for my zombie film, I need to show the actor (me) running away from a horde of zombies that are charging at him from down the street. (Think Left 4 Dead or 28 days later, but I have slow zombies too) Are there any procedures I need to do in order to do this, or can I just film without anyone's consent?
is it legal to film in public places in Ohio?
- Thread starter nobudgetfilmmaker
- Start date
dont know about Ohio, but here in Seattle, if the filming group has more than 3 people, the team required to have a permit.
so,
Legally: u ll need a permit, and insurance.
Illegally: do whatever u want, but you ll have to deal with authorities, and have an extremely high risk of getting into trouble.
or can do what every other indie zombie filmmaker does and ask private owner shoot on large private property, like a field.
in any case, if you are just a beginner in filmmaking - avoid doing grand shots like this. It requires lots of planning, spendings, and headache.
if you want to shoot it with out permits, in the city, and have a horde of people dressed up as zombies running around - you ll get sh*tty footage, because u ll be paranoid about cops, and wont have enough time to set up or plan anything. It simply wont worth the risk, and headache.
permits are cheap, but the insurance, that will be required if your production has lots of people in it, is expensive.
last time I was shopping around, i found 10 day insurance (10 days block is minimal purchase requirement), with minimal coverage, and 10,000 for equipment would cost $550. if u cant afford to get the insurance, u wont get a permit..
my advice - change the scene to what you can shoot with minimal headache and free.
so,
Legally: u ll need a permit, and insurance.
Illegally: do whatever u want, but you ll have to deal with authorities, and have an extremely high risk of getting into trouble.
or can do what every other indie zombie filmmaker does and ask private owner shoot on large private property, like a field.
in any case, if you are just a beginner in filmmaking - avoid doing grand shots like this. It requires lots of planning, spendings, and headache.
if you want to shoot it with out permits, in the city, and have a horde of people dressed up as zombies running around - you ll get sh*tty footage, because u ll be paranoid about cops, and wont have enough time to set up or plan anything. It simply wont worth the risk, and headache.
permits are cheap, but the insurance, that will be required if your production has lots of people in it, is expensive.
last time I was shopping around, i found 10 day insurance (10 days block is minimal purchase requirement), with minimal coverage, and 10,000 for equipment would cost $550. if u cant afford to get the insurance, u wont get a permit..
my advice - change the scene to what you can shoot with minimal headache and free.
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In a private neighborhood where you have talked to everyone and gotten their permission (so nobody calls the cops) you MIGHT get away with it, but technically as noted above you probably need permits and insurance so if the cops show up they will shut you down.
Intresting
Here in Nederland we have a bunch of filmmakers that dont ask permision to make a zomby movie. So the actors and audience mix together
The movie is made to look like its made by people from the audience. (rec, Blairwitch etc). So the story is as follows, there are zombies, and the government is trying to cover it up.
http://zombiealarm.nl/
To bad the acting is realy bad. Also the zombies dont look dangerous, so thats getting rid of al tension but......good publicety.....very good pubicety.
Here in Nederland we have a bunch of filmmakers that dont ask permision to make a zomby movie. So the actors and audience mix together
The movie is made to look like its made by people from the audience. (rec, Blairwitch etc). So the story is as follows, there are zombies, and the government is trying to cover it up.
http://zombiealarm.nl/
To bad the acting is realy bad. Also the zombies dont look dangerous, so thats getting rid of al tension but......good publicety.....very good pubicety.
This question is too broad.
In many cities if you will cause disruption (by their definition - not
yours) you will need a permit and insurance. In more rural areas
you don't need either. If you have a camera, a tripod and six to ten
zombies the answer is very different than if you have 50 zombies
and a full grip and lighting package. Smaller cities will have different
requirements than larger ones. Even the word "legal" has different
meanings.
You best move is to contact the authorities in the area where you
will shoot. They will know much better than anyone posting here.
Every one of us no budget filmmakers have shot in our home towns
without a permit or insurance. This might be the rare time "It's easier
to ask for forgiveness than it is to get permission." works. You will not
be put in jail, you will not be fined. You will be told to stop. That is
likely the worse that can happen.
So:
Where do you want to shoot?
How many total people will be involved?
How much equipment?
How long to you need on the location?
wasn't 28 days later shot during 6.00 when the streets where empty anyway.........?
And in a shot in midnicht cowboy the actors almost get hit by a real taxy.......(IM WALKING HERE)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c412hqucHKw
And in a shot in midnicht cowboy the actors almost get hit by a real taxy.......(IM WALKING HERE)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c412hqucHKw
My first thoughts are, why not ask the local film commission office about shooting in public? There is most likely both a city and state film commission office that can be found by 6oogling "Ohio Film Commission Office." They are government entities and will be able to answer all questions about shooting in public.
