Gaming World Forums
General Category => General Talk => Topic started by: pburn on August 19, 2008, 10:32:32 pm
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I need to finish my film that I put off for a few months. The final scene is in a classroom. I need to go to the local high school and borrow a classroom.
It's the summer now, there are no guards or security. However to get in the front with the office you have to be buzzed in. Also there are is a camera being watched by people in the office.
Now there are other doors probably unlocked to get in however, it's trespassing government property public school and if I get caught I am majorly screwed. They take trespassing very seriously apparently. Of course asking permission is a dumb thing to do, and going to other schools is way harder.
I don't attend this place but my friend does, I want to know what could happen to me if I got caught.
US law btw.
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You could probably just ask; I do not think they would mind you coming in on a weekend.
Really, trespassing to make a film is only necessary if you are going to a WAR ZONE or something.
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Dude, only good things can come from this
If you don't get caught, you finish your film.
If you get caught, you learn about true thug life and come out a badass and get major rep...
Um, seriously... I don't know US law but can they really punish you severely if you're a minor? Just for trespassing?
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You could probably just ask; I do not think they would mind you coming in on a weekend or something.
Really, trespassing to make a film is only necessary if you are going to a WAR ZONE or something.
Asking is the worst thing you could do when making a film unless you have money.
It never ever ever works.
I've tried asking and it never worked.
I just went and shot and it always worked.
This case it's government property. Also doors are locked in the weekend. Remember it's summer session, no one is supposed to be here at all without permissino.
When school DOES start it'll be much easier because we'd just say we're film students.
I dunno if i'd get punished I am just very nervous about the possibilities because I am clueless.
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yeah what the hell psyburn. they probably wont mind as long as you ask first
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getting caught... could be your new film
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yeah what the hell psyburn. they probably wont mind as long as you ask first
I can't ask because 99% of the time they will say hell no. The #1 rule of guerrilla film making is not to ask. Also if I do get permission I'd need to be completely supervised which is a no-no.
Also they WILL say hell no.
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Watch "Bowfinger" and "Cecil B. Demented" to pump yourself up.
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Death penalty.
HOW DARE JOO BRAKE INTO OUR SCHOOL BUILDNG!!1 READY TEH STORM TROPERS!!
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wait for the cleaners
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wait for the cleaners
It's summer time there are like no cleaners.
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Get a job as the janitor.
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My dad and the local High School's janitor are BFF so I can get into the school literally any time I want (although since I got suspended it's a crime for me to even be on school property in the first place, not sure if it matters the year is over/I graduated or not). I'm just bragging about my awesome contacts right now though.
Seriously though, ask. Just ask them, if they say no, then wait until a janitor comes (they should be there, cleaning up before school starts next month) and ask a janitor. Janitors will almost always say yes, because most of them are genuinely nice people if you're nice to them. I say offer a janitor a candy bar or something nice and be like "more where that came from if you grant me this favor"
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It's the summer now, there are no guards or security.
i know from personal experience that this is an incorrect assumption
also you can probably expect to pay a fine and spend several months in jail for doing this, as well as a completely ruined personal record.
if you are not intelligent enough to think up a way to circumvent this problem more creatively than BREAKING AND ENTERING then your movie probably sucks anyway and you shouldn't be putting so much on the table for it.
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are there no other schools you could go to, like junior highs maybe? do junior high school classrooms look appreciably different from high school classrooms? i understand the PUNK ROCK GUERILLA DIRECTOR appeal but i doubt if you should risk this much to be a badass!
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are there no other schools you could go to, like junior highs maybe? do junior high school classrooms look appreciably different from high school classrooms? i understand the PUNK ROCK GUERILLA DIRECTOR appeal but i doubt if you should risk this much to be a badass!
Junior highs are smaller and the local ones the only entrance is next to the office so I doubt that'd work either. I'm not trying to be PUNCK ROCK GUERILLA DIRECTOR but I can't afford nothing.
Hundley is right I need to be intelligent.
