Behind the Scenes

Behind the Scenes, BTS for short, are recordings of the shoot itself: the crew during the build, conversations between takes, makeup at work, breaks, interviews. The material does not show the scene but its making — and that is exactly where its appeal for marketing sits, and its risk for you.

What can be seen on such recordings

BTS usually arises in passing, often with a small camera or a phone, frequently without an announcement. What is recorded is the state between takes: without makeup or half made up, in a robe, eating, talking. These are the moments in which nobody is playing a role.

That sets it fundamentally apart from B-Roll. B-Roll is planned extra material for the production. BTS documents the work behind it and shows people as people, not as characters.

The critical point: anonymity

Anyone who works with a stage name, builds a particular appearance or deliberately does not show certain features loses exactly that in BTS material. There are several reasons:

• The face is without makeup and therefore easier to link to private life.
• On call-outs real first names fall; in conversations, places of residence, travel routes or dates.
• Tattoos, scars or moles are visible that were covered or left out in the scene.
• In the background street signs, house numbers or distinctive buildings can be recognised.
• Personal objects sit in the frame: ID, phone, bag, mail.

That is why BTS is so often overlooked on the subject of anonymity: people think of the published video and not of the recording in which they happened to drink a coffee. Which protective measures actually work is treated in the article working anonymously: what works, what does not.

Why it needs its own contractual rule

BTS material does not automatically fall under the agreement for the main production. It is often exploited differently: as free preview content, on social networks, on the production’s website, as bonus material. It can therefore land in channels that were never intended for the main production.

That is why BTS belongs expressly in the contract — either under the same rule as the main material or under its own. What should be settled: whether BTS is shot at all, who records it, whether your face may appear on it, in which channels it is used, and whether you release it before publication. Without those points your usage rights are undefined at this place.

Enforcing it on the shoot day

Ask at the start whether BTS is planned, and have the answer confirmed in the briefing in front of everyone involved. If you do not want BTS, say it once clearly at the start instead of at every single camera. And watch that private phone recordings by the crew are generally not allowed: what is filmed is filmed by the production — everything else is a crossing of a line, regardless of how friendly it is meant.