Urgent: Videotaping Consent Question

CClub wrote on 3/24/2009, 4:13 PM
I'm taping a Holocaust survivor speaking at a high school tomorrow for a documentary I've been working on. I always understood that I couldn't use footage of individuals without a consent form, especially minor students. The school told me today that they have families give general consent for things like this when they attend the school (a private school). I'm not sure if this covers me. And there will be between 600-700 students there, so there's no way to get individual consents signed. Should I even bother to capture the students' faces or should I just get them from the back? I'd love to get reaction shots, but if there will be a problem with permissions, I'm nervous about putting it in the timeline. I live in Connecticut, USA, if that makes a difference.

I'm taping tomorrow morning at 8 am, so if you have any timely input, that'd be awesome. Otherwise, I may tape both back and front images, and then get some final determination about what I can actually use.

Comments

fldave wrote on 3/24/2009, 4:38 PM
At least get the main speaker, and anyone else on stage.

I sign a general media release form for my son at a private school. I don't know how they handle the parents who refuse to sign, though. Keep them is a separate section of the auditorium?
Dave Stalker wrote on 3/24/2009, 4:58 PM
If what you're producing could be construed to be "news" in nature, then no releases are required, and the one the school had parents sign should cover you.

This sounds like it falls into the realm of "it's sometimes better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission."

The school could also send a note home with students informing parents of the shoot and separate any kids who parents object...yes, put them in another part of the auditorium.

Shoot the faces for reaction though...that's where it's at.
musicvid10 wrote on 3/24/2009, 5:51 PM
The school told me today that they have families give general consent for things like this when they attend the school (a private school). I'm not sure if this covers me.
No, this does not cover you unless you are contracted and indemnified by the school and producing the video for their exclusive use or distribution.

Should I even bother to capture the students' faces or should I just get them from the back?
Ask the school to notify the parents in advance that videotaping will take place. Go ahead and shoot. Then ask the school to contact the parents of the kids whose faces you wish to include, and wait for the parents to contact you with written permission. Do not request any contact information from the school or ask any questions of students yourself.
CClub wrote on 3/24/2009, 5:58 PM
Thanks everyone for the feedback... very timely and helpful. I think I'm going with "go ahead and shoot" and "then ask the school to contact the parents of the kids whose faces you wish to include and wait for the parents to contact you with written permission."

Musicvid, the only thing I'm doing slightly different from what you recommend is that after the main session, there is a small class on Holocaust studies, and there will be a Q&A time, and I said to the school to get parental consents for all the students in that room on my company consent form, and if I don't have that, they don't come in the room.
musicvid10 wrote on 3/24/2009, 6:08 PM
Knowing these situations pretty well, there will be one student who comes without a signed consent and who will then stage a massive meltdown in front of anyone who will pay attention if left out.

When you see that one coming, ask the school receptionist to contact a parent by phone, and get a verbal consent. If they already have something in writing with the school, it should be enough. You can always get a company release after the fact, or blur the face in post if not.
TheHappyFriar wrote on 3/24/2009, 8:00 PM
No, this does not cover you unless you are contracted and indemnified by the school and producing the video for their exclusive use or distribution.

covers @ my school.

If it was a public school it'd be a lot clearer: public events anyone can take any images they want. But since it's private it all depends on what they had the parents sign.
musicvid10 wrote on 3/24/2009, 9:22 PM
"If it was a public school it'd be a lot clearer: public events anyone can take any images they want."

If you are equating "public school" with "public events" through some form of generalization, this is not correct, at least in the state in which I live. The right to privacy is equal in a public school as in a private school and the same legal constraints and parental rights are in place. I know of no exceptions to this.
rs170a wrote on 3/24/2009, 9:51 PM
The public board of education in my area (Windsor, Ontario) has each parent sign a release at the beginning of each school year that covers them for any video or photography done by a member of the board.
Anyone else who comes in MUST get signed releases from the parents of any and all kids in the video.
I did a video a number of years ago with a group of kids in kindergarten in a very multicultural school.
A letter & release went home to all parents at least two weeks before the day of the shoot outlining the purpose of the video and requesting permission for their child to be in the video. No one said no.

Mike
musicvid10 wrote on 3/24/2009, 9:58 PM
Spot-on, Mike. My experience exactly.
rs170a wrote on 3/24/2009, 10:03 PM
I should add that, when I did the video I referred to, I was an employee of an outside organization which is why I followed the procedure I outlined.
This rule doesn't apply to parents who take pictures of their own kids and their friends at events such as school sports, field trips, etc.

