Risk Assessment

A risk assessment is essential when planning to do anything. This is because, for obvious reasons, you want things to be as safe as possible, so you can get the job done, without any hazards.

Hazards are a major concern with our music video, as we plan to do things that carry many risks.
Firstly, we plan for our main setting to be the white cliffs of Dover. The cliffs stand at 300ft tall,instantly creating the danger of falling. The winds at that height also will be stronger, causing more problems with small pathways at the edge of the cliff.

So firstly, as just mentioned, we need to take precaution when at the cliffs. At 300ft, there is a sheer drop off at the face of the cliffs, and this obvious creates a very severe risk of falling, especially as some of the cliffs paths are so small that you can only walk single file. As also mentioned before, the cliffs are high, and also situated by the sea, so the winds will be a lot stronger than normal, not only creating the problem of equipment and iconography flying away, but the very realistic hazard of being blown of the cliff.

Another hazard that we must take into account appears when we get to the card motif. We intend to set cards alight as a good effect and connotation of the relationship. We must be careful when lighting the cards as the chances of the fire spreading may be quite high. We would ultimately like there to be a coating of fire around a tower of cards, as opposed to just lighting cards. This means that we may have to use lighter fluid around the edges of the card tower, causing increased flammability, and increased risk, as the fire could spread more easily, especially if the lighter fluid drips, or spreads somewhere else and the fire starts going along that line. We must make sure that when doing the fire scene that the fire is controlled, and that we take the right precautions to enable us to put it out in time if we feel that the flames are out of control.

Another hazard is the problem of weather. With several outdoor scenes, it is imperative that we keep the equipment functioning perfectly. Things like rain will cause problems to our production, as we cannot afford for the HD camera to get wet, as we may end up breaking it. This also applies to the acoustic guitar, as it is an electro-acoustic, therefore the internals will get damaged, and it could ultimately ruin the guitar which is valued at several hundreds of pounds.

Lastly, we must be careful when filming inside that we do not trip over certain things. Being in a house often means that there may be clutter around, which is something we should take note of, as although it does not seem that big a deal, there is always the big risk that we could slip, or trip over something and end up with an injury. A big example of this is if we were to charge the camera, and we left the lead trailing along the floor, it is very obvious that someone could not see it as moving around the setting, and get their feet caught on it.