Approaching the Fall River Historical Society

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 9:21 pm

I'm about to approach the Fall River Historical Society to see about getting photographs for the documentary I'm trying to put together. Having never done such a thing before, I'm curious to see what advice the folks on this Forum have about approaching them. For example, who to approach, how formal or informal should I be, how much to tell them about my project, whether copyright procurement is necessary to use their photographs in the film, whether they would let me scan photos or provide scans for a price, etc. etc.

I assume many of you have spent time there and dealt with them directly and would love to hear some of your advice.

Richard

Stefani · Post by **Stefani** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 2:47 pm

I would sound formal and professional. Ask what they charge and what they have available. Tell them you are a professional filmmaker who is doing a film on the case and are inquiring about rights and fees to include Lizzie case related images in the movie.

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 5:22 pm

I can play up the fact that I'm including Fall River history into the film, which is the truth actually. I'm sure I'll be exploring areas that no previous documentary about Lizzie really examined.

When I did the film about Bethlehem Steel, the archive shots costs about $35 per image. But they also did the high resolution scanning.

augusta · Post by **augusta** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 10:15 am

Your project sounds exciting, Richard!

The FRHS has a price sheet for writers who want to use their photos. It is based on how big a project one is writing. If you are doing a book, estimating 10,000 or more copies, I think it was like $100 per photo. I think that was the highest price. They were not free.

The reason for the high charges was that they have to send out the originals to get a negative made - or something made - to give you a picture you can use. They can't just Xerox a photo, and probably can't scan one, because of the light damage that could occur.

I don't know about prices for use in a documentary.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 12:48 am

Thanks Augusta, you are always so helpful and full of interesting tips!

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 4:59 pm

I'll definitely contact them and share with this Forum how much they charge for photos for documentaries. I was hoping I could just stop by their offices and scan the photos, but alas.

I saw a short film on how Ken Burns makes his documentaries and he would spend entire weeks at a single historical society taping the photos to a backboard and then photographing them with his camera. At least that's how he did it on Jazz and the Civil War. I was expecting that I would be resigned to high resolution scanning and then take care of the camera movements, the pans and the zooms on the computer.

But I do want to get historical shots of Fall River into the film. As well as shots of the other houses that are associated with Lizzie (I suspect that getting permission from the owners would be necessary).

augusta · Post by **augusta** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 8:28 pm

You know, I'm not sure if you need permission from a historical home owner or not. If you take a photo of a person you want to publish (who is a non-celebrity - celebrities are generally considered 'public domain') you do need to have them sign a 'model release'. You can type one of those up yourself, just saying so and so gives you their permission to use their likeness in a project, noting any payment involved, and have the person sign it. That would be impossible to do if you're filming a crowd scene.

I never have asked permission about a house. (That doesn't mean I'm right, tho.

) If it's a historical house, and you're only photographing the outside from like a sidewalk and aren't tiptoeing up to their windows looking in, I tend to think it's all right. If someone's outside, I introduce myself and ask if they mind what I'm doing. Historical homes are in a different category than regular homes - they sort of belong to the public, like a celebrity (being photographed is part of being in the limelight - part of the job).

In articles, the photographer or owner of the photo gets credit for it next to the photo. If someone went the extra mile for you - like let you go all thru their house and take whatever pictures you want - it's good to give them a mention at least in your footnotes/acknowledgements.

I think it's good to be careful about asking permission if there's nobody outside. It's certainly a professional thing to do, but some may ask to be paid - and I don't think this is something you really have to do. (If you really need the house in your project and you get in a situation where you have to pay, make sure you get access to everything outside, if not inside as well. Photos other than straight front shots - and especially indoor shots - might be groundbreaking photos and worth it.)