Copyright/fair use issues with set decoration

[princethomas]

I have a bedroom I want to shoot in. It has some old classic movie posters and a framed poster of The Beatles Abbey Road cover. Is this a problem. There are no closeups of the pictures or stand alone shots and they aren't mentioned by the actor. They just provide a nice look for my character's room.


-Tom

 

[clang]

For a commercial film, yes it could be a problem if the posters are recognisable. For a noncommercial film, it's most unlikely anyone's going to sue you.

It it is a commercial film, you may be able to:
- frame shots carefully to avoid any recognisable bits of the posters
- shoot with shallow DOF so the posters stay out of focus
- at worst, add some defocus filters over the poster images in post production. This will be a lot easier if the camera is on a locked off tripod so that the posters stay in one place on screen withing each shot - if you're lucky, the defocusing won't even be noticable. (Done badly, it can look really embarrassing.)

Or just consider removing/replacing the posters, if they're easily removable.