Mike
TheHappyFriar wrote on 3/24/2009, 10:17 PM
If you are equating "public school" with "public events" through some form of generalization, this is not correct, at least in the state in which I live. The right to privacy is equal in a public school as in a private school and the same legal constraints and parental rights are in place. I know of no exceptions to this.

public event @ a public school (just like any public place). Public school = public owned building just like town halls, town parks, etc. Graduation, concert, play. All public events unless they make them non-public (which they can do). You can, quite legally, sit outside the school parking lot while school is in session & take shots of the building & what you can see people do inside & outside. Laws can be made to stop this but most places don't have those laws.

It's also perfectly legal to smoke right outside a school in front of students in a classroom as long as you're not on school property. Most places have a no-public drinking law though.
musicvid10 wrote on 3/24/2009, 10:25 PM
I pray you choose not to test any of those theories.
If you would intend to publish, post, text, reproduce, burn to dvd, or distribute any of those images without prior parental consent, that sentiment goes double.
JackW wrote on 3/25/2009, 12:27 AM
Musicvid is right on. If you have this much concern, why not contact the school district's attorney and see what he/she recommends? Or, barring that, contact your own attorney. Taping kids, especially if they then show up in a public setting, can be very problematic, and a surprising number of parents object strenuously to it being done.

When I was involved with shoots at the University of Washington we set aside a section of the classrooms where students who didn't want to appear on video could sit, then scrupulously avoided shooting there.

Don't take any chances. Find out what the school's attorney is willing to back up should a parent object.

Jack
CClub wrote on 3/25/2009, 9:41 AM
As an update: I just got back from taping the speaking engagement. There were approx. 700 students. To the right of the Holocaust survivor speaking, they sat the group of approximately 20 students who had special consents from my company, and who I taped after the primary session during a Q&A session. I had a camera in the back capturing the full auditorium, but far enough back that individuals couldn't be identified. It worked out quite well. Thanks again for all the input.
musicvid10 wrote on 3/25/2009, 9:48 AM
Well done, CClub! Sounds like a recipe for success.

As a child, I had a nanny who was a Czech survivor of Polish interment. I wish I had listened more closely to the stories she told, but I was so young I didn't understand much of it. What I do remember is a woman of unwavering patience and kindness. Her last name was Claus. As children, we imagined somehow she must be related to the man in red.
Grazie wrote on 3/25/2009, 10:08 AM
Well done indeed.

Y'know, has anybody picked-up on the irony here? People not wishing to be part of a movie that bares "witness" to bad things, 'cos they want they identities withheld? Withheld for reasons that are all well known, nowadays, but it has made me think on. Very interesting indeed . . . just THIS would make a thought provoking Doco .. . yeah?

The power of fear, eh?

Grazie
plasmavideo wrote on 3/25/2009, 10:40 AM
It's crazy, isn't it.
Kids are sexting each other, putting themselves up on YouTube , MySpace and Facebook for all the world to see, but they might object to being seen in an audience watching something real (or even sue).

It's an amazing time.
Grazie wrote on 3/25/2009, 10:46 AM
Plas - yes. And more to the point that this video was about a period in our history that FED off of people not baring witness to outrages. And it was cultivated by a regime that KNEW how to manipulate AND used that same manipulation to orchestrate the same atrocities.

It is both sad and I am making myself very angry about this the more I think about it. As if we have gotten ourselves the paranoia we deserve.

Grazie
CClub wrote on 3/26/2009, 2:19 PM
Spot on comments (as Grazie himself might say). I've been working on this documentary for two years now, and I'm just wrapping things up for a rough draft in the next month. The things I've learned about my own paradigms is enlightening. The manipulation -- of the average townsperson, of the Catholic and Protestant leadership in Europe -- was mind-boggling. There were intermittent objecting voices, but for the most part... silence. And it's a message for today.

I'll give a heads up when the final draft is completed, as I'm going to hopefully have avenues to for digital access. And in the ending credits, a note regarding all of the help I've received from the Vegas forum members.
Larry Clifford wrote on 3/30/2009, 8:52 AM
CClub,

I would like very much to see the video if you make it available. The topic interests me.

Larry
CClub wrote on 3/31/2009, 3:54 AM
I'll be posting a link to avenues to access the documentary when completed on the forum, so you can either keep an eye out here or send me an email via the forum link. Thanks, James