Cineworld has today re-opened their doors across the country, as Disney’s Mulan and Christopher Nolan’s Tenet are finally released, while a number of big budget productions are already resuming filming.
The film industry’s slide out of the deep freezer is not only beneficial for actors, directors and cinema lovers, it also of paramount importance for thousands of businesses who rely on and enhance it.
From the manufacturing firms who build the sets to the technology companies who create the cameras and the special effects, to the beauticians who give the stars their A-list look, the film industry is really a hybrid of hundreds of industries who each play their small part in creating a magical big screen experience.
One such company is Media Access Solutions who have worked on some of the worlds most renowned films and TV series, including Spectre, Star Wars ’The Force Awakens’, Mission Impossible 5 and 6, Paddington 2 and The Crown.
Based in Birmingham but with depots close to most of the major film studios across the country, Media Access Solutions provide a range of services for film and TV companies, including the supply of Genie Booms, Scissor Lifts, Cherry Pickers, Spider Lifts and Fork Lifts.
The secret of their success is a full understanding of the film and television industry. As they explain on their website, ‘Our dedicated staff knows media and how important service is over-price. We appreciate that if you ask for an 8am delivery for rigging purposes, it has to be 8AM delivery.’
As the cameras tentatively been to roll again, there are a whole raft of new concerns for directors and producers to be aware of. They have to ensure, among other things, that the whole set is fully Covid compliant, that the details of everyone who enters the area are recorded, that temperatures are taken where appropriate, and that all members of the cast and crew feel safe at all times.
It is therefore imperative that they work with experienced organisations like Media Access Solutions who will get on with their work with minimal fuss and will provide the equipment and services to the right place at the right time.
As far as filming is concerned, there have been various good news stories recently. Nicole Kidman is heading to Ballycastle in Northern Ireland to start filming The Northman at Torr Head on a set that was built in February. Jurrasic World: Dominion has already started recording and Netflix has announced it will resume filming The Witcher in mid-August.
In a recent article in The Observer, Wendy Ide visited a cinema for the first time since a handful of them re-opened in the UK on July 4th. She said that, while there were only six people in the audience, the experience was ‘reassuringly ordinary.’ The small audience suggests, however, that the return of audience members is more likely to be a ‘trickle than a flood’ and this is borne out by the experiences in other countries whose cinemas reopened their doors sooner than ours.
Like much of the wider world, the film industry and the companies connected to it, will have to hold their collective breath over the next few months. But organisations like Media Access Solutions demonstrate that cinema is about so much more than simply sitting down and watching a film. It is a hybrid industry that is crucial to the livelihoods of so many people. Its full return, therefore, cannot come soon enough.
Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash
