Philip Stevens learns how social distancing is affecting soap production
By Philip Stevens
Published: June 4, 2020
Philip Stevens learns how social distancing is affecting soap production
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin> Philip Stevens learns how social distancing is affecting soap production
https://www.tvbeurope.com/production-post/how-emmerdales-production-team-has-created-a-new-filmic-language title=Share via Email class=share-email>
The Covid-19 pandemic halted production of ITV's Emmerdale on 20th March. But on 20th May, a phased return to recording was initiated with stringent health and safety measures in place to protect cast and crew.
All scripts and stories will adhere to the government guidelines and medical advice at the time of production, emphasises senior production manager, Nader Mabadi. If the guidance was to change, we would consider the impact on our team and the story, before retrospectively amending the scripts. We are playing stories that allow for some latitude to embellish, it's easy to turn a hurtful look' into a slap', for example.
Although adhering to all the guidelines, Mabadi says that the content will not expressly acknowledge Covid-19. Some of these will be obvious and others hidden through cuts and camera illusions. We try to tell human stories from our society and sometimes that means taking on a topical issue. Any references would go through a compliance and negative check. We have a duty as a broadcaster to behave responsibly, respectfully and lawfully.
New schedule The shooting schedule calls for a slight reduction in episodes from the pre-lockdown timetable. Previously, 13-14 episodes were completed within the two-week production cycle, at present that has been cut to 12.
Mabadi reports that the time frame for shooting an episode remains much the same, although less is being completed each day in order to maintain adherence to guidelines. We have editorial measures in place that have dramatically simplified the content. There are only 14 scenes to shoot for each episode instead of 20, there are more two- and three-hander scenes instead of complicated set-ups with six to seven people. That ensures we can keep social distancing for cast and crew. We have no fourth walls in play, no scripted design, costume or make-up requirements, no stunts, no special effects, reduced background action, less props, and no food consumption. Where we were doing ten scenes a day, we are now doing six or seven, but mathematically that still equates to a similar number of days given the mitigations.
Crew and cast adhere strictly to the two-metre rule The scripts are calling for more use of domestic sets. Where a scene does need to involve more than three people, these will be shot as two conversations in isolation and stitched together in the edit to create the appearance of one scene. The cast members will still be exercising social distancing in the scene; it just helps us manage those on the floor and gives everyone space to perform. Some of the sets are quite compact, so to help we have reduced to single camera working when required. That keeps crew numbers to a minimum.
Before shooting restarted, Mabadi and the production's Health & Safety risk manager assessed each set and decided that some were too compact to be used during the time of restrictions.
Being creative As far as camera moves are concerned, Mabadi says that these will be a little less dynamic in order to social distance. Luckily, our camera teams are still being very creative with their lens work. We have reduced down from three to two cameras in studio. A lot of our location grip equipment requires two people to operate safely, track and dolly, ladder-pod etc so we have had to impose some restrictions.
While those restrictions are in place, programme directors will work from the floor, rather than the gallery. Only the vision operator and script supervisor can be safely accommodated in the production control room. They will be seated more than two metres apart with a Perspex shield separating them as an additional safety measure.
Many scenes are restricted to two actors on set Although all cameras are ISO'd, previously, a vision mixer would also produce a guide cut version of each scene. However, for the time being this practice has been dropped. As we are only using two cameras and reducing the gallery down to two people, we have created more flexibility on the studio floor to concentrate on our safety measures. We want to avoid scheduling pick-ups if possible so the more raw data we have the better.
He goes on, We have stopped all guest location filming. We will only be filming at the Emmerdale Village or extensions of the Village over which we have complete control of and can implement our risk management strategy.
Remote resources Editing, using Avid Media Composer, is carried out both within the Leeds studio facility and remotely from home locations. We have facilities and infrastructure so that the editor and director can work collaboratively from adjacent suites at the centre, explains Mabadi. With home editing, we are using laptops as a remote control for the edit suites in the Leeds facility. The machines there still do all the heavy ingest, so we don't ever run the insurance risk of physically taking any rushes out of the building.
He says that directors, editors, producers and production have all been utilising Google Meet, Zoom and many other video conferencing software.
Grading and dubbing will still be done at Leeds due to the more dedicated control surfaces and the controlled environment required, such as lighting and a sound proof room. These are single occupancy rooms and lone roles.
Mabadi concludes, It is testing us in new ways and asking us to think differently about how
Europe Stories
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
12/03/2026
Staines-upon-Thames, UK, 11th March, 2026 - Yospace, the trusted leader in Dyna...
12/03/2026
In Latin America, women are shaping music and defining its future. To kick off t...
12/03/2026
En Am rica Latina, las mujeres est n moldeando la m sica y definiendo su futuro....
12/03/2026
Let's turn back the clock 20 years: The music landscape was a world away fro...
12/03/2026
Bad Bunny is no stranger to Spotify's Billions Club. In fact, he has a whopp...
12/03/2026
Spotify was at the London Book Fair this week, joining conversations across the publishing industry about how people can make reading part of their daily lives....
12/03/2026
Mastering tool improves mono compatibility
Tokyo Dawn Labs' Ohlhorst Digital range is a series of mastering-focused plug-ins developed by Jan Ohlhorst, ...
12/03/2026
Wave FX processor integrated into four products
Lewitt have teamed up with Elgato to create a new processor for the company's Wave Next product range, i...
