Visit Austin.com to celebrate Austin, Texas! Austin.com is the web portal for everything entertaining happening in Austin, Texas.

Bluebonnets are a protected plant

Green screen your film: for the environment

Austin is such a beautiful and green city, apparent in the lush Austin landscape as well as being deeply rooted in the community itself. An eco-friendly conscience underlies the city. Even with the latest living and retail development, most of the buildings going up are going up green.

That said, it would be great to have you come and shoot here...just don't mess the place up. OK?
Here are a few things that you can do as a film maker to help 

Sign posts unlimited

As tempting as it seems, please avoid stapling or nailing resident notices, announcements or other flyers or materials to our beautiful trees. Texas live oaks are of the most majestic in the country and often grow for over 100 years, as long as we don't kill them. Instead, please use elastic bands or string if you need to attach materials to trees. Also don’t forget to remove after they have served their purpose.

Set Camp

Whether you are shooting an indie no budget production, or your set’s base camp requires its own zip code, please be mindful of your neighbors. Keep your footprint small when you are there and take it with you when you leave. The think globally, act locally idea not only helps to green the place up but can often save you some green as well.

•           Make sure that trucks and RVs fit under trees and building overhangs to avoid damage to branches or property.

•           Avoid parking generator trucks in front of residential buildings.

•           Do not let any vehicles’ engines idle on set. At 4 bucks a gallon, this seems pretty obvious.

•           If you are renting cars or trucks, rent with fuel economy in mind. Again...4 bucks a gallon dude.

•           Baffle any free standing generators with fire proof, non flammable materials

•           Keep your noise down when arriving at a set before 7 AM and after 10 PM.

Office Space

In your production office and editing suites, you can do your part there as well. Just in case you have forgotten what gets recycled in Austin, here is a nice list of recyclables.

•           Recycle paper products and use recycled paper

•           Recycle all cans, plastic and bottles in the office and on set

•           Turn off monitors or computers when not in use

•           Use energy efficient products noted with the Energy Star.

•           Go paperless. Use email to send information to people as opposed to printing on paper

Take it in- Bring it out

Please be careful to clean up everything from your set when you leave, recycling what you can. Also be careful not to park vehicles on wet property which may leave tracks or ruts when you leave.

Give it away, give it away, give it away now!

If you have any unused equipment, food, art supplies and other expendables, there are a number of Austin area shelters, schools or other organizations which could really use the donations. One great place which could use whatever you have left over is the Capitol Area Food Bank. They also love having volunteers come in for a few hours to assist in sorting and packaging of food for the needy. If your cast and crew find themselves off for a day, encourage them to help out. Not only good for the environment, but good for your soul.

When in Austin, shoot well, livestrong and think green.

Steve Muccini is president of SpotEdge Media, a video production company that produces TV commercials and films. He is a film editor, cameraman, actor, and writer in Austin, Texas. You can view his profile and  contact Steve here.