How animated film Sol earned 3 star Albert Certification
Date Posted: December 22, 2020
In a first for UK broadcasting, CITV, ITV Hub, ALL 4, My5, TG4, S4C and BBC ALBA all jointly aired Sol, an animated film with an aim to bring light and comfort to families with young children as the darkest year in modern times draws to a close.
The Producer of Sol, Gavin Halpin of Paper Owl Films said: “Sol was greenlit last year before COVID, but it became particularly poignant and relevant in the current climate. It’s been a year in the making with roughly 40 crew involved at any one time. The pandemic changed everything, and we found working remotely had environmental benefits – less travel, less commuting, in fact the entire project was produced during the lockdown”
The film follows a boy called Sol whose world is plunged into darkness when his beloved grandmother dies, and he is sent on an urgent quest to find the light that has gone out in the world. Sol’s adventurous journey enables him to realise his love for his grandmother is greater than the pain of his loss.
The team at Paper Owl Films had used the albert calculator before and were required to use albert certification as part of their funding agreement but were enthusiastic about embedding sustainability principles and practices from the start, giving the team greater satisfaction than simply calculating their impact at the end of production.
The process began with a Green Memo, sent to the entire production team, outlining Sol’s intentions to be an albert certified production and explaining how the team were going to achieve it.
Albert’s production training had provided a good starting point for the core team members, highlighting lots of opportunities for practical ways to reduce impact.
The production team had calculated 85% of their carbon footprint would be produced from the office and presented some ‘Office Green Goals’ in their Green Memo to help reduce it. Goals included:
- Turning off lights and keeping desk lamp use to a minimum, using natural light when possible
- Opening windows rather than turning on fans during the heat
- Conversely, closing doors rather than turning on the heating when it was cold
- Shutdown of equipment, lights and closing of doors after hours
- Removal of water coolers from the animation and sound studios
- Keeping a smaller fridge in the kitchen and limiting use of the dishwasher to once a day
Key players on the production team were given overall responsibility for keeping the team on track of their sustainability goals, which was key to making sure that when things got busy, they didn’t lose sight of their goals.
To find out more about Sol’s efforts to be sustainable visit We Are Albert
