Context Creativity in Location Shooting for Directors, Filmmakers & Cinematographers

[Zayd_Depaor]

Context Creativity in Location Shooting for Directors, Filmmakers & Cinematographers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L54JXPHEGVc

The above piece is a brief word on how creativity with context can make a seemingly meaningless location come to life and transform its cinematic reality.

 

[NickClapper]

Who are you making that for?

You say it's for filmmakers and cinematographers (not to mention location managers) but the content is extremely obvious and where it becomes technical there's a little bit of misinformation.

It's good that you're keeping track of these things for yourself but perhaps it's better suited to a blog where you are recording your thoughts rather than a video where you are teaching others because, in my opinion, there are very few people who go to shoot in a field and genuinely believe that that location cannot be altered at all for the film.

 

[Zayd_Depaor]

Well it seems I was making it for you as much as anyone else Nick. Despite your statement that what I was saying was extremely obvious, you perhaps even didn't understand the content of the piece yourself (I appreciate the sound was lousy).

It wasn't so much about altering locations. Rather, it was about altering the context perception of locations.

Most people when they see a hill will see a hill, including Directors, Filmmaking Forum-expert critics etc. This is why 99.9% of locations, objects etc are used in the capacity of what they are commonly perceived as. This is not just to establish the relationship of understanding between filmmaker and viewer. It is also to do with the limited horizons of creativity induced by common usage, education, social convention, government imposition etc.

The point is that information added context transforms a location by suggestion of ALTERNATIVE:-

Time of day
Time of Year
Subject
Object
Political Context
Atmosphere
History
Social conditions
Narrative suggestion

None of this is obvious...rather people are socially, culturally and politically influenced by their own situation in life as part of the wider society and common usage and perception of the particular locations etc This definitely includes everyone in the Movie industry, whether mainstream, alternative or independent.

Even your response to the piece was typical of the responses in such forums.

Next time you pick up a glass of water and drink it, transport yourself to a movie, where water has become the only natural drink available or on the planet you're on, its not a drink but a drug, that keeps people compliant with the dictatorship. Next time you go shopping in Tesco...bring a hidden cam....and you will have the scene for the spy who has infiltrated the tesco government which now controls the country and has eliminated all other businesses. Or between me and you Nick, let me tell you the mega budget movie scouts, got me to put up this piece to test you...and see if your personality profile matches the guy they are looking for. You are looking at your computer screen but you didn't realise it is looking back at you.

What would you rather eat? A beautiful tasting 3 Michelin star style meal, that looks like your favourite three courses but is in fact made of a dead human body or something that looks like a dead human body, but which is in fact only composed of your favourite three courses?

Who was I making it for? Everyone in the world. That includes Filmmakers, Directors, Location Managers, Cinematographers and internet filmmaking critics with 1-10,000+ forum posts to their name but no movies of note. It includes those who have just started, who have not started, those who have not even thought of starting, those who have thought of starting but wont start, those who are experienced, those who are inexperienced, those who are experienced but bad, experienced but boring and it includes those who know, those who don't know, those who think they know but don't know, those who don't think they know but do know, those who don't think they know and don't know and those who didn't think that they think that they know but they do think that they know but they don't actually know.

Also, what was the misinformation?

 

[wheatgrinder]

Context Creativity is a great term Ill give you that point...

though your sorta acting like your breaking new ground and by doing so somewhat insulting everyone here who INSTINCTIVELY gets this concept. Heck, Im a complete noob and I KNOW THIS IN MY GUT. Its called MOVIE MAGIC. What you SEE on screen has no connection to reality. Simple as that. Though, I can see your trying to explain this to someone who MIGHT not get it.. problem is, that person aint here!

Misinformation is in your inaccurate figures regarding cost to film in certain spaces, but more importantly, Id guess that in the UK, just as in the US, PUBLIC space almost ALWAYS requires permits and fees for any commercial use. Its PRIVATE property and locations that you want to find for free.

Keep your blogs going, your enthusiasm is great, just remember on this forum most all of us "think" making movies 24 hours a day and don't want to be talked to like children.

 

[Zayd_Depaor]

In the UK I know of no specific law which prohibits filming/photography in public places, whether its for personal or private use, commercial or not. The law does not even require you to seek permission for members of the public who fall within your filming. Think about it...it would be very impractical, every time a photographer etc needs to respond to something spontaneous to go and seek permission first, clearly this wouldn't work...it would kill photography and videography. You will see commercial documentary teams and photographers always running spontaneously here and there in public filming, they often don't know where they will end up, they even target individuals and private property, there is also no law against filming private property from a public place.

Of course there are many specific laws and situations which restrict this....impersonating a police officer, terrorism, harassment, causing an obstruction, nuisance, alarm (e.g. replica firearms) danger etc. But we are talking in general, a person or crew can film in public without seeking permission. Of course seeking permission from local government departments etc can avoid hassle sometimes, but I expect it can create alot of unwanted hassle and obstacles too, so perhaps most of the time is not worth seeking it. You can go and film, they will be unaware and wont hassle you and you haven't broken a law, so they can't do anything. On top of that, they should spend their time chasing any of the very many troublemakers, nuisances and criminals who occupy every town, city and village and leave photographers and filmmakers alone unless they are causing a harm or danger.

Maybe Nick was referring to my specific comment about the Underground, I don't know. But on that I am not wrong as I looked into it a few months back...student filmmakers have a much reduced rate, but with the condition of non-commercial use etc. And commercial films cost hundreds of pounds an hour. Rates also depend on crew numbers etc.

