VIDEO COPILOT BLOG
News, Updates, Projects Files & Tips


MALL SECURITY, STOP!

I guess you can’t film at the mall anymore, apparently it is private property. And apparently the security guards don’t like it when you laugh in their faces.

Needless to say, “we got the shot.”

112 RESPONSES TO “MALL SECURITY, STOP!”

Priceless!! :D

The guy in the middle looks like he’s gonna go off on you. Like he was clenching his fists in his pockets…What were you taping??

Aha, you got the shot!

Stupid Security, so funny how you have a happy expression and they look like complete utter jerks!

Did you see my Earth Zoom attempt?

I did, good stuff. The clouds really turned out nice.

Yeah thanks, I loved the Dynamic effect you could put on the factal noise.

Ahh the problem I had with making it was that I live in Australia, and there arn’t many 3D Detailed globes showing Australia smack bang in the centre.

It’s ALWAYS THE UNITED STATES!! :(

Ahh well, I still love you guys.

Classic. Silly security guards…

Paddymazz try downloading http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/features.html

NASA worldwind which uses a highres 3d globe you can rotate and use.
Maybe a link that andrew could add this the tutorial.

it’s perfect if a glow effect back to the earth at the end of the movie~ hah.and if the footages are motion stock,i cant imagining~

by Jack Hunter

Good going Andrew

When I was in film school I went to the mall to shoot a “news” segment and they confiscated my tape. Rat bastards!

Hey paddymazz can you point me in the direction of the image you found? THanks

Run run run.
wear a mask first :)

yea well I sort of did a little time ago. we where shooting a scene for a music clip but the police also didn;t like it a lot. but i really needed the shot so I just gave the tape to the sound guy and he walkt away. and I was aloud to go also after a while so not really a big deal but is was kinda funny.

Cheers for another great tut, Andy!

i think that black guy is the guy from Greys Anatomy!

oh i had same prob with Paddy, not many detailed images of Perth and Western Australia but thanks!

Great tutorial!!!

so, where you shooting for a new tutorial or you just gonna pull of an awesome effect and tease us with it while we wonder how you did it? like alot of tthe effects in your 2006 reel

Oh man, that’s so sad. Don’t they have anything better to do? They look pretty happy though :s

Dude if i was andrew id just tell them who i was, and why i was there, and if they refused and record them being made a fool of by sam loya, then they knock him out and take him to jail, its class 1 entertainment when sam gets hurt you know

Quote-”Head of security….what, Your are like 15 years old?… hahahahaha” fun times Andrew!

The expression of the two officer face is very funny… but I must say I would not joke with the third one :p

Who take the photo ? Sam ?

Well if you ask for permission before you start shooting they normally let you shoot. We usually call the mall and ask for permission, they then ask for the reason and if it isn’t to rediculess they dont have any problem with us shooting in the mall.

Actually me and a friend tried this out once,

We went around to various places with a video camera in plain sight to see who would throw us out and who would not etc. Woolworths (supermarket in Australia) didnt say anything, Mcdonalds…well, they didnt like us very much (however it was only when management became aware of us did anything happen). Bunnings (hardware shop) was the same as Mcdonalds and just walking around a shopping center didnt pose any problems with regular security guards…but as soon as the team leader saw us we were asked to stop. This has led me to concluded that whether or not you get thrown out is directly related to the pay grade of the people who see you. In other words…if you need a specific shot, only encounter the grunts of the business…or, as previously suggested, you could ask permission.

only you, only you

by M. van Drunen

Andrew man,
I love your work man!! I really do! Yesterday I bought all your dvd’s. I hope they arrive soon in holland.
Keep up the good work.

Greetings,

Mike

So, don’t we get to see the shot ;) ?

i dont know why im posting this here but I had a bad dream last night that sam loya died. I woke and and was like, OMG!!! Everyone was sad in the dream as was I. Anyway, great stuff, and yes I HATE it when there are obsticles when filming. Certainly the cops.

I love it how serious 2 of them all and your just laughing. You should of secretly filmed the conversation with the camera in your hand :P

you got shot?!!? oh, wait, that says “you got THE shot.” I see.
fwhew! I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to feed my After Effects Tutorial Addiction. Rent-A-Cops. Gotta love em! They make good butts of jokes, huh? *he ponders what Andrew was shooting that made Mall security so nervous* Now I’m nervous.

on a side note, I must say that there are so many people that make tutorials for After Effects. Yours have a caliber that is unmatched and unparalleled. Thanks for making something that is useful to our little addictive brains and our desire to CREATE! Thanks man.

