When I was a kid, I was always reminded by my mother to always ask the owner of a toy or a thing permission to borrow and use the desired item. I would not even touch the material if I have not received the owner's approval. So, it is "second nature to me" when I ask permission from the event organizers to upload and record a show. What is more important is I take "not even to heart but to SOUL" what the organizers' reply was. If it was a denial then I do not record the show. If there was no reply, I do not record as well. There is no purpose of asking permission if one is set to do his own way anyway,
I am not a prude and will not try to be one. However, I hope in my remaining lifetime that I will never put dirt on my hands just to get something I want. As far as video recording attitude, I got INSIGHT from a much admired Philippine Entertainment Icon Ms. Vilma Santos-Recto who is also the Governor of the Province of Batangas. I could not recall that she had a business manager but from an article or footage which I could not even remember was that TRUST and RESPECT were key in her longevity in the business.
When a relative of mine proposed that I adopt a "model release" form which enumerates that the talent/model conforms to my specified use of a recorded material, I just ignored it. He was teaching me to protect myself. If I had taken such course, I would have not completed any concert video. He might be right that it would be risky for me to record a mentally and emotionally unstable artist/subject who would initially agree for a video-op and later would deny granting such permission. But the video which I will be creating is not about me and so, the protection must be for the artist/subject.
Going back to seeking permission for a video opportunity, I wanted to share two important events which I recently went through. Prior to super typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), I saw a free admission fund-raising concert Facebook post of a mall for the earthquake victims of Bohol (epicenter of the recent Philippine quake). It was an advocacy which I wanted to be in. However, a major Philippine TV network was sponsoring it so I decided to send an inquiry message to the mall. I asked the mall whether the TV network will exclusively cover the two-day fund raising concert and ,as a YouTube uploader, can I record and upload portions of the concert or not.
I did not receive any reply until two or three days after the concert. The reply was very assuming - "If you have footage then you could upload it". Politely I answered back "Sorry, I did not go to the concert. Yolanda decided that for me unless I had received an earlier reply from you....". I was a bit insulted for the mall to assume that I would record the show EVEN if I was there. Well, I cannot expect the mall to be personal since stolen shots and unauthorized videos had been snapped and recorded in general.
The other event happened in my "Creative Playground" Glorietta yesterday 16th November 2013. There was an album launch of a popular singer who came from a family of lovely and very good vocal artists. I planned to record the show and upload it one or two weeks after the super typhoon tragedy settle down. Again, I went through the ticket procurement and video-op request process. Initially, I talked to a guy from the artist's recording company and he asked the artist's handler. The reply was that I cannot upload and record the show because the mall is strict regarding such recordings.
Poor guy! I wish he knew that I was in my creative playground. So, I looked for the mall representative to clarify the issue. According to the representative, the denial was from the artist's handler since I noticed that there were lots of recording device holders. I always respect the right of an artist to feel safe and comfortable with the people he/she is working with and the people documenting his/her work. For this artist and her handlers, I just hope that my request was not denied due to any previous video which I recorded. As I have always maintained, my channel(s) will always be above personal issue and intrigue. I still hope to record her someday despite she loves "blue", I think, and I love "green" --- just kidding. Seriously, my YouTube channel(s) would want to feature her.
I also mentioned to the mall representative that I might be giving them a problem since I was monopolizing the YouTube search category page "glorietta mall makati 2013". A lot of my videos are there and before glorietta, this "video search page category monopoly" also happened in Paco Park Presents and another mall which I referred to as "Entertainment Center Stage". To my beloved park and these malls, I do apologize for the inconvenience if you are not able to reject my video making activities outright. I just hope that ,when another artist that I am interested in will perform at these malls and I send these malls a video-op request permission, I will receive a reply on time whether I can record or not.
Finally, when the friendly security personnel asked me why I was not recording the show, I just answered "if I did, YouTube would be mad at me". I need not answer in this manner but I want YouTube to know that I will never intentionally put them in any compromising situation. As I have always said - "For the love of YouTube".
 |
| From Hearts 2011 video |
No comments:
Post a Comment