When you are going to provide videos and films as a business it is important that you are protected and that you know your film rights. You may be wondering why you should even worry about film rights. Would you drive a car without the right driving license or driving permit? The answer is more than likely no, and even if you did you could be liable and penalized under the law if you got caught or had an accident. The same goes for film rights. You need to know more about privacy, permits, parody, and permission.
What Are Your Filming Goals?
Whether you intend to grow at target audience or go viral on YouTube, you need to figure out your filming goals and learn a few strategies. Besides, it’s very difficult to run your business from jail and having any type of criminal activity on your record doesn’t exactly promote your business well. You also don’t want to end up giving your money to legal opponents or lawyers. Instead you need to follow key principles for avoiding disasters on location and in court. It is more important to focus on what needs to be done, mastering the art of filming, not liabilities and rights.
Private Property: Are You Allowed to Film There?
When you start filming you need to understand the most basic rules first. Are you trying to film on private property that you’re standing on? If so you must get the owner’s permission so you can film there. You also need to keep in mind that places people call ‘public’ may still be private property. Of course property has more than one meaning too. Intellectual property like music and logos are protected against recording, as well. There is also the idea that you’re capturing private property on film. Oh no! How are you going to be able to film anything if you can’t film private property? The keyword in this situation is ‘standing’. You must have permission to record when you’re actually standing on private property. That doesn’t mean you can’t record aspects of it that are observable by the public if they’re captured from a distance and incidentally, making them part of your background and not your subject. The key concept is to always get permission. No peeking over fences or you could be fined.
Public Locations: Point, Zoom, and Film Right?
Filming in public is allowed. Let’s look at it from a kindergarten level. What you see in front of you is what you can film. However, and this is where the kindergarten concepts come into play, you have to stay where you belong and respect the privacy of other people. You know, keep your hands to yourself and only go where you belong. In today’s society privacy is a very important issue. Long gone are the days you can do something you don’t want to be caught doing and get away with it. Now there’s a smartphone with a camera to catch it all! People tend to expect to be viewed when they go out in public. The same goes for their property. However, it’s taking it too far when you put them on exhibit or showcase them. To keep yourself protected in case someone’s face is going to be in your film, you need to obtain a readable release form. Also keep in mind they may have things on their person they want kept private such as an unzipped bag, or they may want to keep their whereabouts private. The overall idea when filming in public is to stay out of people’s faces and try not to be creepy.