Photographing a movie set - Copyright Infringement?

Transformers 3 is filming here in Chicago and currently filming right by one of our elevated train platforms. Of course people are piling up and taking pictures from the platform. There have been quite a few shots going around of the action from the movie and various setups.

Today Paramount* had someone up on the platform stating that you could not take pictures during actual filming (not just the set while they are cut) because it is a copyrighted film and taking images of the action is copyright infringement.

The EL platform is a public place and where they were shooting was a public place I’m pretty sure there are no issues there.

Anyone know the legalities behind this?

(*I assumed the person making the statement was from paramount as she stated WE allowed shooting yesterday but it will not happen today. If WE see shooting during action today they would do something.)

IMO, they can always say that you can't shoot, but how are they going to stop the cell phones? Only if they close the set can they stop it.
The Photographer’s Right
OTOH, they can go out of their way to make your life miserable, so using some common sense would be a good idea. It is Chicago, after all.

Your shots are © too.

Taking shots shouldn't be copyright infringement, but using them in the "wrong" way (e.g., for commercial use) might be.

stsva wrote in post #10750238
Taking shots shouldn't be copyright infringement, but using them in the "wrong" way (e.g., for commercial use) might be.

I am always prone to weighing in on these threads. I think this is exactly the point. So many parts of the electromagnetic spectrum are protected by so mant different laws. I can listen to AM and FM, record it all I want, but selling mix tapes without paying royalties is a no-no. I can only listen to the XM satellite radio if I pay for the decoder, but again, I can record it with impunity. I just can't sell it.

geiger counters are OK, solar power is free to anyone with a panel. The facts are, listening to, recording or using for personal gain is just fine over most of the spectrum.

The laws generally don't kick in untill you use the recorded stuff to make a profit or benifit illegally from them or use them to plan an illegal act.

Why is recording reflected photons any different? If you think about it objectively, recording any part of the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation is OK until you do something illegal with the recorded info.

Free the spectrum! Photons are for everyone!

Turn the logic 180 though Bird...

People can't sell what they don't have. If you prohibit the shot, then there is no image to sell legally or (in this case) otherwise.

Unfortunately, the real world works at the level of the lowest common denominator. If three people photograph a movie set, there's no way of knowing if none of the three would run to TMZ or all of them would. The production company has to assume all three would so, ban the cameras.

Yeah, we all have to assume the worst.
If it can happen, it will happen.
unfortunately, our society doesn't always think the whole thing through before deciding just what is and isn't going to be accceptable behavior.
I can get drunk, get in a car, hit and run a pedestrian, sober up, turn myself in and pretty much guarantee that I will someday be a free man again and on that day I can buy a car, buy alcahol and gasoline.
but, if someone else uses a handgun in an illegal manner, I have to have a background check and register the purchase if I want to own one legally. No criminal record, but unable to buy a gun without proof of it.
If someone else uses a camera illegally, We all have to suffer the controls and laws placed on all of us by society.
All because everyone is afraid that if we can do something illegal with the images, we will. No criminal record, but presumed capable of criminal activity and restricted because of it.

And it's not even the actual use that's the problem...

It can merely be the perception of use for bad things that spins people up. Look at all the misplaced prohibitions against photography due to "security" concerns.

This is an ongoing fight in my world where airports are concerned. I'm out there actually watching what's going on yet because I have a camera, I'm a threat instead of a help. O Rly?!?

I shoot behind the scenes and I'm not gonna touch this one....

Derek Nickell wrote in post #10754398
I shoot behind the scenes and I'm not gonna touch this one....

I assume you're an expert on NDAs then...

Yeah, I thought I signed my life away in the Military....NDA's give me hand cramps.

I might have seen it, but no one gets to know that I saw it.

You could go and try to see what happens if you snap some pics of the action. Offer to call the cops for them

As already said, I think the biggest issue you would have is from usage of the material. Typically as I understand it (I'm not a lawyer, consult one if you want or need to know), if you shot a photo while on public property of something or someone that has no expectation of privacy, you can use that photo for personal, editorial, or fine art purposes.

In SF, there was filming for a well known TV show around a year ago. They were there for multiple days and didn't seem to have an issue with everyone snapping photos of the whole thing. There were people snapping away with everything from a cameraphone to a 5d2 with 70-200. The biggest issue they had were keeping the crowds outside the filming area at a fairly decent distance since they were crashing a car through a whole bunch of stuff that was supposed to go flying ( and it did ).

Derek Nickell wrote in post #10754704
Yeah, I thought I signed my life away in the Military....NDA's give me hand cramps.

I might have seen it, but no one gets to know that I saw it.

Been There .. Signed Those

Film to Tape XFers and Video Post Production for the Navy.

Sssssh....

Doing any artistic endeavor while in or for the military is a whole can of worms in and of itself. If you want to see just how unfair it can be, look up why John Philip Sousa left the Marines.

Tell me about it. That was one of the main reasons I quit my govt job 2 1/2 years ago.

Spent off-time designing a graphic for the research lab I worked in and when I finished it and posted it to my site, NCIS called me telling me that I had to take it down since it was designed while working as a contracted government employee and everything that I did belonged to them.

Since then, I have stopped caring,

Byte size: ZERO | Content warning: NOT AN IMAGE

I don't know the law in the US but, over here, you can photograph freely if you are on public space (excluding, sometimes, military premises etc)