I don't know if anyone has seen the Lipa Schmeltzer music video for Abi M'leibt, but I remember that when it first came out, many people on various forums were furious at the blatant bal tashchis that it contained. Spoiler: A carton of eggs gets smashed when some groceries are thrown to the ground, and he throws out a cup of coffee that had "spoiled" milk in it.
My question is, is this really bal tashchis? I mean, he did throw out perfectly good food, but he did it for a reason - the music video; (which, I imagine, was beneficial to him and/or HASC (he made it for HASC's benefit concert)). So he did in fact use it for something, even if not the purpose originally intended.
Does this fall in the category of bal tashchis? What about the other things they do in filmmaking? Blowing things up (which is not always special effects), smashing things, breaking things...
Is it considered bal tashchis to use things for a purpose other than the one they were made for?
What if that purpose is for entertainment only?