Studio Production Unit- Investigating Covert Film Making.

For our studio production unit, I have been assigned to working on sound for a VT on domestic violence, where an unsuspecting person will witness an altercation between two actors. The unsuspecting individuals reaction will be key for these VTs, and they will not know that this reaction is being captured, therefore it will be important to keep all recording equipment hidden.
In order to accomplish this, I have been investigating "covert film making", which involves hiding a camera and sound equipment in order to capture events, without the subject realizing.

I have primarily been doing this through watching youtube videos and reading blogs. The problem with investigating this subject is that a lot of the material I find to study can be somewhat strange, due to the voyeuristic nature of the filming process, but the nearest mainstream kind of film-making I can compare it to is capturing wildlife.

A very useful online article I found which demonstrates what kind of covert filming is legal and illegal is this one: http://www.channel4.com/producers-handbook/c4-guidelines/secret-filming-guidelines
by Channel 4.
Obviously, filming somebody without their express permission can be considered a crime, and therefore it is important for us to know our rights and the rights of the person being recorded when the day of filming the VT arrives.

There are many ways in which I, as the sound person for this VT will be able to hide my sound recording equipment. Since the Zoom recorder I plan on using is relatively small, I will be able to easilly duct-tape it underneath a chair or table where the unsuspecting person being recorded will not be able to see it.
Of course, a test shoot to ensure that the acoustics in the room are good enough for this type of recording will be necessary to ensure that the best quality sound possible is picked up. This would be done by re positioning the recorders in such a way that they capture the best sound possible.

Rather than spending so much time investigating this myself however, I have also decided to research the techniques that other sound engineers have used in their own projects. In this research, I came across an ebook called "Recording and Producing Audio for Media", a book in which studio and outdoor sound recording techniques are discussed.
This should be very useful, not just for this project, but also others, and so I will make sure to keep this ebook at hand.