OMG thats funny!
Hope we get to see what you were filming!
Nice earth zoom tutorial BTW. just AWESOME

Jacob

your filming a security guard version of “THE OFFICE” huh?
I love how one dude has long sleeves on and the other guy has short sleeves and the other dude is wearing a different shirt entirely! awesome.

XD!!! And where do you live where the mall security wears sheriff hats!?!?!?! And some how you got a nice High Quality photo while you were getting in trouble? Lol

Nice… good to know that the mall isn’t “film friendly” but I’m sure you knew that before you went out… don’t we all. Guerrilla filming is the way to go, no permits required.

…how come you didn’t just give them one of those videocopilot designer sound FX punches? that woulda shut ‘em up!

Hey is that the Promenade Mall in Temecula?I got kicked out too for filming magic tricks. Andrew you should have some sort of a film camp training here in temecula since there is nothing else to do here.

by Orc Master

LOL, priceless stuff :D

Once I shot in a mall; no guards, just people looking weirdly at us. And the actresses had to walk a little but they just disappeared. Then I learned the most important lesson in filming: NEVER take actresses to a scene in a MALL.

LOL, I hope those guards can’t surf the net :P Or if they can, that they don’t know who you are…

I’m lucky Venezuelan guards are all lazy :P

by S. Gilbert

Hey All,

I had a similar type of incident, we were shooting a short corporate video for an airline at Newark airport in New Jersey. Now normally, especially after 9/11, I’d say duh, of course you can’t shoot in an airport, but we were shooting a ceo of a certain airline and he had claimed that he checked with security, and that we could shoot in a certain area of the airport. We soon found out that that not the case. We lucked out that by the time security cought on, we had all our shots, and because the person we were filming was the ceo, they didn’t take us to those scary back rooms were they search all sorts of areas of the human body for many diffrent items.

NICE…

by S. Gilbert

PS – Andrew who was the smart one that decided to snap a photo while security was harassing you.

Well, Andrew..

the cops stop you maybe `coz you forgot to filming `em..
thought that they wanna be the next Reality Show Stars..

by Jeff (NoodleMaps)

Had a similar ordeal back in Film School. We wanted a shot of me spinning a revolving door of one of the big sky scrapers downtown. Without permission, during a workday (stupid) we set up the shot, and I started spinning the door. Blocking, the exit , entrance and the sidewalk. Needless to say security and the local authorities didn’t care for this idea. Thankfully, we had nabbed a few takes of the shot before they arrived and were packing up by the time they arrived. Harassment averted.

by Jacob Aaron

Aww bummer but hey you got the shot. Time to go try the next mall.

the guy in the middle “who the hell does he think he is ? am going to knock is ass off today, he’s not getting away with it this time”

the old security ” boy! what the hell do you think you are doing?”

Black security ” man! you know what you are doing is prohibited around the mall”

Andrew Kramer ” guys! guys!! guys!!! am, ammm, ham, its juust, i dont meann, hmm, mean to do this… amm, haa

WHO IS GONNA SETTLE THIS, i know ….. why not let FREZZE THEM then take our shot and ….. well i dont know yet

tunslike, missed the community

I got pulled over for speeding by mall security one time. After I realized it wasn’t a real cop I felt so stupid…yeah, I just left.

hahaha nice 1!!! Very unprofessional Andrew, always make sure you get a approval for making film recordings in public places!

omg andrew :) :(

Just make like the Blues Brothers and tear your car around the mall ;)

… wow, amazing! .. try doing it in walmart. ya get the same stuff.

Nice, we got shut out after we went and tried to have one person to try on clothes at women stores when he was a guy and then see how long it would take us to get the mall security. Good times, good times.

by Lewis Fullerton

Hey i am only 16 and i have started to make some short movie clips, problem is that the camera isnt tooo good lol, so can any off use please advise me on a good budget camera to get thanks

by Kevin Campbell

They problely didn’t want you to record a video on police( or in their case security guard) brutality.

