Indie Filmmaker’s journal: Part Four.
Copyright investigations include looking at the work for copyright notice, author, publisher, place and date of publication, directly searching the copyright office and other records or pay to have the copyright office do a search. Well that is the start, but Copyright circular 22 says “the results may not be conclusive.” They go on to say “In many cases, it is important to consult with a copyright attorney before reaching any conclusions regarding the copyright status of a work.”
Okay. I get the picture. I need to assume there is a copyright owner and I need to find out who that is and ask them for permission. I can’t afford an attorney who is going to charge me more per hour that earn in a week. I am trying to increase the cultural destiny of my community and my world by putting work on public access TV and on my Youtube site. I have to get the permissions myself.
Showing posts with label indie filmmaker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label indie filmmaker. Show all posts
7/30/2012
Copyright Permission and Releases
Indie Filmmaker’s journal: Part Two.
“I look like a raccoon.” He said. “A bald raccoon. And the music is not me. Not me, doesn’t fit with my work. Change it.” He was not happy with our little masterpiece.
“Music, good music, free music is kind of hard to find.” I said. “We can leave the music out, no problem. But the raccoon thing is about the lighting at your house. Not much we can do about that, now.” I didn’t tell him it was also a function of our ignorance of proper lighting. I felt bad. He was a professional artist, we were amateur videographers.
We were learning, still finding out about how to do interviews of artists for informational features for our local community access cable TV station, which covers a small rural county. I see it as a kind of journalism. The Stanford University website mentions that many journalists do not obtain a signed interview release on the assumption that giving the interview was consent. The US Copyright Office and the University of California site are helpful in understanding permissions and releases. Releases can help avoid legal actions for libel, invasion of privacy or copyright infringement (interviewee’s words can be copyrightable).
“I look like a raccoon.” He said. “A bald raccoon. And the music is not me. Not me, doesn’t fit with my work. Change it.” He was not happy with our little masterpiece.
“Music, good music, free music is kind of hard to find.” I said. “We can leave the music out, no problem. But the raccoon thing is about the lighting at your house. Not much we can do about that, now.” I didn’t tell him it was also a function of our ignorance of proper lighting. I felt bad. He was a professional artist, we were amateur videographers.
We were learning, still finding out about how to do interviews of artists for informational features for our local community access cable TV station, which covers a small rural county. I see it as a kind of journalism. The Stanford University website mentions that many journalists do not obtain a signed interview release on the assumption that giving the interview was consent. The US Copyright Office and the University of California site are helpful in understanding permissions and releases. Releases can help avoid legal actions for libel, invasion of privacy or copyright infringement (interviewee’s words can be copyrightable).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)