Organizing and shooting a protest. Recipe for disaster?

H

harmonica44

It does take a lot of money to block off a street for shooting on the street. I want to shoot a protest for my script, where people are marching down the street doing it. I thought maybe it would just be a lot cheaper and easier to organize a real protest. Blocking off a street where I live cost two million, when I asked about it, and no protest organizer I know have, had to be a millionaire, or not even rich, in order to organize one.

So what if I organize a real one, and then shoot it? Does this sound like a good idea? The last one we had here, the police even blocked off the road for the protesters, so if the police will do that, it will be a favor, for a lot less money. I can shoot the real protesters, and if I get police in the shot, it's a production value bonus. I know it sounds kind of bad to organize such an event, to shoot it, but we micro-budgeters got to think outside the box a lot. What do you think, really bad idea?
 
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Well the protest would be real and I would have to get real people to want to actually do it, not actors. So it wouldn't exactly be false pretenses, especially if I am not the one actually filing for the permit, and another, more passionate person about it, would. I would blur out their faces of course, since they have not agree to want to be in the movie.
 
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Really bad idea IMHO.

You'd be taking police officers off the streets for no good reason, preventing them from doing their actual job, just so you can get a few minutes of footage for your film. Morally, I think this is wrong.

And as Steve has said, I'm sure this would be highly illegal. You're still the one organizing the protest for your film, just because you're asking somebody to do it for you, you'd still be responsible.

Just wait for a ACTUAL protest to take place locally and go film that.
 
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Wow. Two million for closing a block? That seems strange. Here in Chicago you can (theoretically) have a block closed and the permit only costs $25.

Oh wait. Two million canadian dollars? That's probably not much more than 25 USD. nm
 
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I can't believe they asked for 2 million dollars for a single street. Something wrong with that. If it's a important street, go to another one less crucial for the transit. Or shoot in a holiday, Sunday, any day when your city stop the massive workers. Here, when I need a street, it's just $50/hour plus the transit agents if needed.

Forget this crazy idea, dude. You can face several troubles - including the fact you don't have the release contract of this real protesters image.
 
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I could fake the angles but not enough real protests happen automatically. I could be years for all I know before another one happens. It was my friends idea, since she was part of a real one, she says we should try to organize a real one again, and I could just use that. Even if I find a street that is a lot cheaper to block off, where would I get all the people? A lot of people I know, are really not that reliable to show up for something like that and wouldn't feel comfortable. Unless I could get all the protesters who believe in something to do that.
 
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harmonica44 said:
I could fake the angles but not enough real protests happen automatically. I could be years for all I know before another one happens. It was my friends idea, since she was part of a real one, she says we should try to organize a real one again, and I could just use that. Even if I find a street that is a lot cheaper to block off, where would I get all the people? A lot of people I know, are really not that reliable to show up for something like that and wouldn't feel comfortable. Unless I could get all the protesters who believe in something to do that.
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As a experienced videomaker (not filmmaker), I must say once you put your camera in front of this people, once they are not actors, they will look direct into your lens and get nervous, like almost any person in the world. Probably, the final result will be a very ugly scene for a film, with very few usable moments - and maybe even none usable takes.

You have to be a very expert videomaker to get good footages in a live action like this. I think it will be more difficult than just make the right thing: block the street, and call people interested in filmmaking to be the actors.
 
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The street I asked for was not a very crucial transit street in particular. Well if I can get a street that I cheap enough but when one average street asks for 2 million I don't have a lot of confidence now. I would need a lot of actors though, and there are not enough here to fill a whole protest I don't think. If I were to use a camera my plan was to have it look like it's from a media camera, to the audiences eyes. There is even going to be one actor, playing a reporter, and dressed like one with the mic and all, to explain to the audience what is going on. I also thought hiding telephoto lenses further away so the people do not see them.

As far as the idea of shooting a protest that is already going to happen, I have been googling future protest marches in Canada, and no scheduled ones have been coming up. So I don't know how I am suppose to find out when the next ones will be, if any.
 
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What the screenplay says about this protest? Or, what the screenplay demands from this scene? What is the context and the reason for it? Do you need angry people, or it's a pacific protest? Why it's important on the storytelling? Can you simplify the scene without lose any meaning?

I have a bad feeling about faking something to record a scene. One of the most important point in film production is have the absolute control of all your process. Everything have to be in your hands. You can't just call people to protest for real if you are NOT a protester. You're a filmmaker. Ask for help from more engaged filmmakers on your city.
 
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Even if I got the 2 million back, I still don't have it. This is for a scene for the script I am writing for a feature I want to. I want to hire pros to help me make a real feature, in 2014. I am practicing a lot in the mean time. However, even if I find a real protest and shoot it within that time, right now I have the Canon T2i. What if I shoot with that, but by 2014, that camera becomes old news cause of these 4000p cameras coming out in the future. What if the industry standard is to use 4k, in which case, the footage I shot before, will be unusable, by that time?
 
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Insurance doesn't mean you give them $2,000,000 and they give it back, it means you pay an insurance well under $1000 and they commit to cover the city up to $2,000,000 in case of damage.

There is no way they're asking $2,000,000 for a street for a day. If someone legitimately told you that, they're wrong. Ask someone else.
 
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you can't organize a small movie shoot because your crew members are dropping like flies and you want to organize a REAL PROTEST?

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Oh okay. I will have to inquire again. There still isn't enough actors where I live to do a protest. Maybe a couple of dozen will do it. There is a protest about one day's drive away from me, that is expected to have a few hundred people. I want to shoot that. However, since this is not planned at all, do you people have any tips, since it is impossible for me storyboard this?

the other times I have tried to shoot a public event to put in a movie, that is not storyboarded, has turned out to be hardly usable, as one pointed out. Any tips on how to get some good shots, when it cannot be storyboarded? Thanks.
 
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Check out the DVD extras in "Forrest Gump," they show you how they used about 150 actors to fill up the entire area around the reflecting pool. If your protesters and/or the camera are in motion that will make it a lot harder, but it can still be done.

See if you can find a private road somewhere, then put the city buildings in during post.

And you're still worrying about the gear more than the process. So what if 4000p cameras coming out in the future, do you really think you'll have the skills by then to make it worth your while? We haven't even seen a short yet!
 
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Okay thanks. I hope I can get the skills, but things like protests won't wait around, so I'll do the best I can now. The short has come along well, accept still looking for an audio engineer that is interested in cleaning it up. And for the future I will hire a DP and sound person that is more likely to not break contract. I think I will do tripod shots for this one mostly, since I don't know where every one is going and it is not storyboarded. Though we might have to flycam it. I'm trying to order in some gear but if it gets here before I have to drive there, I still won't have hardly any time to practice with it.
 
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