My friend and I want to shoot a war movie at a regional park.We're not using guns (i think) only a fake knife and we're going to do it where there's no one around.We also want to dig trenches.Do I need permission or permit to shoot there or should I just go shoot and hope for the best.

YES! You do have to have permission from the local city hall to do this. Especially in CA. My friend wanted to do everything legit and had to also PAY for a city worker just to be around to make sure we were following the city's rules. All together it ended up costing around $300-500 bucks. Diggin trenches is definately going to be a BIG NO NO. If I was you I would find another location, but if you absolutely have to shot there do everything that involves the trenches FIRST and QUICKLY. Someone is going to throw you out for sure and more than likely if they catch you, FINE you. And the city's fines aren't cheap. After the smoke clears you can always come back and shot the rest of the scenes you need. Or you can be smart and just fake it somehow. Either way just DON'T get caught and run, run, run.

"I KNOW I've seen more movies than you, well at least good ones."

Oh yeah one more thing....the city will also require that you have insurance as well. It's almost not even worth it if you don't have any kind of budget. So.....yeah........Bowfinger

"I KNOW I've seen more movies than you, well at least good ones."

...because I actually just emailed the mayor of my town about this.
I got a call back from his office, telling me that if its "under 1000 people, then you dont need a permit. But if you film in a public place, such as city hall and so on, you need permission."
So you best bet is to def. call town hall and ask.

I varries place to place. Some are strict, others not so.

You probablly could get away with shooting most of the scenes in the park without permission. Just plead the, "Im just a film student trying to get a good grade" bit and you should be ok.

As to the trenches though, thats defasment of public property and chances are you are not going to get permission for that. I would find even a small patch of wooded area somewhere else to dig the trench and shoot the scenes in it. You can shoot everything leading up to it at the park and then just shoot that stuff there. As long as you have a few trees around and keep low or high angles (so you dont see straight out of the trench the house or whatever else is actually there) no one will question it. If you dig a trench in a park you probablly will get fined.
R. Michael

"Luck, is when opportunity, meets preperation." "There are 3 sides to every story. Yours, mine, and the truth, and none of us are lying" -Robert Evans
Tizzy Entertainment "Redemption" Hi-Def trailer

The problem is that there is no other place to shoot.There are some parks where i live but they're really small and you can get your camera stolen.

here's some aerial pictures of the park
http://www.geocities.com/omenindustries/thepark

Well I personally would go for it....I'd go there a couple nights before the shoot to dig the trenches (just cause digging in borad daylight can bring attention, and its easier for people to see you in day) This way you can also not be too distracted and waste a whole day digging a hole....and get down to shooting which I would do as fast as possible just so no dumb looky looks stroll through the forest while walking their pugs and take notice to your holes.

-TacoWagonSuperFun!

KILL BILL - OPENS NATION WIDE OCTOBER 10th!!! THATS NEXT FRIDAY!!!!! AHHHH!!!!

imagine this....

beautiful Australian beach, full onsite electricity to run equipment, no compolsury insurance, exclusive rights to the full beach, which means you have the right to kick people out of the site, with no problems with the law.

and all this for...


...free

I talked to a few pros. in the business and they got me some connections to get permission to dig.If you live in the bay area of California, there's a small company or something that helps young filmakers help find locations, permits and other stuff. I don't know their name yet but they're going to call me and I'll give you guys the name if you want it.

Yeah for my "after school special" movie "INFLUENCE" I had to get a permit to use a damn "closed" road. The road had been closed for 10 years and I had to sign a paper making sure I would not cut down any bushes or flowers because that would cause the bugs to die and then the birds would die from no bugs to eat and then because the birds would die the other animals would somehow die, then all the people in that town would die from food shortage...it was pretty funny.

HOODIE PRODUCTIONS......"making it happen"

I'd try and find an alternative location if I was you.

Little story: On one of my first ever shoots, we had a midnight burial scene. We ended up dropping the scene from the schedule and rewriting.

Why? Well, this location was not only out in the middle of nowhere so it was a pig to get to, there was no way of lighting since shops really don't like renting generators to 18 year olds but also because it turned out to be next to a British Army firing range where they did a lot of mine deployment/clearing and night target practice!

We were then totally in the s**t because we didn't have time to scout new locations.

Now you want to film and dig trenches in a park? They're probably not going to let you since you probably don't have any kind of budget.

So ...

I'd try and find an alternative location if I was you.

Richard Purves
Living Film
http://www.livingfilm.co.uk/

There isn't anywhere else. I wished I lived out in the fields then i would be able to do whatever i want, but i'm stuck in this craphole of a city (*sigh*). Did you guys even see the picture of the park? If you didn't click here for the pictures.
www.geocities.com/omenindustries/thepark