Sustainability is a theme in the film, but film production can be known for its wastefulness. How did Can I Get a Witness? walk the walk?
The challenge of shooting remotely was compounded when we want to honour our central theme of consuming less. We approached how we did everything mindful of leaving as small a footprint as possible. We used as many people and materials as we could from the area, but still had to bring up a lot of equipment from Vancouver. We were able to barge up our trucks with the weekly delivery of supplies for the community. All garbage and recycling gets shipped out of the community for processing. We used real dishes and reusable water bottles which helped us keep over 180,000 items out of the landfill. We utilized a lot of second-hand clothing.
ZOOM ZOOM BABY
For meetings during pre- and post-production, we met virtually using Zoom. Even cast members who couldn’t be in person for the table reading zoomed in.
HYDRATION STATION
We had a no-disposable-plastic-water-bottle policy on set and provided reusable water bottles for all cast and crew members. We saved about 9,600 plastic water bottles from becoming a part of the waste stream. We had portable five-gallon water refillable stations on set, in catering, and where the trucks, catering trucks, tents and trailers are set up on the filming location so that people had ample opportunity to stay hydrated.
COSTUMES
Nearly half, 45%, of our costumes were second hand, made from upcycled materials or the actors own personal items. The costumes were then later put into storage or donated to cast members.
DISHES
By having reusable dishes for catering, we were able to save $23,149 as well as divert 108,000 items from the landfill and compost.
SET DECORATION and PROPS
Most of our set decorations were rented from prop houses, donated from other sets, and some of the crew’s (including the director and sustainability coordinators) personal items, as well as thrifted. A lot of the set decoration seen throughout the film displays sustainable ways of living.
THE QUILT
The quilt that the main characters are working on was made solely of upcycled materials. Most of the fabrics were old shirts thrifted from second-hand stores. The main base fabric was an old curtain that the director donated, and the rest of the fabric came from specialty items that the cast and crew donated.
FOOD WASTE
Our caterers did their best to ensure they only made enough food so that there wouldn’t be any food waste. However, any food that was left over was donated at the end of the last meal each day to Lift Community Services in Powell River, where it was served to the community members who utilize their centre. We were able to donate 51.5 kg of food. Most of the food scraps from food prep were donated to a farmer.