With its climate-neutral studios, Bavaria Film is not only a green pioneer when it comes to energy supply. The Film- und Theater-Ausstattung (FTA), which has more than 400,000 props and costumes stored in a 25,000-square-meter facility, is the largest such collection in Europe. Thanks to branches in Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, and Cologne, transportation for productions is convenient.
Edward Snowden’s hotel room, which Oliver Stone had rebuilt for his thriller Snowden, was furnished by the FTA at the Bavaria studio with furniture and props. The global public knows the simple, cool decor of the Hong Kong hotel from news reports of the whistle blower revealing the NSA’s surveillance methods.
„In our collection, all furniture, lamps, etc. but also a major part of the props are managed digitally and can be accessed online“, says Thomas Hissia, Branch Manager, FTA Munich. Feature films, TV series, commercials, photo shootings and events use props and period costumes from the 9,000-square-meter warehouse at Bavaria Film. „It’s environmentally-friendly to rent instead of to buy props and costumes which get thrown out after the production wraps“, stresses Hissia. His best client is Storm of Love. This successful daily soap, which is being produced sustainably at Bavaria Film City, has been relying on the FTA’s vast inventory for the last ten years. The FTA has classic, popular designs that are used over and over again. One piece much in demand is a brown club chair that had been rented almost hundred times in 2016.
Set designers from abroad come to FTA looking for props, a recent instance being the BBC series War and Peace and The Happy Prince. The comprehensive lamp collection doesn‘t simply cover all periods; the old lamps may also be safely operated. „All the lamps have been checked out by our electrical department.“ Splendid chandeliers have even refitted with LEDs. „They not only look similar to lightbulbs due to their color temperature but also due to the filament effect.“ In the FTA facility, the whole lighting system is gradually being replaced by LEDs.
The use of energy-efficient lighting was also a key issue at the green workshop where DoP and Sustainability Manager Philip Gassmann explained the basics of green Film/TV production to Bavaria Film trainees. When it comes to selecting LED lights, not only the quality of the color reproduction and their cooling requirements must to be taken into consideration, but also their respective noise levels as well.
One production at the studio that benefits from this know-how is Verstehen Sie Spaß? which was awarded the Green Shooting Card by the Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig Holstein for the sustainable production. Ecological savings measures were implemented during the production of various recent shows.
“We’re really absolutely proud of the fact that Bavaria Film is creating a framework of ecological conditions for Film/TV production, and that it can provide them, as a studio supplier, to producers”, emphasizes Achim Rohnke, CEO, Bavaria Film. „Furthermore, we‘re gradually converting, through pilot projects, our own TV productions to climate-neutral production methods. Since 2013, we’ve been gaining valuable experience exploring the potential, practice, effort, and cost (savings) of the climate-neutral conversion process.“
“The time for half-measures and climate denial is over. Unless we move quickly away from fossil fuels, we’re going to destroy the air we breathe, the water we drink, the health of our children, grandchildren and future generations. If we’re going to avoid the worst of the impacts, then we’ve just got to act boldly. And we must act immediately."
Robert Redford
Actor, Director, Producer, Environmentalist
"The media has a powerful role to play in the fight against climate change. Through films, television, and all media outlets, we must continue to deliver the message that solutions are out there and are happening now. We have to make it attractive for people to take action. Movies like Avatar, The Day After Tomorrow, and documentaries like Years of Living Dangerously, which I was proud to be a part of, have been very popular, reaching and inspiring millions of people. And I believe films in particular can really inspire and make people want to take action. It’s great to see some of my film-industry friends working with climate related organizations to push forward those messages."
„It‘s high time to reorganize film production in Germany in a ‚greener‘ and more sustainable way. So far, I am flabbergasted by how much our industry works in environmentally harmful ways.To this very day, it starts with until today one-sided print-outs of scripts, and then it continues with plastic bottles in production offices and lots of plastic waste with every catered meal, and it doesn‘t stop with the limousines that pull up to a red carpet.
