Videoing nativity play

[Lonelymum]

I know it has been done before but I have just had a letter from school saying no-one is allowed to film the school nativity play this year. I have always filmed ds1 and ds2's nativities before and we love re-watching them. This year, the nativity will have ds2 in it for the last time and dd for the first time. She is to be an angel and is devastated she can't be videoed. I am devastated too. None of my children understand why they can't be videoed and I can't explain it to them as they don't know about paedophiles etc and I am not about to take this opportunity to explain it to them. I just feel so disappointed. Am I alone in feeling this way?

Just want to say that if you can get the agreement of all the parents of the children involved in the nativity play...the scholl will probably agree....some schools have a form that you sign when they start school pre-agreeing to photos and films etc...sounds like your scholl doesn't. Hope you manage to organise it...can't imagine not having embarresing footage of ds in years to come!!

Just wanted to add- that when I was at school I was filmed taking a major role in a musical..had several photos taken as did others..and another cast member was pestered by an anonmous caller...who had tracked down her number from a photo (with her name by it) on a display board....as much as the state of society today disheartens me...we do need to extra cautious where our kids are concerned.

Ds2's secondary school produces a (very slim) newspaper once or twice a year, and they are no longer allowed to put names under photographs

OTOH the local paper is always printing pictures of schoolkids for one reason or another and almost always puts names to faces - ????

321 - thats about what we paid last year - but it was very good quality.

Have to say that first year my ds1 was in reception the nativity was completely spoilt by every other parent standing up and trying to video their child. When ds1 went into Year 1 the PTA suggested that they had a professional video firm in. Success - everyone got a clear view of the nativity and the resulting video was so much better than the diy job my dh had done the year before (mainly because the professional was allowed to set up in a great view point, bit like at a wedding)

Presumably because if you have your photograph taken by a press photographer (ie. 'here's the Bash St School Girls' Netball Team after winning the County Cup') you can be said to have given consent...BUT if you are photographed looking at a book in a 'here's our lovely new library' picture for a school prospectus, & you are part of the background IYKWIM rather than the subject of the pic, you (or your parents) might object.

Agree it's a bit mad!

Message withdrawn

At the beginning of the school year we have to sign a form saying whether or not we object to our child being filmed/photgraphed in school. I agree you should ask the school or the PTA if they would consider filming it and selling copies to parents to raise funds.

My dd was in the nativity play last year, it's only the primary 2's that do a nativity play at our school, and I couldn't video it as our video camera was broken and we didn't have the money for new one but plenty of other people filmed it. We took photo's instead.

Dd2 is an angel in her first school nativity this year and is an angel and as d=far as i know, we wil not be allowed to video it or take piccies.

I think it is ridiculous. Dd1 was an angel in reception too and i was in hospital having Ds and so i missed it. The school didn't video it and didn't take any picks for me either.
Thankfully one nice mum got a quick piccie of Dd at the end, but i was soo upset.

Regarding the cost, i think 12 pounds is much too much.
When dd2 was in the nursery play last year we were told that if we wanted a copy we had to give a blank tape to the nursery and a donation of 1 pound to the nursery fund and that was it.

I agree that this is a really sad state of affairs, but it's not necessarily about paedophiles. It is about protecting everychild from all sorts of 'problems'.

There are other concerns, for example; a few years ago when I was working with a particular women's group , one of the women was sharing the story of her life - it included ; she had two children who attended a primary school in another town, she had moved to the area with the children after spending some time in a refuge, in order to escape her extremely violent ex-husband.

TO cut a long story short, someone took a video of the nativity play and this eventually found it's way to the father, who managed to trace his ex and the two girls. He broke into their home and had already smothered one of the girls before the mother discovered him and her screams brought any help.

I think ours is frowned on but I am taking my tiny digital camera and videoing it anyway - so sue me!

the school could give a photo release form out - if here is someone in the school play who doesnt want to be on video the school can tell the class

or rather the paents f those in the class

Totally agree custardo. I've worked with women and their children (not in schools) and it's always been my policy to ask individuals if they mind being photographed, etc. (But, ask 'em individually, cause not everyone feels comfortable answering in a group.

The world had gone MAD. We can do what we like in our school, thank God, but remember looking at a website for a chum whose two children moved to Edinburgh last year, and they only showed their torsoes. It was spooky.

We won't be allowing any photography/filming at our school play this year, for the first time, simply because one or two parents of children in the play have refused permission for their children to be filmed/photographed. This is the first time we've ever had parents refuse, and I think it is desperately sad for the other children. I don't understand why they have refused - the same parents never have before, and they haven't notified the school of any problems, but we can't ignore them. The only other option is to remove their children from the play, which also seems desperately sad.

In the past, we have not allowed personal filming/photography during the performance because it is distracting for the children and the rest of the audience, but have had a commercial film/photo man in. At the end of the performance, we've done "group photos" which parents can photograph themselves and have allowed photography during the dress rehearsal.

For next year, we are considering making it clear in the initial letter to parents that commercial filming/photography will be taking place and that parental consent is required before children can take part. With hindsight, we possibly should have done so this year. What do other parents think?

ds school wont let recording on 1 day of performance so that they can professional do it.. charging £21 for dvd though!

wasnt meant to be big smile!! meant

Our council authority also banned pics/films unitl there was a big protest about it. Now, parents give permission for pics to be taken and can withdraw their children if they don't want them to appear. It's a really difficult area when people's rights clash with each other.

BTW, 10-12gbp is round about what has been charged here for videos.

Apart from the data protection angle, which is behind a lot of these videoing/photography bans and there's not a lot a school can do when some parents don't sign the relevant form, I do think (if consent is given) a single professional person doing the filming/maybe some stills of small groups during rehearsals,etc, is an excellent idea. I get fed up of people bobbing up and down at these events desperate to capture their little darlings on video or film. Can't they just revel for once in the sea of wobbly little voices, sweet costumes, prompts from not-so-hidden staff on the sidelines, and so on. Why not just enjoy the innocence of it all AS A LIVE EVENT.

We have been advised that due to "copyright reasons" no filming or photography of the Nativity performances will be permitted. Apparantly "All I want for Christmas" is still under copyright.

However, this setback did not stop several people last year using these small camcorders or their phones to film or photograph their children - and they were not prevented from doing so.

Following on from this:-

An infants school has banned parents from filming its nativity play because of copyright restrictions.

The ban is common in the commercial theatre but has astonished parents looking forward to seeing their youngsters in the traditional Christmas production at Walton Infants School in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire.

The problem is that the school is using a published version called We Were the First, by American children's musical writer Virginia Kolk Pedulla, which relates the birth of Jesus through the eyes of animals. It incorporates songs "for angels, camels, rabbits, sheep, geese, cattle and doves" to quote the publicity - and they are subject to copyright.

The school paid a licence fee to the Music Sales group to use the play but it then emerged in conversation that film rights would require an extra licence fee - per camera. The school felt unable either to afford those or to handle the bureaucracy involved in collecting royalties

There was an article in yesterdays Torygraph about this. Filming in schools

Just found out from the head that the reason filming has been banned this year is because some parents objected last year. They think the videos can be "abused" - suppose that means a paedophile can get hold of one. FWIW the head seemed to agree with me that it was a shame and recommended bringing in a stills camera to take photos at the end, but that is hardly the same. He wanted to video the performance to make copies to sell to parents, so he is probably as miffed as me. It maddens me that some people can make an idle complaint that leads to the majority being denied an innocent pleasure. I know plenty of you could argue against this, but I personally think some parents have taken leave of their senses. The world really has gone mad.

FWIW, I like Sauvignon's idea whereby the school videos the performance and lets parents know in advance that they will be doing that so that parents who object can withdraw their child from the performance. Let's see how much they like that! I bet loads would suddenly lose their objections to videoing because they didn't want their little darlings to miss out on performing.

Also FWIW I've never heard anyone object that their view is obscured by selfish parents standing up to video. In our school, the stage is placed down the side of the hall so the audience is in a long line, not many rows deep IYSWIM. That seems to work well from the point of view of people videoing. Most vidoe sitting down, looking between people's bodies and those who want to stand up go into the back row. This isn't rocket science you know.

Rant over!

Our ballet school puts on an annual panto & always sells the videos to parents. Last years was £12 I think (& annoyingly concentrated on the principals & not everyone's poor kids in the chorus line). We were told that technically they are no longer allowed to film it, but as no parents have complained, the school haven't asked, so that they can carry on!

At primary we used to suffer from the dad-with-camera syndrome so that no-one else could see. One professional has got to be better than 30 dads.

My daughter's school have always banned people filming but have arranged for someone to come in to film and you can buy copies. I bought a copy one year as dh couldn't make it and to show grandparents - the quality was appaling, so i didn't bother after that. I think one of the dads does it, not a real professional. We've just had a letter home saying if you object to filming, to send back a from and if anyone objects, no filming will be done this year.