Our Sustainable Filmmaking Ethos
As a small business and as a group of individuals, sustainability is one of our top priorities. But what does that mean in real terms for a video production company like ours? Consumers today are understandably wary about “greenwashing” as a marketing ploy so at Fresh Ground Films we believe in transparency when it comes to our environmental credentials.
While we have already adopted many environmentally-friendly initiatives, we know there is always more work for us to do. As the company grows, we are committed to exploring more ways of reducing our carbon footprint and protecting the natural world.
Our sustainable values resonate with our like-minded clients – in fact East Devon District Council hired us for their project about Great Trees in the Clyst Valley for exactly that reason. We love to work with clients who share our desire to make the world a better place. Our passion is to tell stories with soul.
Here are a few of the ways we strive to operate as sustainably as possible:
- We power the Fresh Ground Films studio with renewable energy supplied by Ecotricty.
- Our studio was built by local Devon cabin makers, Life Space Cabins, who use sustainable construction methods, including using ground screws for the foundations, these can be removed with no impact to the natural environment, unlike concrete.
- We’ve furnished our studio using upcycled materials, stretching our creative skills to repurpose old scaffolding boards into desks and shelving.
- Our cameras are energy efficient, and we plan and run our shoots very efficiently. This means we don’t “overshoot” too much which would require the use of more hard drives
- We are committed to using public transport, cycling and walking whenever we can, instead of using a car. We are looking at ways to transport valuable film kit around Exeter on two wheels…
- Most of our filming projects are saved to offline drives to improve our digital sustainability. This avoids the need for drives to be continuously spinning.
- We use the search engine Ecosia who use their profits to plant trees where they are needed most.
- Our new website is hosted on renewable energy servers with the ability to turn all autoplay video off if you don’t need it, and with images reduced to their minimum sizes to reduce the carbon footprint.
- As individuals, we have reduced our meat and dairy consumption and we buy local, organic meat and veg.
Charitable Giving:
- We donate a percentage of our annual profits to charities who do amazing work in different areas – this year we are supporting Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Hospiscare & Centrepoint
- We are also signed up to Ecologi, a monthly subscription service that plants trees in the UK and abroad in order to create jobs, protect habitats and nurture the environment. You can find out more about our ‘forest’ here
We’ll keep finding new ways to run Fresh Ground Films more sustainably and we always welcome new ideas and constructive feedback from our clients and peers. We are currently researching the possibility of an electric company car – watch this space…
What we’re doing really does matter. If big businesses approached their environmental responsibilities with the same commitment as many small businesses we know, the world could be a much greener, happier, healthier place.
We’ll be honest, we know that really meaningful change needs to come from the top but the louder we shout, the more they’ll have to listen.
