At a time when ecology must be at the heart of everyone's concerns, the audiovisual world is wondering about the imprint left by filming.

Guests of Europe 1, Monday, two actors of the eco-shooting explain how to produce eco-responsible films, while this could soon become a condition for claiming aid.

INTERVIEW

More and more approached in films, ecology now passes to the other side of the camera, so that the shoots go green.

In the context of eco-shooting, the carbon footprint then becomes as important an issue as the financial statement, and some financial aid could even soon be made conditional on eco-responsible practices.

Actors of this new form of filming, more respectful of the environment, Julien Tricard and Mathieu Delahousse were the guests of the program Culture Médias, Monday on Europe 1. One is the founder of mediaClub'Green, an association which militates for eco-responsible filming, the other is the president of Secoya Éco-tournage, a company that helps and supports production companies in adopting ecological behavior.

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Use local teams and local equipment

"An eco-shooting for a production is to place the human and the production activity in a current socio-climatic reality, to relocate its productions and to take into consideration an important economic reality today", explains Mathieu Delahousse.

By "relocating productions", the latter means the fact of promoting a local, social, circular economy, taking into account the place in which one finds oneself when an advertising film, a series or a feature film is shot. 

Does this mean that no more films can be shot outside the region of the production company, or even abroad? Mathieu Delahousse answers in the negative. "When we are going to shoot in the region or even abroad, the goal is to continue to make dreams come true, but in a sustainable and responsible way", he explains, referring to filming calling on local teams and local equipment. Facing him, Julien Tricard has a very concrete example: "We shot a documentary at the top of Mont Blanc with a team of scientists who went to measure the level of pollution from microplastics at high altitude," says the founder of mediaClub'Green . "We did not send a single helicopter: our cameraman climbed on foot with the team of scientists,and we recovered aerial images which were shot with a process that consumes twenty times less fuel than a helicopter: an ULM. "

For Julien Tricard, the difference between a green shoot and a shoot that is not, "is that we are going to ask ourselves the question upstream and ask ourselves how we can do to make the shoot as responsible as possible" , he said.

"A lot of people say 'we're green' because they put three gourds and two coffee bean machines on their shoot, but today it's much more complicated than that."

"What costs the most is to do it too late"

This ecological awareness is inevitable today, believes Mathieu Delahousse. The latter worked for EuropaCorp or Bonne Pioche Productions, and thinks back with dismay of shoots that would today be incompatible with our time awareness of climate issues. “At the time, I didn't have that awareness, I was taught to do this job without that awareness,” he explains. "In particular, I participated in an advertisement at the top of a glacier where 300 trees were raised by helicopter in order to be able to reconstruct the decoration of the advertisement. It dates back more than 15 years, and I do not not even understand how we could do it today, "he continues.

Rethinking filming in an eco-responsible way change the way of filming? Yes, answers Julien Tricard "and this is really the heart of the problem". As a producer, he says, the question of what he gets from a film remains a priority, but the goal of eco-shooting is to achieve the same result on screen. 

"What costs the most is to do it too late", he adds, specifying that the eco-responsible approach can generate profits and many financial opportunities, even when it comes to of a shoot abroad.

"If we make a film about the friendship between a child and a lion, shot in Africa, it is possible that brands, which are now very much in search of values, associate themselves with the values ​​of a film. which would be produced in a sustainable and responsible manner ", explains Julien Tricard.

"Afterwards, we will have to do some research to see what we can do on the spot and reduce to a minimum what will have to come from abroad."

Towards conditional aid from the CNC?

Faced with these initiatives, broadcasters will have to be more sensitive to the impact of filming on the environment, assures Julien Tricard, who specifies that the big broadcasters (TF1, France televisions, Canal + ...) already have all integrated a Social and Environmental Responsibility (CSR) unit in their structure. "They are very active and dialogue a lot, especially with producers, unions, and with the National Center for Cinema and Animated Image (CNC), our parent body," he adds, specifying that the CNC is preparing to make announcements on eco-accountability, which could be decisive for the entire sector.

"We expect to see a first wave of aid and support for initiatives that go in the direction of labeling, support for eco-responsible actions and filming," says Julien Tricard. "And then, in a second step, perhaps a second wave which will be more restrictive". The aid could then be conditioned according to the eco-responsible approach of the production company.