Avoiding unwanted attention

[twister!]

How do you people get around the problem of unwanted passers-by trying to get in on the act when you're shooting outdoors? An interesting and annoying problem which I don't think I've read anything about before anywhere...

I thought shooting early would be good (indeed it did help) but I was out shooting at about 8am at the weekend but still managed to attract the attention of some car mechanics who were desperate to get in the shot asking 'will I be on TV?'. Even though I kept them out of the shot they destroyed the audio.

The funniest was some old woman who seeing me doing a (fake using tripod) steadicam shot asked 'Are you looking for the drains?'

Any ideas?

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ July 08, 2003 11:05 AM: Message edited by: Justin (formerly Twister) ]</font>

[Kev Owens]

First off, always avoid shooting in heavily populated areas, because this always happens. Try shouting "don't look at me" in the middle of a city street and guess what happens.

I've tried 'hiding the camera', by covering it with a sheet and getting crew members to stand around the camera to try and block it. It worked to a degree, but people still look at what's going on, even if they don't know a cameras there.

I think a better way is to set-up the camera, lock-it off, then use a monitor to watch what you're recording, and try to ignore the camera, as if it's turned off for the moment, get crew to turn their backs on what you're shooting as if nothing's going on, you'd be surprised at how many people will then ignore the camera.

Still though, there's no 100% method. If you watch Amelie for example, there are shots in which the public in the background are looking at the camera and reacting to it.

It should be don't work with animals, kids and passers by.

[Yammeryammeryammer]

If I shoot somewhere public with no permission there are usually a few things to do. I usually shoot on D8, so the camera is fairly compact. But we did shoot a feature on a 3 chip MiniDV over Christmas and for that I simply borrowed a 1 chip MiniDV for simplicity's sake, cause it was roughly 1/6 the size. We went over everything before hand with the actors so they knew exactly what to do, rehearsed lines, tell them the shot order and to memorize it. I keep things handheld in these cases cause I am relatively good at keeping things steady, and it is easier to go shot to shot. This is the more guerilla way of doing things obviously. But then there is also doing the same prep, picking your time carefully as you are doing, and the less obtrusive camera is a fair way to go. You may notice a quality difference, but the casual viewer shouldn't (no one did in my case). And handheld minDVs don't attract a lot of attention, they will think you are tourists. But if you have a full set-up, lights, camera, tripod, and no permission, there is little you can do other than prepare to hurry things up. Hope any of that blabbering helped.

[Yammeryammeryammer]

I just remembered, a friend of mine who was shooting a short on Super-8, ran into some people and they thought he was using a speed-gun on the surrounding traffic.

[SoulJacker]

You could flim the action from a decent distance with a zoom lense.

[Alex]

You could have the head of your "pre-orders" department sully up to them and collect their payment.

[Tom Servo]

Yammer- a friend and I were playing around with a Super 8 in San Clemente and people thought we had a speed gun, too.

I think that the part about people looking at the camera, i guess it's natural, but when they start saying "can I film" "will I be on TV" blah dee blah gets on my nerves. I guess that's natural too, but annoying as heck.

On the 3 projects where I've had to film in public, I wrote the script around the locations where I knew there wouldn't be people. (One location was outside an abandoned home depot...super spooky, heh) While this isn't possible in all projects it makes life easy.

I guess in your case- keep it all hidden until you shoot, then start praying if you're religious.

Oh yeah, and listen to these other fellows. They're smarter than I am!

Mendon

[foolmaster2]

Id reccomend the Mini DV as well, and as for the loss of quality, a good editing program should be able to restore the quality of the shot.

Also, dont be afraid to travel around and look at other less-populated areas to shoot your film.