My views and opinions have changed on this particular subject more times than I can shake my caboose. Having worked in the traditional film, television and corporate videography world, I'm aware that consent is absolutely paramount. Whenever you go to an event which is being recorded, you're alerted by signs. You're asked to fill out consent & image release forms. You're always, usually, asked for your permission. There are agreed professional standards which everyone adheres to. You ensure that the person you're filming knows exactly what you're filming, where it will appear, where it will be used, and you give them your contact information. With the introduction of GDPR a few years ago, meticulous privacy and release forms are now standard.
There used to be an understanding of a practice known as implied consent. When you were filming a vox pop on a street, you'd usually have a big broadcast camera, a small crew, a large tripod. You were clearly visible. If someone decided to walk through your shot, into the background, that was implied consent. It used to help that cameras were of grainy quality, or shooting on low res standard definition formats. It got a little more uncomfortable with HD. With 4 - 8K cameras in everyone's pockets, smaller than ever, showing every minute detail and allowing for uncomfortable amounts of digital zooming, I feel like the rules about implied consent need to change a little.
The rise of the vlogger revealed a lack of professional media training. This is part of vlogging's charm. It feels real. You can relate to the content creator. It's why they get more of a free pass when it comes to standards, but I do feel as though this needs to change. There is an arrogance, or perhaps an ignorance, in filming whatever you want and be damned the consequences or anyone who gets into your shot. I have asked vloggers before, when they're filming a train coming into a station and I'm on the front row, if they could please not use the footage. I haven't consented to them filming me, it feels like a little bit of an invasion of privacy when you know that the content is likely to be used for a publicly accessible video, for the world to see.
Theme parks are publicly accessible places, yes, and as such there isn't the full expectation of privacy that you'd have in your own home. There is the same expectation of privacy though as if you were out shopping, or eating in a restaurant, or going out for other entertainment. You / me are spending some quality time by ourselves, or with our loved ones, enjoying our own private day out and our own private experiences.
The general rule of thumb with privacy laws, is the expectation of privacy and identifiable information. With the advent of ultra high definition and fidelity cameras, your face becomes identifiable information; especially with the giant leaps made with publicly useable facial recognition technology. The future where you can take a photo of someone and then perform a search for their face across YouTube videos, social media posts, or anything published to the internet is very much here. When you no longer control where your face, or your image, gets published or used, this could be a stalker's dream tool and the small amount of privacy you did have in public gets eroded.
Vloggers gotta vlog. I get that, I understand the need for creating engaging and entertaining content. Vloggers also have to remember to respect the subject that they're filming. There were a few vloggers outside the splash pad at Paultons on Saturday, with their cameras strapped to their chests, or generally waving them about in their hands, filming children splashing about in the water on a hot day. This didn't sit right with me. It didn't sit right with me that vloggers were filming small children going around on Splash Lagoon, making no attempt to blur out their faces in later videos, or even asking people if they could use the footage.
My OH has a sensitive job, but also has a general anxiety about their appearance. Going to theme parks used to be our escape, but slowly it's become a rather tedious and stressful experience for them the moment they see a vlogger. Drayton Manor was very much their park when growing up, Shockwave was the ride that they always looked up to, it was their Nemesis (if you will). When closing day was announced they very much wanted to go and be there, as an enthusiast for the coaster and the park, but a lot of the day was spent dodging cameras and asking vloggers very nicely to "not use that bit". My OH's experience on the park, and on the ride, was very much negatively impacted by content creators chasing Watch Time and Adsense numbers. There's an argument to be had of "don't go on this day, because you know vloggers are going to be there", which I accept, but it's hardly an exclusive press event and shouldn't the park be for the fans, the casual visitor and the enthusiasts, more than the vlogger? Shouldn't the vlogger have to accept and bend to the will of our needs and preferences, vs ours?
I'd say that there's a common sense solution to all of this, but I'm not sure there is. Obviously there's a difference between filming Stealth as it absolutely shoots off with that launch vs a very slow shoot the chute. Obviously there's a difference between a wide angle shot of Nemesis Reborn tearing through its layout, vs The Wave slamming into the station on those brakes.
I'd very much like vloggers to start to follow the tried and tested standards set by their professional counterparts, but I understand that this isn't easy as a one man band. I'd like them to be more mindful of the guest experience when creating their content, to be more aware of their surroundings and how, perhaps, that not everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame.
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law.photography
www.avonandsomerset.police.uk
