Re: [-empyre-] Re: crowds and copyright

["Melinda Rackham" <melinda@unsw.edu.au>]

> but i do know in film that i can legally film a street with no
> permission from the crowd. but if i concentrate on an individual, i
> need a release form signed. and i think tv sports have informally
> (through the sexist 'pretty woman close up' excuse and the 'celebrity
> spotting' excuse) been rather pragmatic in how they've used this...

a few years ago i was at an  film screening when a person in the audiecne
let out this huge gasp when there was a very long lingering shot of a man
smoking a cigarette on a ferry ..it was shot with a grainy home movie
atmosphere..and it turned out to be that persons father whom she hadnt seen
for years..it was very spooky, and she was very moved by it as it was like a
chunk of her personal life had been put up on the screen without her
knowledge.. but im sure the filmaker said.."can i show you in my film" to
the dad.. but the context in which her was portrayed -he seemd to be a very
desolate, sad  and lonely character - and she saw it - would never im sure
have come to his mind when he gave permission.

along the same lines Josephine Starrs and Leon Cmielewski recently make a
hilarious short video called "alias "..(or some thing like that ) where in
the near future no-one leaves home any more without several disguises(wiggs,
coats glasses, moustaches , noses.. etc etc) which they constantly change to
stop themselves being surveyed remotely in public spaces with face
recognition software, so they can just go about thier daily lives without
being tracked by govenment agencies and coprorations..

m