Permission to film "dangerous" scenes?

D

Dazyet

Hi, so I'm in the process of making a short film for my class and I'm not sure how or where in NYC to film two of my scenes.
In the 1st scene two guys are ganging up on two girl in an alley and the one girl shoots one of the guys, then in the 2nd scene it look like the guy is holding a girl hostage then she knocks him out and shoots him then tries to shoot the other girl then a police woman shoots her. Yeah, confusing I know. But the big idea is that I don't know if I would need permission to film this in a public area (since someone might see this going on and get the wrong idea and call the police or something..... :no:
What should I do?
I have never really done anything like this before and would love to have some help or tips!
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
well generally if you have people pointing guns at each other it's best to call the police (by their non-emergency number of course), and tell them what you are doing so the cops don't come and shoot your armed actors.

But once you call they will expect you to have permits too shoot, in a public place, since I hear that's the law in major U.S. cities when it comes to movie productions. Would it be possible to shoot in an area that is privately owned where the owner will give you permission so maybe you won't have to pay for a permit? Like a parking lot, owned by someone maybe?

Some cities though, require you to pay permits, even if the owner gives you permission anyway. Not sure about NYC though.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
What should I do?
Click to expand...

There is a lot you should do. Here is a partial list.

Hire a stunt supervisor, an armorer, permits, appropriate insurance, hire appropriate venues, notify the appropriate people and govt departments, you'll also probably want either a special effects coordinator or a vfx coordinator depending on how you'd like to do the effect. You'll probably also have to use safety gear and stunt doubles. All this on top of a usual compliment of cast and crew. This is just a guess based on the limited information you provided.

Just be careful when there is a chance people can be hurt.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Unless you've got a giant budget, and can shut down city blocks, with a security team, don't use guns in public. People have actually died doing this. It's just a movie, don't risk anybody's life.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I've never been in New York so I don't know the mentallity nor the city. But if you are filming the scene with a giant camera and mic and a crew standing and looking by, the people who pass will know it is for film. You can even put up a sign that says something like it's just for a film, people :P.
I think it is very obvious like that. Especially if you have to stop fillming in the middle of the scenes to get different angles etc...
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Look at how you can shoot it with a green/blue screen, yeah it's not the best solution but you can do all the gun-work indoors in a secured film set and drop your actors into the shots you staged outside.

Or as others have mentioned, rewrite your script or get ready to dole out a tone of money.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You could just interchange establishing shots of New York with streets/alleys that could be passed off as NY... I'd never try film anything with any type of weaponry in a big city unless you've got all the permits and advisers etc.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top