Check it out -http://news.aol.com/story/_a/officer-cleared-of-choking-skateboarder/20070703091809990002?ncid=NWS00010000000001

Crap, I was planning on filming part of my movie in Home Depot, well that sucks.

by cooldudeloverboy

Ja, I tried filming at one of the stores where I live and well some of you have told storeing of them taking your tape, but belive me it sucks even more when the destroy it right in front of you. And the tape also had your footage from homecoming on it! That was NOT a fun day!

Don’t know of many places that are “film friendly” nowadays. I got busted for taping on the side of a highway by a state park.. Who was I infringing upon, the seagulls?

I was shooting a “Candid Camera” segment at the mall here
and I made my friend wear a cast and walk with crutches, then my
brother would run by and accidently kick the crutches, and my friend
would fall and scream and people would help him….but then the stupid
security saw us and kicked us out…

If you want to see a clip of this, go to my website:

http://www.et-films.net

and click movies>Candy Camera

If someone dose not want you to tape on their property, they can not take any of your belongings. They are yours. Unless you are on Government property and the police confiscate your things. If they ask you to leave then you better leave otherwise you are trespassing and you can be arrested. The only way that someone can take your property is if you took it from them (shoplifting). If you have it happen to you, I would consider civil actions (lawsuit).

by Some Other Guy

That picture is so funny! The Security Guards is so serious and you just laugh. Anyway, another great tutorial, can`t wait for the next one!!!

You know what they say, NEVER MESS WITH MALL SECURITY –> especially if the security guard is a huge black guy that could just crush you.

Oh gosh, reminds me of our “skate boarding” videos we shot when we were a bit younger.

5 minutes of footage, cops, leaving /finding a new spot / 5 mins of footage, cops, rinse & repeat

I am a bit of a “face laugher” myself, and in all honestly thats when i am scared. :)

keep up the good work andrew.

Too bad none of those guys ever come on this site.

whaha Great Great Great

Last summer I was making a fan(fun)video with my XL1 for a Fall Out Boy song. We shot the last scene in a public square, where is a club called Pitch (because it’s in a pitch:). We were very tired, because of the all day shooting, and we were made a lot of bad endings. We couldn’t make a better, because a guard made us to go off, but after he asked us: “I hope you could make it!” :)

We haven’t got any good last take, so we use one of the most bad (and funniest too), and everyone likes it. If you have 5 minutes, you can check it on YouTUBE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j82LENVGyVc

It’s starting with a nice music from Amelie, and then turn into the song. I was edited with Premiere Pro 2, and… thats it! :)

Sorry for my bad english, I’m from Hungary I’ts 2 AM, and I’m tired and drunk a little bit. :) I hope you enjoy the music clip.

by Eduardo Yep

I was trying to shot at a bus station here in Brazil.. ans guess what?!
heheheheh
Yes, I got the same ugly face from a guard…
Maybe they got mass destruction weapons hidden in there…
It´s a kind of secret place with a big “BUS STATION” sing.

By the way.. that´s the first time I´m writing here and a want you to know that you are kind of a 24h teacher to some design students here in my city.. and you helped a lot to increase my marks at my final projects in university. :) heheheh
congratulations for this great job.

Hehe, I like how you laugh in their faces. Did they allowed you to make this photo? It looks like it’s all set up. You can’t be that careless? Or was that thing with a golf ball in an old tutorial not a joke? :-)
Naw, just kidding. I tried to shoot in a mall once. As they saw the camera they surrounded me kicked me out.

PS: I like the new photo in the Contact section with that Adventure Dude, the Action Star and last but not least the After Effects Guru. Is it from the mall?

by Darth Italy

We shot in the mall once and the security guard stopped us, not to tell us off, but to give my actors acting pointers, never forget that.

Guys listen to this ,this is how far i took it with this people and it worked .i have alot of stuff one of them is my U.S.M.C uniforme dischared in 2004 .i put it on and i went to irvine spectrume while iam filming they showed up the look on thier faces priceless . one of them told me that i cant film ,so i looked at him and said nothing for a while no talk just looking at him they start feeling oh this guy is a crazy marine .then i got closer to the guy with the radio and told him this is going to the guys who defending the country that gave you a job so why dont you just go before i snap they looked at me and said we are sorry and left ,but i was so good in pretendind that i was shaking in my boots .if you want to do it do it like i did . make sure you have good boots on.

by Dustin James

lol…

I had that incident with Wally-World…

the head cahuna told me that it was because of business competitors.. but my video was just a compilation of Q&A.

by Dustin James

PS. the one next to andrew:

“For dry, red eyes… use clear-eyes.”