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Places where classrooms exist:
Department of Motor Vehicles (or wherever kids get DRIVER'S ED over the summer - I did a 2-week summer class like this in a SCHOOL building)
local community college (if you ask the director of FILM STUDIES you are bound to increase chances +72%)
SAT prep center (we have a few of these in my area under the name "Kaplan")
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It's summer time there are like no cleaners.
there are. they'll come in for like an hour a week at the very very least, you'll just have to wait a while if you don't know when that is.
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local community college (if you ask the director of FILM STUDIES you are bound to increase chances +72%)
this is a great idea
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If all else fails, you could use a green screen. :)
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you're under eighteen you won't be doin' any time
Asking about whether or not you'll get in trouble according to US LAW is sort of vague. Like, to the point that it's not really a question. It all depends on what sort of area you're in and whether or not you already have a reputation as a delinquent punkfaggot.
I say head in balls first and see what happens!
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you're under eighteen you won't be doin' any time
Asking about whether or not you'll get in trouble according to US LAW is sort of vague. Like, to the point that it's not really a question. It all depends on what sort of area you're in and whether or not you already have a reputation as a delinquent punkfaggot.
I say head in balls first and see what happens!
Well they have signs all over the place talking about trespassing and all, they're very serious about the issue so I dunno.
Also thanks for the gr8 suggestions ASE.
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you could use a community centre. they usually have rooms which look just like classrooms with desk and everything. i mean they will totally let you use it, it's what it is there for. or you could wait a little while and just go ask to use an empty classroom when the school is open. there's really no reason to break into a school.
also i'm very interested in the guerilla film making movement...psyburn i hope your film is a true guerilla opus.
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Why not just take a giant roll of drawing paper and some crayons and draw yourself a classroom??
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Why not just take a giant roll of drawing paper and some crayons and draw yourself a classroom??
You're not funny.
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just ask or wait a month until school starts again
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I don't get why you have to do this. So you are DEAD CERTAIN THAT THEY WILL 99% SAY NO if you ask
Just go and check in case of that 1%. I don't imagine they'll care, just say you're a film student or some shit. Actually just GO ASK instead of being NO GOTTA BREAK THE LAW.
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I don't get why you have to do this. So you are DEAD CERTAIN THAT THEY WILL 99% SAY NO if you ask
Just go and check in case of that 1%. I don't imagine they'll care, just say you're a film student or some shit. Actually just GO ASK instead of being NO GOTTA BREAK THE LAW.
I'm not trying to make excuses but if they said yes I'd have to be supervised.
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i know from personal experience that this is an incorrect assumption
also you can probably expect to pay a fine and spend several months in jail for doing this, as well as a completely ruined personal record.
if you are not intelligent enough to think up a way to circumvent this problem more creatively than BREAKING AND ENTERING then your movie probably sucks anyway and you shouldn't be putting so much on the table for it.
man
do you really think they're going to send some like 16 year old kid to prison and ruin his personal record because he broke into a school to shoot a movie? he will get in a ton of trouble and i don't think it's worth it either, but in my experience that is not what they do for breaking into the school if you don't vandalize property, since most administrators will make the distinction. but schools vary quite a lot in this regard, and also in terms of how easy it is to break in, depending on the district and how much money the school system has to throw around. sneaking into some schools at night is really quite easy! some others it is essentially impossible without getting caught. i am not trying to sound like a BREAKING INTO SCHOOL AUTHORITY at all but yeah i actually had quite a bit of experience with this when i was younger, in multiple schools.
if you go to a really poor school district, or live by one, i would try to get in maybe, but really you should probably just ask OR wait like two weeks for school to start and do it then.
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Well it's not really breaking in since basically it's the day time and the back doors are pretty much wide open. Only people watching are in the front.
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wait so it's not even at night? man if it's in the daytime and the doors are open just SNEAK IN. i thought you were gonna have to break a window or pry a lock off or something. i don't even think you'd get in trouble if they caught you in there; you could just say you thought you were allowed in since, yeah... the doors are wide open.
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wait so it's not even at night? man if it's in the daytime and the doors are open just SNEAK IN. i thought you were gonna have to break a window or pry a lock off or something. i don't even think you'd get in trouble if they caught you in there; you could just say you thought you were allowed in since, yeah... the doors are wide open.