For many years, people have sneered at me when I brought my own cup or I declined to eat cheap meat served on paper or plastic plates with plastic knives and forks. It would be great if the Green Shooting Card could change all that.“
Director (Ben X, Time of My Life)
„It’s absolutely great that filmmakers all over the world are trying to clean up their act, and are trying to film as sustainable as we possibly can. Still, I think we shouldn’t underestimate the incredible power of the moving image to also change the hearts and minds of people.
So, apart from trying to be more environmentally aware in our business, I think the big gain lies in how we might make everyone more environmentally aware. Yes, cinema can change the world.
I think filmmakers should start using the powerful weapon in our hands that is the camera.
Let’s not only try to do ‘less bad’. Let’s try to do right, and help drive the change that we all know needs to arrive.“
“We are living in a time in which we can’t afford to behave irresponsibly towards nature. The more important is it that film productions try to work as environmentally friendly as possible. A film team produces every day tons of garbage. I try to avoid using plastic cups on set, I bring my own cup, use ecofriendly cosmetics and avoid needless single rides.”
Photo ® Maddalena Arosio
Darren Aronofsky, Director, Noah / Jury President, 65th Berlin International Film Festival
“When we did Noah we knew we were making a film about the first steward of the earth, so we wanted to be good stewards ourselves. There’s so much waste on film sets. Because of groups like Earth Angel, we were able to change that a little bit.”
"As a TV and film producer I try to incorporate environmental storylines into my projects as much as possible. But it’s just as important, if not more, to ‚go green‘ behind the scenes! Therefore, I help run the Producers Guild of America’s Green Initiative.
We provide resources such as a Best Practices and a Carbon Calculator to help producers green their productions. We also partnered with all the major studios to create www.greenproductionguide.com which is a free green vendor database with over 2,000 vendors offering sustainable production solutions worldwide!"
‚Green screens excepted, we will do everything in our power to be as innovative as we can in order to make our production as green as possible.‘
Photo: (c) herbXfilm Dieter Mayr
Lars Jessen
Director (Fraktus, Dorfpunks, Am Tag als Bobby Ewing starb)
‘It is somewhat embarrassing that green filming is only now becoming an issue in our industry because there have long since been many possibilities to shoot more efficiently.
Technical innovations such as energy efficient lighting are as much a part of this as the awareness of every crew member.’
‚I do work with a company in the States called Sungevity that leases solar panels to homes. They figured out how to move forward environmentally and how to make it economically successful.
So that’s my small but steadfast global contribution. I think everybody doing a little bit is all that’s made any difference, ever.‘
Producer, Director and Visual Effects Supervisor (2001: A Space Odysee, Blade Runner)
"Trumbull Studios in Massachusetts is dedicated to being green as much as possible, including the use of LED lighting, solar power, and solar laptops. This is not just because our location has limited amperage and no three-phase, we believe we have a responsibility to our community and our planet to be a clean industry.
We are planning for digital photography in 3D 4K at 120 frames per second from remote and inaccessible locations that will not have available power. Solar is the way to go."
Dieter Kosslick, Director Berlin International Film Festival
„The Berlinale is already actively addressing the sustainability subject since years. We appreciate it very much that a growing number of filmmakers, among them this year‘s jury presiden Darren Aranofsky, is following green guidelines on set.“
Benoit Delhomme
Director of Photography (A Most Wanted Man)
‘I never have been told precisely what the rules are for shooting a green movie, but we are trying to do it. This is something new for me. Sometimes people overlight scenes at night. I don’t. If I can see with my own eyes, then it is enough for the film. In that sense I am a green DoP.’
Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons who stars in the Berlinale Competition entry The Night Train To Lisbon is a fan of source segregated recycling. „Especially in Germany you have done a lot for that. You are examplary in the matter of waste separation.“
The Hollywood actor travelled around the world to promote the environmntal documentary feature film Trashed by Candida Brady which deals with the global garbage problem: „We buy it, we bury it, we burn it and then we ignore it“, says Brady. „With Jeremy Irons as our guide, we discover what happens to the billion or so tons of waste that goes unaccounted for each year.“
Since the world premiere at the International Cannes Film Festival in 2012 Trashed picked up various nominations and awards at international festivals.