Re: protest nyc's proposed film and photo law Thurs Aug 2 Union Sq

From: owen (email suppressed)
Date: Wed Aug 01 2007 - 16:10:31 PDT


Brook,
Do you mind if I quote some of your points,
on the material we're handing out tomorrow?
owen

On Aug 1, 2007, at 6:39 PM, Brook Hinton wrote:

> The time limits make it possible for police to arrest more than two
> people documenting, say, a protest, let alone police actions at a
> protest. You can imagine how that's going to play out in NYC.
>
> The time limits pretty much eliminate experimental or guerilla
> filmmaking involving, say, a filmmaker and an assistant, or a
> filmmaker documenting anything involving a person as the subject.
>
> The law basically divides image-making into tourist/hobbyist
> photography and commercial production. Art? Documentation of the
> actual world? Activist photography? *The unrehearsed spontaneous
> world as subject matter*? Gone. Unless you operate not only solo,
> but without daring to talk to anyone in the process.(or unless you
> are a significant enough part of the marketplace to deal with
> insurance/permits, and happen to make the sort of work where shoots
> happen at predictable locations and predictable times).
>
> LA's horrifying laws are another matter, and it is an extreme
> example borne of a culture that sees filmmaking strictly in terms
> of commerce. Most cities do not have laws this drastic. Yes, here
> in SF, you technically need a permit and insurance if you're going
> to pull out the boom mic while your AD yells into the walkie talkie
> about the missing actor - and an argument can be made that that's
> not a bad thing. But the streets are chalk full of people making
> art and small scale documentaries and experimental films and photo
> essays and even zero-budget no- (or tiny-) crew narratives without
> disrupting anyone and without permits and insurance.
>
> Brook
>
> _______________________________________________________
> Brook Hinton
> film/video/audio art
> www.brookhinton.com
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>
>

__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.