I got thrown off mall property while filming once….

Except we got thrown out because apparantly you can’t walk around wearing a costume fabricated out of cardboard boxes and a broken computer monitor.

lol, we refer to the mall police as the “M-olice” (pronounced M-oh-lease) where I come from… they’re so strict with their rules but… in reality, just need to lighten up. I think we’ve all been in this situation ;-)

I had a similar problem, but at a frat on campus in Eugene Oregon. If you think mall security are a-holes, you should meet the owner of a fraternity. Needless to say, we also “got the shot” while running away, and being shouted at by a bunch of jocks. Another funny thing is to try and walk into a 7-11 filmiong, with your actor dressed as a storm trooper. Aparrantly most cities have mask laws…….

P.s. Andrew did you happen to check out my 3-d projection? Here’s a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2NdOKyrgm0 Please tell me what you think!

I was thinking Andrew, What if I took the first and last photos in the Earth zoom, and switched them with a live action plate from the top of a tall building looking down on my face. If I shot it in 1080, and used the late in 720X480, couldn’t I theoretically make ith look like it is zooming out from my face, and then out to space? If the video was higher res than the comp, I think I can get it to work. Also Zooming out to a live action globe spinning woould be sweet as well. I am also messing around with doing the same thing, but zooming out along a road for a huge distance.

I’m so sorry for so many comments. I was just wondering, how did you score this pic? Seems like they would tackle anyone who tried to capture anything.

Hello there,

I hope this shot`s was for the 3d motion around the scene tutorial idea ;D please check this ideia:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4r9QPrfN66o
amazing work u do
tks for u time..

Well, yeh i really wanna see what you were filming

Hmm, i like that new comments blog that you created here. nice to share some ideas.
keep it up

Well, speaking about mall we did shot a commercial in the mall, by the time “they” realize we were done with one shot …talent passing by the phone store. well but we used another shot out side the mall couse of weather been nice at that day. :)
New York. Pear 17.

by Jammin' JJ

Okay… I’ve got to share my story. This happened before some of you were even born, (back in ‘87 baby), but anyway… we were shooting a scene for our Miami Vice spoof inside a grocery store; (with our rad VHS camcorder!) We had three guys in the aisle beating the heck out each other with plungers and what have you. Suddenly, over the PA; “Will the people with the video camera please come to the manager’s office.” That’s a wrap! We put the plungers back on the shelf and hit the road.

Many years later, I tried to go through the hoops to get official permission to shoot in a grocery store. My phone calls never even got returned.

by rYAN taNNER

Yeah,its so stupid now a days that its such a hassle to film anymore.
Its because of those stupid terrorists and their dang video cameras.Ruined it for all the good people out there who just want to film a harmless video!

So stupid!

by Christopher Carlsson

Hahaha :) i totaly missunderstood that :P “We got the shot”, i thought it was some kind of sniper ready to take you out becouse you had taped at the mall :P “Thats just insane” i thought at first yesterday, then today i realized what it ment =) And the dude in the middle, he looks like he could rip your heart out any second =)

// Christopher, Sweden =)

Andrew,
Great job!
I come check your site several times a day looking for a new tutorial or a new post on the great new Blog!

Keep it up!

Just a question… On the Earth Zoom tutorial, you got one HD image and cropped it in photoshop and imported them all into AE? Or you got several HD images to do it?

And as a suggestion, you should teach us how to do renderings for specific outputs… to add it to a DVD or to show to a bunch of people through email (codecs problems and stuff) or to put it up on a site…

Another suggestion, show us a bit of Zaxwerks plugin…

And even doing your tutorials, mine usually look washed out in comparison to yours…. :P

You’re the man!

They are security?

They look like Australian Boy Scouts selling cookies door to door.

The look on your face is priceless, like thinking to yourself….”im laughing yes, the 3 of you are dressed like Australian Boy Scouts selling cookies door to door”

Been there before, still cameras aren’t even allowed.

by Jeff (NoodleMaps)

I think it’s always been hard to do professional type shoots at places without permission. I remember having a hard time trying to get the ok to shoot in a chain grocery store and ended up relocating to a little Mom & Pops type convenience store to get the 2 shots needed that were needed.

Here’s a good one.