12/03/2026
Free tool for annotating audio files
Mix Notes is a new, free iOS App that provides users with a simple way to annotate their audio files. It's been cre...
12/03/2026
Side-chain ducking tool gets an upgrade
Devious Machines' popular side-chaining and envelope-shaping tool has just been kitted out with an improved enve...
12/03/2026
Ceremony to take place on 16 April 2026
The MPG (Music Producers Guild) have revealed the full shortlist for this year's MPG Awards, which will be takin...
12/03/2026
Emulates three classic dbx 160 variants
The latest arrival to Overloud's Gem Series plug-in range faithfully recreates not one, but three versions of th...
12/03/2026
New granular soft synth announced
Said to be their most advanced software synthesizer to date, Baby Audio's latest release has been built on a new granu...
12/03/2026
Latest version now live!
Edit 11 March 2026 - Bitwig Studio 6 is now live, and available for all to download!
The latest version of Bitwig's DAW softwa...
12/03/2026
Latest free eBook now available!
Designed for recording engineers, audio-technology students and technically minded musicians, our latest free eBook deliver...
12/03/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Cybersecurity expands SITLine network encryptor portfolio - more...
12/03/2026
Rohde & Schwarz to showcase future-proof EMC testing solutions at EMV 2026 Rohde & Schwarz will participate in EMV 2026, Europe's premier trade fair and c...
12/03/2026
Modern media operations demand a platform that unites automation, orchestration, and human oversight without compromise. In this post, we explore the six key te...
12/03/2026
A deep dive into the platform
Architecture The Blue Lucy platform follows a distributed microservices architecture, meaning the overall operational capability...
12/03/2026
Orchestration platform enables broadcasters to deploy multiple AI models safely with full auditability, rights protection, and regulatory oversight.
LONDON, En...
12/03/2026
Wuppertal March 12, 2026
Riedel Expands Managed Technology Division in the Ame...
12/03/2026
Advanced Media Server Delivers Double the Channel Density at Half the Cost per C...
12/03/2026
The Late Late Show Show St Patrick's Day special
Dancing with the Stars f...
11/03/2026
First Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) deployment of the emergency.lu platform for refugees and their host communities' use provides dependable broadband for humani...
11/03/2026
Following a successful first series, UKTV today announces the commission of two ...
11/03/2026
Wednesday 11 March 2026
Sky and CANAL launch new partnership to develop English-language drama
Sky and CANAL are today announcing a strategic co commissioni...
11/03/2026
NTCA, Cartesian Release New Report on the Business Case for USF
March 11, 2026
Network Economics
News
NTCA - March 11, 2026 - As the FCC and Congr...
11/03/2026
TELL US YOUR (SHORT) STORIES
The 2026 RT Short Story Competition is now open for entries
Recognising and rewarding the best new Irish fiction writing for...
11/03/2026
RT 's The Traitors Ireland is among the nominees for the 2026 Celtic Media Festival Torc Awards for Excellence, announced today....
10/03/2026
10 Mar 2026
VEON's Largest Market Pakistan Almost Triples Mobile Spectrum i...
09/03/2026
Contains all six dual-ensemble libraries
VSL's Duality Strings series offers an intriguing alternative to your average string library, capturing two str...
09/03/2026
Outstanding Contribution To UK Music
Photo: Samuel Bradley
Ahead of their upcoming MPG Awards, the Music Producers Guild (MPG) have revealed the latest win...
09/03/2026
Two new high-quality DI boxes announced
Boasting some impressive technical specifications and versatile routing options, Strymon's latest active DI boxe...
09/03/2026
Latest MPE-capable Soundbox library released
The follow-up release for Sonora Cinematic's Pure Nylon has arrived, and becomes the latest addition to the...
09/03/2026
Popular wireless mic head design revived
Sennheiser have revealed that the MD 9235, a cardioid mic head designed to pair up with their handheld wireless sys...
09/03/2026
Captures two sought-after Dumble combo amps
The latest TONEX release captures a pair of sought-after Dumble amplifiers from IK Multimedia's private amp ...
09/03/2026
Flexible all-analogue insert matrix joins line-up
HUM Audio Devices don't tend to do things by halves - even the quickest of glances at the likes of the...
09/03/2026
Captures three sought-after pianos
Rhodes latest software release brings together a collection of three virtual pianos: a concert grand, an acoustic upright...
09/03/2026
Flagship compressor gets an upgrade
Techivation's flagship compressor plug-in has just been treated to a ground-up rebuild that kits it out with some po...
09/03/2026
Profiler OS 14.0 enters open beta
Kemper's amp-modelling systems already have a great reputation, but the latest update to their systems' underlying...
09/03/2026
Procedural stems smasher & recomposition engine
Blinksonic have recently launched a new Reaktor-based tool which they say takes a radical departure from yo...
09/03/2026
13 - 15 March 2026 at University of Warwick Conference Centre
The Institute of Professional Sound (IPS) have announced that The IPS Training Weekend 2026 wi...
09/03/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and NETGEAR collaborate for next generation Wi-Fi 8 access point...
09/03/2026
UKTV has agreed a new partnership deal with Samsung that makes UKTV's free linear channels available to internet-only Samsung TV viewers in the UK for the f...
Philip Stevens learns how social distancing is affecting soap production
