also used many additional creative solutions by PCR testing every crew member before entering the venue, and from the moment of testing, we were not allowed to go home or socialise outside our working cohort for the 5 days on location, and worked on a 'close contact cohort' basis. This meant that departments were separated from each other, and where possible each individual and department maintained a 2 metre separation when working. This was managed by production breaking each department into smaller working cohort bubbles, by allocating each of them a colour and providing wristbands so everyone could easily identify one working bubble from the next.

Once we arrived on site, we entered our respective bubbles and were only permitted to leave site for daily exercise or to return to our accommodation after filming. We were only allowed to eat meals at a table with members of our own departmental bubbles. We exclusively hired the entire venue for 5 days, and used the hotel upstairs as accommodation for some crew members. The rest were in another hotel a couple of minutes’ walk from the filming venue. The hotel allocated all the rooms required for crew on the same floors, mitigating any risk coming into contact with the general public outside our bubble upon entering and leaving the hotel to get to and from location. We also employed three ‘outside bubble runners’ to deliver our rushes directly to the edit, and to buy any production requests from inside the cohort – this encouraged and made our crew feel at ease about remaining in the bubble for the duration of the shoot as the outside runners were there for anything they needed.

If someone were to have developed symptoms on set (which they didn’t) we had protocols in place. They would have been required to leave site immediately, sent home to isolate and be re-tested by our medics. Their smaller departmental cohort bubble would be immediately re-tested on site as well. All crew were required to fill out a health declaration form stating that they had no symptoms or did not travel to any other country prior to arriving on site.

We are following the current Government advice, industry and 大象传媒 specific guidelines and are constantly reviewing and adapting our plans whenever needed.

2. How do we have an audience, and why aren’t they socially distanced or wearing masks?

The ‘audience’ was not really an audience. They were members of our crew who were not needed in their jobs at the time of recording. They were there simply to react to the comedians' jokes, to allow the comedian to understand if their delivery was working. In most cases the people in vision were trainees.

We collaborated with Equal Access/Film London to employ trainees who shadowed Heads of Departments across all the filming days. The opportunities for new entrants into television have been limited by the pandemic and it was important to us to have trainees on set for this production.

Each department was assigned a number of trainees with Heads of Departments and crew offering advice, hands on training on the kit and equipment, i.e. Gallery / Vision Mixing / Studio Cameras / Sound operating and lighting desks – the list goes on during the day and rehearsals! We gave some of them their first Television credit and their first paid Television job.

The production also increased the testing cadence to ensure there was no risk to crew or individuals observing the show without a face mask. On screen crew who acted as an audience, were PCR tested twice in a 48-hour period. Talent were tested within a 12-hour period prior to performing and asked to isolate between time of testing and arriving on site. Implementing this form of testing cadence ensured that in the unlikely event of a PCR test failing to detect a positive case, the viral load would be exceptionally low, and while an individual would be considered infected, they would not be infectious i.e. spreading the virus.

The crew who were off camera i.e. non trainees, wore surgical FFP3 masks the whole time they were in the venue. By implementing double testing, we furthered our safety measures with the creation of bubbles. The trainees formed their own cohort bubble which allowed them to sit next to each other. As soon as the performance stopped, masks were reapplied, and social distancing adhered between trainee bubble and everyone else. They had to remain aware of other members of the crew, and any tutorials were done at a distance. Kit was always wiped down before and after use to mitigate any risk of virus transmission.

3. How did we have a virtual audience at home?

Tickets for our virtual audience were advertised on the 大象传媒 Shows and Tours website, and successful applicants joined the comedians from the comfort of their own homes. Our virtual audience only needed a computer to watch our performers, and the 大象传媒 Virtual Audience system allowed their reactions to be part of the show.

We had between 600 and 800 people watching each show from home, and with special technology, our audio team selected the clearest audience internet feeds. It was these people's laughter that was then played onto the studio floor live as the comedians performed.