Yeah I know, but I'm for some reason mad nervous. Again my friend says they take trespassing very seriously and he is afraid he may be fined/suspended/whatever from school. I know I'm kinda stupid and naive right now but whatever. I am trying to figure out all the possibilities first.
I hate waiting but I will most likely do that.
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what no, just do what ASE said.
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do you really think they're going to send some like 16 year old kid to prison and ruin his personal record because he broke into a school to shoot a movie?
Plenty of kids would break into their school to steal the computers. It's very possible they'll make a big deal out of it to make an example out of those who do, even if they realize that they might not have been interested in stealing anything. It's still breaking and entering, you know.
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I've busted into a fair share of schools...
You're aware most of them have motion sensors linked to a silent alarm right?
Just because you get in doesn't mean you'll get to film anything.
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Can you not afford bedsheets and green paint? This is the digital age man....
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In my experience the roof access for most buildings is not locked. If you can get on top of the building, you can probably get into the utility room through a roof access. From there, into the main building.
Also in my experience, very few public buildings have motion sensors, and of those that do, almost all of them are hooked up to an alarm that is designed to make noise and scare you but not actually contact the police. Silent alarms are extremely rare. If the police ARE contacted it will be a half hour or more before they show up, and if they do, it's really no trouble to elude capture. Back up to the roof, a jump off the side, and a jog into the nearby woods or whatever.
Just make sure that you have an escape plan. Make sure that you have your car parked in a different location of course!
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Plenty of kids would break into their school to steal the computers. It's very possible they'll make a big deal out of it to make an example out of those who do, even if they realize that they might not have been interested in stealing anything. It's still breaking and entering, you know.
it's still breaking and entering, but they'd probably just expel him, man. like that is as big a deal as i would expect them to make out of it. even then it might not be so bad since more than a few schools these days have... alternative campuses i guess for people who have been expelled but not quite fully. like when i was expelled in the 8th grade there were two kids who got sent there for breaking into the school. it's not like all schools do this, but yeah prison/destroying permanent record still seems very unlikely to me!
also this all seems to be pretty moot since apparently he'd just walk through open doors in the daytime.
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You guys are still talking like I'm going all Metal Gear on the school. I'm not, not at all.
But yeah I will try to try ASE's suggestions thanks guys.
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Make sure you bring thermal goggles :(
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Dude if you are going in through open doors in the day time then you are probably ok. I can't picture anyone rationally doing anything but saying dude get the hell out of here, if you come back i will call the cops if you are very obviously MAKING A MOVIE, you know? It is such a harmless activity so as long as you are not doing anything shady I doubt you will get very much more than a slap on the wrist.
Depends where you are though.
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Ok I have a second concern.
I want to use couch's buddy holly weezer cover on my short film. Of course it's probably just going to be up on youtube and maybe on film school applications and all. Might enter it into small film festivals but I am just wondering what are the legal issues and shit.
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Fair use for regular songs is 10% of the total song or 30 seconds, whichever is lower. I'm not sure where the legalities would lie with a cover. For youtube, it wouldn't matter, I don't think.
For a film festival or an application, I would follow the 30 second/10% rule, just in case.
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Can't you try to replicate a class room
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Can't you try to replicate a class room
No.
Don't worry guys thanks. I got the advice i need now it is time for decision making.
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Psyburn noooooooooo don't do it.
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You're not funny.
I'm serious.
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I'm serious.
You're funny.
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It is possible to be serious and funny at once. As for trespassing, you'd think that if you're forced to be in a school all through every other season, a school authority would gladly let you be there for a moment in the summer to further your education by experiencing acting and film-making firsthand. Just because school is not in session doesn't mean you stopped learning.
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Make sure you bring thermal goggles :(
And cigarettes. You never know...
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And cigarettes. You never know...
Damn you. I was going to make that joke.
Anyway... You should also be concerned with people from the school seeing the video
and realizing you've been inside when you shouldn't have. I'm not sure how your laws
function, but around here, you can get prosecuted for that.
EDIT: Awesome. I didn't notice I did that.
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I'm not sure how your laws function, but around here, you can get persecuted for that.
I would worry more about prosecution. Unless of course you are referencing Psyburn's status as a racial minority :hmm: