The shooting of the Mexican film "Nudus" by Gibran Bazan in full Covid-19.

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Eyepix / Sipa USA / SIPA

  • On set, film crews take drastic precautions to protect themselves from the virus.

  • Everyone is doing their best to ensure that production does not stop, a sine qua non condition for preserving their jobs.

Shooting a film is already not easy in normal times but it is becoming a real headache due to the Covid-19 pandemic where everything must be rethought to minimize the risk of infection.

20 Minutes

identified the main difficulties that the actors and the technical teams are confronted with and how each manages to remedy them.

The Covid, this concern

On the contracts, there is now a “Covid-19 annex” which indicates the advice to be followed in order to limit the risks.

“Everything is explained and controlled, both on the set and for the castings so as to avoid contact,” explains actor Nicolas Delys.

We know that the slightest case can cause filming to stop, ”he explains.

With financial worries but also with schedule because "we can have planned another shoot in stride".

Everyone needs to work and is therefore very careful.

Most productions have an agreement with laboratories in order to be able to regularly test the actors and technicians, sometimes every two days.

Masked shoot 😷 # comedian pic.twitter.com/gEd8fmmZzR

- Nicolas (@NicolasDelys) October 28, 2020

The mask, this galley

“Like the director, the actors wear FFP2 masks between takes,” underlines Mickaël Cohen, first assistant director on a TF1 unit with a still secret title.

It is not easy to communicate.

“An actor with a mask is like a blank page who often has to briefly remove it to show his expressions to the director,” explains Nicolas Delys.

It also happens that the director wants to touch us to position us and that he stops abruptly before doing so.

As he plays a forensic technician in

Yves Rénier's

La Traque

on the Fourniret affair, Nicolas Delys was however able to keep his mask for this role.

Figuration, just as concerned

Marie, an extra on

David Moreau's

King

in Clermont-Ferrand from October 2 to 3, was not tested before her participation because she was replacing someone overnight.

“Everyone was masked and paper masks were made available to those who did not have them.

We only took them off to shoot.

Only the child extras had their faces uncovered.

The leadership of actors is not facilitated.

The staging, this puzzle

"It is not easy to remain intact in our desires as directors in these conditions" sighs the filmmaker Christian Carion who is preparing an Anglo-Saxon remake of

My Boy

and who manages his rehearsals with Claire Foy and James MacAvoy.

"Directing actors with a mask is not easy," adds director Joachim Lafosse, who has just finished

Les Intranquilles

with Matthias Schoenaerts and Leila Bekhti.

But you have to see the advantages: I can hide my expression when I'm not happy with a take.

"

The plateau, this risky area

The number of appearances is limited on the board.

Technicians are connected to monitors via their phones or tablets, which allow them to view images from a distance without crowding around the camera.

“It's a habit to take, recognizes Mickaël Cohen, but people show themselves to be disciplined because everyone's job is at stake.

A nurse and a Covid referent are present every day on the set to monitor that the health protocol is respected.

"The referent asks us daily about our possible symptoms," says Nicolas Delys.

Travel abroad, this angst

The director Nicolas Bilon did not choose the easy way with his documentary on "The blockbuster years" which he shoots for L'endroit Films and OCS.

While everything seemed ready, the pandemic nipped in the bud his dreams of interviews with big names in the 7th Art.

"Impossible to go to the United States because no one could guarantee us that we would be dead to enter there and it would have cost us too much to take the risk of being turned away", he sighs.

Especially since some personalities like Richard Donner or Paul Verhoeven have failed Nicolas Bilon for fear of the virus.

He therefore had to trick and direct from a distance, from France, his interview with Joe Dante filmed by a Franco-American team in Los Angeles.

"There are also compulsory tests and insurance, but I try to keep my spirits up," said the director.

Ecology, nettles

“The shooting of my film was crazy, but not very green, remembers Joachim Lafosse.

In particular, we had to use several different cars so as not to compromise physical distancing and change paper masks every three hours.

Not ideal for the environment that we normally take great care of.

»Hydroalcoholic gel and temperature measurement when arriving on the set are also on the program, while the canteen seats are often separated by windows and the guests are staggered there to limit contact.

System D, this solution

Raymond Macherel interrupted the editing of a feature-length documentary on the yellow vests,

A moment without return

, to shoot another, on his companion physiotherapist for disabled children in full confinement.

“It was very calm and very serene,” he tells us.

I discovered a nature that I did not know and I had a great time.

The only anxieties I had consisted of hiding from the police patrols which were on the lookout for containment violators.

"

Self-containment, this good idea

The filming of 

Going green

Yohann Charrin took place safely.

"For this film, the whole team confined themselves together in a lodging in Vercors," says Mickaël Cohen.

We lived in autarky, avoiding contact with the outside world, which made it possible to limit protective measures.

A “Covid-19” backpack with bowl, cutlery, glass and gel was provided to all participants.

Like him, the entire film industry is doing their best to keep the shootings going.

“I do a job of passion.

I therefore comply with what is asked of me out of solidarity with the whole team, ”concludes Nicolas Delys.

The actor is obviously not the only one to practice this philosophy.

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