Lesson 13

What you never film

Why it matters

A real night looks real. If you film faces without permission or invent a crowd, the post stops being a record and becomes a lie. That lie is visible and damages trust with the people who follow you and the people in the room.

What you already know

You need Lesson 11 and Lesson 12 before this one: 11. Pick an honest night photo and 12. Write the caption after the photo. Honest photo first, then the text that follows it. This lesson closes the line that is not crossed.

Definitions

Face permission: clear consent from the person to appear in the recording or photo you will publish.

Fake crowd: people who were not in the room, or an invented audience so the night looks fuller than it was.

Recording without notice: pointing the camera at someone who does not know they are being recorded and has not given permission.

Line that is not crossed: the three rules in this lesson. If any one of them is broken, do not publish that material.

Read

Do not film faces you do not have permission to show. Do not invent a crowd. Do not record anyone who does not know you are recording. Those three sentences are the full rule.

If the room is nearly empty, the camera shows a nearly empty room. If there are only three people and one of them does not want to appear, that person does not appear. You do not add people from another night. You do not use a background shot with blurred faces to fake attendance.

This lesson does not decide how to ask for permission (that is Lesson 19). It only fixes what you never film. If you cannot record without breaking one of the three rules, do not record that part. Wait or change the shot.

Correct example

You film your own table while you set it up. No other faces. The shot is yours and your work. It meets all three rules.

Wrong example

You point at the floor and publish the video with clear faces of people who did not know you were recording them, or you add a clip from another night so it “looks packed.” That breaks all three rules.

Try

Write a one-sentence rule you will say before you lift the phone that night. The rule must protect faces and avoid the lie of a fake crowd.

What you can do now

You can name the three rules, recognise a shot that breaks them, and decide not to publish material that invents a crowd or uses faces without permission.

Next

Lesson 14 continues this block: Story versus feed post, so you choose the format without lying about the night.