Early in my career I was the camera op for L.A. Fuji TV.
One day we went to a park to have the “rocket man” demonstrate for us.
This guy wore a jet pack. This Guy Wore A Jet Pack! We had no permit.
He took off and flew dirrectly over us. The sound was deafining and the blast was crushing. We got the shot and escaped before police arrived.

Ikegami HL-79. Shout out oldsters!

hey Mr. Kramer Were do you work or like what do you do like exactly just make commercials or edit stuff for people? just make products full time what do you do?

hahahaha thats gr8 man.

Hope, I will try this next time. :P

Cheers
Sandy

# Mind Drop Studios Says:
… “Also Zooming out to a live action globe spinning woould be sweet as well.” …

I kinda did that, but the globe starts to rotate when the zoom is finished. But it’s easy to just animate the zoom layers to move with the rotation of the globe.

http://www.felixbruns.de/tmp/earth.zoom.h264.mov

This blog and the tutorials are like a newspaper to me. Amazing stuff :)

hey great job ur the man andrew ahahah funny pic

Aftereffects Guru! ^:)^

haha!! lol

by Daniel Reynolds

Funny, I did that at the same mall, and they said the same thing to me! What the heck!

heheh lol

by Elliott Montello

Dont worry dude security guards are just wannaba police man who are insecure with there jobs, so chose to be Dick heads lol! just tell them that u are filming for educational reasons and they usuly get confused and let u film lol! gr8 pic aswell!

by S. Gilbert

HEY ALL HAPPY 4TH OF JULY !!!

Andrew, how how about a quick firework tut in honor of independence day.

great story and all but uh.. when can we see the shot?

What were you filming?
We got kicked out of a gas station called “Sheetz” once. Our band decided made a music video about the place for fun, so we went there and started filming, and they kicked us out, so we went to another one down the street and finished up shooting. After we were all finished we put it up on the web, and someone who worked there found it and showed it to the CEO, so long story short, we all ended up getting $50 gift cards to Sheetz because they liked it so much. What fun! :)

BURRRITTTTOOOOO…hahaha..

that is a funny pic…i got kicked out so many times shooting at public places…..hahaha

cheers dudes…

http://www.1am.com.my

can you post a tutorial explaining. How to avoid security guards at any mall?

LOL !!! i love this picture!!! the faces of the two white security men… ;-D !!! and KCB is right, they do look like boy scouts.

andrew, i love your site !!!

Good stuff. That was a really good tutorial on the earth zoom, thanks a bunch. You have a great sense of humor too.

tell them ur from videocopilot!

Cool, what movie were you shooting?

What mall is this at? It looks like Victoria Gardens in Rancho Cucamonga?

I wonder how many “sever talkings to” you have to clock to get the Black Pocket Flaps & Epaulettes?

Where are you? Mayberry?

[m]

umm… that would be “severe” – pardon moi.

I had a similar experience @ a mall for a shoot i was doing. I told my camera guy to get a shot of the mall from the top of the escillator and as we are there we were approached by security. I said under my breath just keep rolling. I told them I was a student w/ the local Art Institute …they didn’t much care and I was lying thru my teeth. So, we chatted a bit about how I wasn’t allowed to shoot there and the whole time my guys rolling film, I only needed a static 15 sec clip so I played dumb, “yes sir, no sir didnt know I couldnt do this…okay lets go!” and outta there we were with my shot. I love this business.

so are u like a higher rank?………. cuz of the outfit ofcorse haha

tino

lol,well all you need is a skateboard and youll offiacally be hated by them.

Addictions…

Addictions…

bad breath cure review…

we should have more things like this great place to get review and more…

I experienced doing exterior shooting at the shopping mall at Lippo Karawaci, Jakarta, Indonesia, and get yelled at by security. then i finished shooting for the project and go eat at the mall, still bringing camera, the security noticed, and i have 2 explain that we’re only have lunch.. so i’m having a meal with 2 security escorts… cool eh?

forget them
corrupt bastards lol 3 on one i go for andrew 8D HIT THEM WITH THE TRIPOD LOL

forget them
corrupt bastards lol 3 on one i go for andrew 8D HIT THEM WITH THE TRIPOD LOL

Post a Comment!

Before Posting
We're trying to encourage more thoughtful commenting.  Please take a moment to write a meaningful response to this post.

Also remember to read the rules on posting first.

Leave a Comment