I was performing at my local mall recently, and in the middle of my performance, a security guard told me it was illegal to film there. His main reason was "Its an invasion of people's privacy. Nobody wants to end up on youtube" I'm cool with on the guards there, and he told me it was some sort of counteract against terrorism (because that makes perfect sense). Some of the spectators looked at the guard like he was stupid, but me and my camera man called it a night. Anybody else wanna share some stories about some bogus excuses they got when performing. Plus the mall was my bread n butter to practice street effects. Does anybody have any suggestions of where I can perform without much hassle?
Filming at the Mall is Terrorism...
- Thread starter enieves
- Start date
Why would you be filming magic at a mall? Just perform, they don't need a camera to coax good reactions out of them. If the security guard told you to turn the camera off, just turn it off and keep performing! It's about making the spectator's smile, not how many YouTube hits you can get.
He may have been misinformed. Typically you can't film in malls becuase of the stores in the mall; violation of their copywrite. If you are acting rude or something infront of the company logo it looks bad for them and can get you in quite a bit of trouble. I remember recently a family was being sued becuase of a vacation video of Disneyland was placed on youtube for friends to view.
As for the "no one wants to be on youtube" excuse, that may be true. Malls may feel uncomfortable with their scustomers being on youtube and filmed. As the majority won't care but that one or two people to complain is usually enough for them to pull the plug.
As for the "no one wants to be on youtube" excuse, that may be true. Malls may feel uncomfortable with their scustomers being on youtube and filmed. As the majority won't care but that one or two people to complain is usually enough for them to pull the plug.
Unfortunately performing in public, so far as any authority is concerned, is considered "busking" regardless of whether or not you are accepting money for it. Most cities have ordinances in place that prohibit unlicensed busking. In other words, you'll need a street performers license to do this safely, and even then you can still get hassled by authorities. I've heard it said that the cops have replied "yeah that's nice. Just go somewhere else and do it, just don't do it here."
The problem with malls is that it's not public property. It's private. So yeah the security can certainly stop you.
Since the street performers license is a fairly moot point in most cities most of the time I see people just going out and performing until the cops or other authorities shut them down. They move to a new location, and repeat. The license is usually a few hundred bucks and can be purchased at your local City Hall or Court House.
As to where to perform at? I'd recommend talking to local restaurants in your city. Talk to the ones that are privately owned and see if you can't arrange a night a week to come in and do magic for a few hours. Do it for free (barring tips) for the first few weeks if the owner isn't up to paying you. That way you'll get your experience, and perhaps make a buck at it.
I never said i NEEDED a camera. I'm respected for what I do with or without a lens in front of me. I've made people run away, scream and even become physically shaken by what I've learned to do. So really, I don't need to film my experiences, I CHOOSE to because I would like to possibly turn this hobby into a profession and I believe I need to showcase my talents beyond locally, and its obvious that web media has become the most successful way to accomplish that. I use the camera to watch my performances so i can correct my mistakes and repeat my successes. So don't bother to get all righteous and try to "school" me to what this craft is really about. For anybody who is reading this, look at this guy's info. He's got a youtube, vimeo and twitter account. TRUE MEDIA WHORE!!! LoL
off topic, me and my friend were dancing at the mall and got yelled at by the security guard. "you cannot dance in the mall sir" was pretty funny. he was following us all the day after that.
-Sean
-Sean
Wow, that Disney thing is insane. I try to stay in the food courts and away from stores. Thanks for those who posted. Keep em comin if you'd like...
Well technically you can't publish a video with other people in it without having them sign release papers giving you permission to use their voice and or likeness in your video. I don't know if youtube videos would be subject to the same rules, but I imagine they would be. I think home videos get away with this technicaly because, it's a home video, but a performance vid could certainly get you in trouble.
I was doing Thread in spencers and the lady behind the counter called security (in earshot of me) saying there was a freakshow going on in the store XD
Draven is pretty much correct. Most Malls are private property and they can pretty much throw you out for whatever reason they feel. I understand why you were performing, but you gotta think about it this way. What you were doing was disrupting business. You try working at a place like that and then having some kid start performing "magic" in front of the store. It's not good and it tends to block the flow of foot traffic.
You're pretty much in the same catagory as the kids who used to skateboard in the parking lot or do other stupid things in the store.
Also there are better places to perform your stuff at. Such as at a friends house or at a party.
You're pretty much in the same catagory as the kids who used to skateboard in the parking lot or do other stupid things in the store.
Also there are better places to perform your stuff at. Such as at a friends house or at a party.
I'm pretty sure the only time you need to sign a release is when you are activily participating in the taping. Foot traffic behind the "sceen" should be ok. That's atleast how the news does it but this may be becuase of a difference in state laws and media?
It's best to just be careful and listen to security... You could always go to the security booth or Information desk for their stance on this and if they seem unaware you could tell them specifically what you are doing. This way they already know you are there, they know you are not causing trouble and might even say "as long as no one complains." If they say no... just go to the park and other places where it's ok to "loiter."
yeahh, the last time i was performing at the mall, I usually just did what you would usually do when asking them if you could show them something, but I also asked every one of them if they could be filmed prior to filming. That way, no one ends up on youtube that dont want to be. Another good thing about it was that we were never kicked out of any malls and we were never turned down to film ( but yes we were turned down all together, which sucks).
I usually avoid performing with aid of camera. Some people will react differently when a camera is there (aside from not wanting to be in the presence of the camera), I find that reactions are better without filming.
I remeber one time in a store I was taking a picture on my cell and an employee approached us asking to stop taking pictures or to leave. I do find it sad that the security gaurd used terrorism as the reason to discontinue filming.
I remeber one time in a store I was taking a picture on my cell and an employee approached us asking to stop taking pictures or to leave. I do find it sad that the security gaurd used terrorism as the reason to discontinue filming.