Dealing with Copyrights: Shooting in Traffic

M

Movie_Dude_3

Well-known member
Today, A few friends and me went out to shoot a few scenes for our opening credits sequence. The scenes involved following a car as it drove down the expressway. I was shooting from a truck that my friend was driving while I filmed my actor driving in his own car. Of course this means several vehicles came out in the fore/background and I'm sure logos showed up.

Now, how does the copyright issue apply to this? If we just shot in public, does that mean cars can show up on film without any consent? Or is there risk of breaking copyright laws?

Also, how does this work with cameras? A JVC miniDV will show up consistently in the movie, so if I cover up any logos, will I be fine?

Thanks guys. Copyrights always seem to be a tricky issue, so if anyone has a website that clarifies issues like this, it would be much appreciated.
 
If a particular car or person is individually identifiable, you could possibly have a problem. But a few blur masks in post-production usually fix that - done right, they're not even noticeable to the audience.

As for logos and any other trademark-tyoe stuff, most corporations are only going to get upset if you show their product in a bad light - e.g. show a BMW driving past, BMW are unlikely to care, but show the same BMW running down an old lady and now BMW will care a lot! :) Again, blur masks will hide many problems.
 
clang said:
If a particular car or person is individually identifiable, you could possibly have a problem. But a few blur masks in post-production usually fix that - done right, they're not even noticeable to the audience.

As for logos and any other trademark-tyoe stuff, most corporations are only going to get upset if you show their product in a bad light - e.g. show a BMW driving past, BMW are unlikely to care, but show the same BMW running down an old lady and now BMW will care a lot! :) Again, blur masks will hide many problems.
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Sounds like we're safe then. Do you know how to do blur effects on Adobe? I'm still getting familiar with it.

Thanks for the info! :happy:
 
Movie_Dude_3 said:
Today, A few friends and me went out to shoot a few scenes for our opening credits sequence. The scenes involved following a car as it drove down the expressway. I was shooting from a truck that my friend was driving while I filmed my actor driving in his own car. Of course this means several vehicles came out in the fore/background and I'm sure logos showed up.
Click to expand...

I could not find a convient reference on line quickly... Here are several things to think about. Various countries have widely differing rules on this sort of thing, so, you need to look at specifically US law, and since you appear to be in Florida, Florida, and even down to the county or city level on their 'regulations' regarding film making.

You should also consult a lawyer in your area. For some things, there are attorney referal services that may answer one or two questions 'for free', if they are simple enough...

As I recall, for the US, when one shoots in Public, and persons or things are not the 'focus' of the shot, like you don't zoom in and hold a shot on a bystander, or on a corporate trademark-logo, that it is simply 'in the shot briefly' as you pan or track, then that comes under 'fair use', and no clearance is required. If some one does object, say they were walking down the street, get in your shot, despite you waving them away, whatever, then you may be limited in the use of that shot...

Another example, you shoot a scene in a store, you get the owners clearance, but the store racks are filled with trademarked, logoed, advertizsed, whatever, there is no way that you can reasonably get all the potentially identifiable clearances.

For a theatrical release, 'blurring' out logos would degrade the film 'art'. So, my advice is to minimize shots with such potential problem items.

You can try to eliminate really obvious situations using After Effects, or something similar, so post to that forum here on dvxuser. But briefly, you will have to create a tracking matte, and drop in a 'new' logo of your design, or royalty free stock logos, whatever. But I think you need the premium bundle for AE to get the ability set up really good 'tracking'...
 
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