I attended an excellent session at AAM a couple of years ago about how to
work with a film crew in your museum.  One of the speakers was from the Art
Institute of Chicago, and she discussed how they handled the filming of the
movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" at the museum.  One thing I learned from
that was the amount of preparation needed even before you let the crew in
the door.  That, and needing a museum staffer on site with the crew AT ALL
TIMES.

In the Bob Vila show, watchers are able to see him touching artifacts, but
what we don't see is how the lights and cameras are set up.  Are the lights
tottering over fragile artifacts, loose cords lying everywhere, camera
crews setting extra film canisters on that antique desk?

OK, if a decision has already been made to bring in a film crew and to
relax the rules a bit to let the star of the show touch objects, let's not
dwell too much on it.  What we, as museum staff, need is to make sure the
shoot is as safe as possible by exercising what control WE have over what
the crew is doing.  That and educating other staff/directors/trustees in
what can be done safely as a compromise to what the crew may want.

I don't think the purpose of this thread is to flame Bob Vila but rather to
educate staff on how to handle this type of situation in the future.  It's
probably not as uncommon as one might suspect.


Kate Desulis                            (312) 322-0821 phone
Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum    (312) 322-2257 fax
1300 S. Lake Shore Drive                [log in to unmask]
Chicago, IL 60605                       URL http://astro.uchicago.edu/adler/