This was one of those jobs that should have been very simple, but
didn't turn out that way.
The job was for P & G and they insist on control over Studios,
lighting hire, camera hire etc.
Set & lighting had been planned for a particular studio but
2 days before shooting the job was moved to another studio because
P & G had changed their supplier.
We would have "plenty of room" in the new studio for the
job.
The set barely fit in the new studio and certainly didn't take into
account the way I was planning to light it.
We built a silk tent over the set, 24*12 down each side and across
the back. Six 12 * 12 silks with 25 10K's firing through them. We
then added the cyclights and groundrow, another 20 or so 5k's, and
then the smaller lights for the colour effects in the background.
We needed so much light because we were shooting on 100 stock with
black nets and wanted a T8 stop. This had all been discussed at
length in advance.
When we started to shoot the temperature rose rapidly and the fire
alarms started to go off, we then shot with the studio doors open
whenever we weren't shooting sound. We had to disconnect the fire
alarms because of the noise, they were going off even though it
was November and the doors were open.
On the 3rd day of shooting the studio roof started to melt and fall
on us.
Melt!??, well yes, the studio was really a warehouse with a tin
roof, they'd had no heat problems before because the heat went straight
out of the roof, through the tin. They'd then soundproofed the stage
to get the P & G deal, they'd soundproofed it with 2" polystyrene
sheeting in layers. This is what had melted and was falling on us.
We overshot on a Friday night until 5am on the Saturday.
The insurance claims took 2 years to sort out.
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