I don't quite understand your point.
In both cases the filmmakers where shooting with permission and with insurance.
O....I did not know this....
I mean of course. 28 Days Later was a "low budget" film... meaning they only spent 5 to 7 MILLION DOLLARS on it. They had insurance and paid for the permits I'm sure.
I found this info in the movie pi.....(I Love this movie and its Budget)
No location permits were secured for any of the scenes filmed. The crew had to have one man constantly serving as a lookout for police so they could stop filming if needed.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138704/trivia
Budget solution: have one man constantly serving as a lookout.
No location permits were secured for any of the scenes filmed. The crew had to have one man constantly serving as a lookout for police so they could stop filming if needed.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138704/trivia
Budget solution: have one man constantly serving as a lookout.
You can Guerrilla it to a degree on no budget films for sure. It just doesn't make sense if you have any level of budget. If the cops show up in the middle of shooting my scene and shut me down then I have potentially just wasted several hours of work. That several hours of work probably cost me more than the permits and insurance would have.
if you shoot a zombi craw you will need release sigs from every person you film..cant get around that! but talk to the zombi craw promoter..they might help you set something up.
In the State of Nevada, technically by law you need to register. In certain areas thought you do not need to register. If you're working for the government you don't need to register, like me. Also, once registered, when in public, if you can see it, you can shoot it. One of my buddies is on some guys site because he was up at sand mountain, a singing sand dune, on his quad. Public lands. See it, you can shoot it.
Soo if you get the footage without cops seeing anything, you couldn't get in trouble later if they found out about what you did? (by hearing about it, seeing the footage from internet or screening, etc.)
I don't think I've ever heard of anyone getting busted for no permits. I'm sure if someone was that gun-ho about it they could. They give red light tickets based off cameras here.
What I have heard about is not being able to get distribution because of it. Distro companies (in order to avoid lawsuits) want it in writing that you have permission to make money off showing those locations.
Shoot, even YouTube sent me emails a few days ago asking for proof in writing that our own original scores in our videos are ours to continue monetization.
There's a good chance that getting permits and permission, especially for out in public stuff, is way easier and cheaper than you think. By placing a phone call and a bit of searching on their site, I found out no permit is needed in my city to shoot on the street as long as you don't block (pedestrian on vehicle) traffic. It beats having the "lookout" and rushing the takes paranoid that you're about to be busted. It also helped knowing the facts when a cop did come by and ask us to leave. We politely explained the law he had never heard of, he called in and found out we were right, asked us to move our tripods a foot to the right and was on his way.
Sometimes you gotta steal shots. Don't waste time stealing what's free, or most likely really cheap.
What I have heard about is not being able to get distribution because of it. Distro companies (in order to avoid lawsuits) want it in writing that you have permission to make money off showing those locations.
Shoot, even YouTube sent me emails a few days ago asking for proof in writing that our own original scores in our videos are ours to continue monetization.
There's a good chance that getting permits and permission, especially for out in public stuff, is way easier and cheaper than you think. By placing a phone call and a bit of searching on their site, I found out no permit is needed in my city to shoot on the street as long as you don't block (pedestrian on vehicle) traffic. It beats having the "lookout" and rushing the takes paranoid that you're about to be busted. It also helped knowing the facts when a cop did come by and ask us to leave. We politely explained the law he had never heard of, he called in and found out we were right, asked us to move our tripods a foot to the right and was on his way.
Sometimes you gotta steal shots. Don't waste time stealing what's free, or most likely really cheap.
Ding!
Ding ding!
Buzzzzz!
What is happening here is people would shoot inside a well-known location, lets say the Ed Sullivan Theatre -- that's a no-no because people will know its obviously the set of the Late Show With David Letterman, but if you stole a shot from inside a building that is recognizable to no one, you're safe.
Speaking of cops, if you want to amuse yourself, click on my trailer below and watch the police car show up in the middle of my shot - completely unplanned!
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I don't know if the law has changed but if it hasn't then I bet you can even film hidden camera stuff on private property.
http://www.rcfp.org/taping/quick.html
As far as permits go, if it's too expensive to pull a permit then do some "hit and run" filming. Swoop in, film, and then get out of there. Save money! I've never heard of a city suing for what they SHOULD have been paid in permit fees. The worst that could happen is that the cops break up your shoot. Watch out for off duty cops too. The bigger then crew the riskier. If it doesn't "look" like a "film shoot" then the cops might even just drive by. This happened to me in Hollywood. We were standing on a street corner with a giant Panasonic Varicam. Cops drove by, looked and didn't care.