I would expect that in USA laws are similar. If they don't allow people to film spontaneously in public, even for commercial use....then it is a serious restriction on freedom of information, expression, speech etc I would have a big campaign against it...they ram camera adverts down your throat and are selling every type of camera but then say you can only use it to photograph your cats and dogs in the garden or make home porn. And during all of that time they have surveillance cameras filming us 100 times a day on every street corner.

 

[NickClapper]

In the UK I know of no specific law which prohibits filming/photography in public places, whether its for personal or private use, commercial or not. The law does not even require you to seek permission for members of the public who fall within your filming. Think about it...it would be very impractical, every time a photographer etc needs to respond to something spontaneous to go and seek permission first, clearly this wouldn't work...it would kill photography and videography. You will see commercial documentary teams and photographers always running spontaneously here and there in public filming, they often don't know where they will end up, they even target individuals and private property, there is also no law against filming private property from a public place..

You're playing a guessing game here.

If you want to provide people with information I suggest doing a little research.

Shooting on the streets of the UK does not require a permit if:

a.) You do not put down a tripod.
b.) Your crew (including actors) is less than four.

Not very practical for any filmmakers. It's not very difficult to get permission from the council and SOMETIMES they will not charge you but on the whole they request that the shoot is supervised and that you cover the costs of that supervision. This price is usually about £200 a day.

As for members of the public, you are quite wrong. If you are shooting a narrative piece then anyone whose face you can see on screen you should get to sign a release. Obviously if they are out of focus or part of a crowd then there's nothing they can do but as soon as they're recognisable you are obliged to get a signed release. I would add that the rules for documentary and narrative work differ slightly.

I'm also not sure what you mean by 'filming private property from a public place'. Location exteriors still require location release forms.

 

[Utopia]

Pretty good concept. It's good to let the newcomer filmmaker know that film is up to his imagination.

I'm going to have to call you out on the location for sound, though. I hear quite a lot of birds and crows which will not help dialogue recording.

Also, 3:45 and 6:07 have planes going by overhead.

That's about 2:22 between planes. Must be near an airport. This is death on a film set. Your production audio for dialogue will be ruined. So will the sound effects you speak about capturing on the set

Is there another place farther from the airport?

 

[wheatgrinder]

but enough of the back and forth on permits.. I love that the OP is excited to talk about his newly discovered way of looking at resources. Im very interested to see your next discovery!

 

[Cracker Funk]

Wait a minute, I'm not sure if I get it -- these are some really mind-blowing concepts. Are you telling me that if I want to make a movie set in, say for example, England, I don't actually have to shoot the movie in England? I can shoot the movie somewhere else, and just pretend that we're in England?! That's awesome.

What I don't quite get is when you say that we can use a location to represent a different time. I don't know about that one. I kinda thought it was necessary to actually travel through time to shoot an historical or futuristic movie.

This has got my mind racing on all sorts of possibilities. I'm planning on making a murder-mystery movie, and your vlog has got me thinking that I won't actually have to murder anybody in real life. Phew! That takes a load off my shoulders!

 

[chilipie]

Wait a minute, I'm not sure if I get it -- these are some really mind-blowing concepts. Are you telling me that if I want to make a movie set in, say for example, England, I don't actually have to shoot the movie in England? I can shoot the movie somewhere else, and just pretend that we're in England?! That's awesome.

What I don't quite get is when you say that we can use a location to represent a different time. I don't know about that one. I kinda thought it was necessary to actually travel through time to shoot an historical or futuristic movie.

This has got my mind racing on all sorts of possibilities. I'm planning on making a murder-mystery movie, and your vlog has got me thinking that I won't actually have to murder anybody in real life. Phew! That takes a load off my shoulders!

I less than three Cracker Funk.

 

[Papertwinproductions]

The law does not even require you to seek permission for members of the public who fall within your filming.

"The Law" may not restrict you from filming, but it states that any such complaint or lawsuit is just on behalf of any member of the public. Meaning, if your feature film shows the identity of a member of the public, who where unaware or unsuccessfully notified via strategic placed signs or even a previous agreement, they have every right to halt your production with a lawsuit, rendering the footage in question void. The same for sound captured on location.

There's also a simplicity to your statement of "Filming on public property" that you're overlooking. That being the "Public". If you're not insured with "Public Liability Insurance", you run the risk of being brought into a lawsuit that rises more than not into the millions. Small crew or not. The slightest injury or damage to public property, and it's a long road. Not to mention, you'll be lucky to find any such willing, and committed crew who will risk their necks on an uninsured production.

Maybe Nick was referring to my specific comment about the Underground, I don't know. But on that I am not wrong as I looked into it a few months back...student filmmakers have a much reduced rate, but with the condition of non-commercial use etc. And commercial films cost hundreds of pounds an hour. Rates also depend on crew numbers etc.

Student film-makers have a reduced rate. That's correct. But they must also provide the necessary insurance forms which will be supplied by their University. They also cannot use the equipment, or footage to generate any such income. Not at all. Not only are locations pricey, but they more than not require atleast 5 million cover PLI. That's before you've even had a chance to look around. If you're not insured. You're not stepping foot in the location.

I love your enthusiasm. What you say is true, and we're all firm believers in the laws of film-making. It's an illusion. Everything we create is an illusion, based on a true story, filmed in space or a portaloo. It's an illusion. We, as Artists, have the freedom to create. There's nothing better than that.

However, although I enjoyed the videos, be sure that you are supplying the correct information to film-makers less experienced than yourself. They'll be inspired by your forward thinking. But there's plenty of research to be done, and necessary precautions, before filming in public.