How Do Film Crews Maintain Locations

Imagine, a huge film production company is hiring your property to make a huge blockbuster hit, not only do you get to see lots of talented actors and directors in action but you get to boast about it to future customers. There is one snag, the production company has rolled in lots of heavy equipment and vehicles all over your pristine lawn. Well, that just won’t do, will it?

This should never happen. All the professional companies know how to treat and respect a location, if not just because it is the right thing to do, but because it can cause havoc with continuity.

Trakmats
Film crews have a lot of work to do in a very short time on a very tight budget. Hundreds of different people all trying to accomplish a number of different jobs are bound to affect a location, right? One team of the film crew will be tasked with the highly arduous job of preventing any change or damage to the film location, and they will use a number of different well-known methods to complete this task.

With large vehicles being used to drop pieces of set into place (and the set itself sometimes having an impact on grass beneath it), it is important that grassy areas are protected with what are known as trackway mats, sometimes called Trakmats.

Trakmats are easily placeable tiles of robust rubber designed to protect grass from constant wear. They can often be seen at music festivals and other events with the intention of hiding wires and, of course, protecting areas of constant tread.

On film and TV show sets they act as temporary path ways for larger vehicles and for crew members to get from one area to the next without treading down a grassy area.

Taking Care
For the most part, film crews are just required to take good care of their non-studio set locations. A little respect and a little knowledge can help a crew to make the right decisions when organising the logistics of on-set movements. Even if the crew don’t immediately make the right choice, or are required to change a path for a vehicle or for general passage, trackway mats are designed to be light and easy to put together. This is handy because they may only have one day on set and it is important that they are able to set up and strike a set as quickly as humanly possible.

Of course it is important to look after the location you’re filming on, but it is just as important to look after the set you are filming with. Rough terrain and grassy areas can cause damage during transport or set up and a damp floor can run the risk of creating rot in wooden sets. Trakmats also provide an excellent solution to that problem too.

Most of the time it is easy for a crew to clean up after they are gone, but there are some things you can’t just clean up, like tire tracks in the soil, mud that once was grass and the imprints of heavy sets in an otherwise pristine lawn. Trakmats make a crew’s life easier and save the location all at the same time.

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Henry Savage is the Director of All Weather Access, a ground protection and Trakmat hire company. Henry is an expert in ground protection and is skilled at matching the best ground protection solutions to his customers' requirements.