I'm On A Rant

[sisabet]

This was going to be the weekend I got things done. This has turned into the weekend I hid from the things that needed doing. Hey - some advice - if you are stressed and it is a moderately drizzly and gray Sunday, watch Buffy early season 4. Absolutely will make you happy it is autumn. I think it is because that "school just started" vibe is sustained longer because of the college introduction, but I enjoyed those eps playing in the background today. Right now I've got Farscape, "Look at the Princess" parts 1-3 playing. Hee...

Aeryn Sun: I will not be a slave to your hormones.
John Crichton: My hormones! Hey I was lips, you were tongue!

How can you resist that? I am such an unabashed Aeryn/John 'shipper.

Yesterday I settled down in front of the computer with a yellow legal pad. I was all geared up to take notes for feedback on a list of vids that have been languishing on my hard drive for some time now (I was inspired by the incredible feedback I got from renenet). I never got to the much deserved feedback because before I started, I decided to download some new vids.

Okay, here is a bit of trivia for you: how is Xander's Snoopy dance on BtVS 5x03 "The Replacement", shot? Answer: Xander begins the Snoopy dance and the camera is on him from the waist up. It then moves back for a full body shot, Xander spins, the camera goes to a medium shot and then cut to Willow and then back to a close-up on Xander, still dancing. How do I know this? Well, I like to vid. I like Xander. I know all sorts of information regarding where the camera is and who is in a shot on any given episode when it comes to this particular show (ask me about "Charmed" and I couldn't tell you shit). I'm not bragging - there have been hours upon hours of my life wasted watching TV and generally not contributing anything back to society. But I make videos and I enjoy it. I devote a large portion of my free time and money to vidding and I would do it even if the only people to ever see my vids were family members and unfortunate friends who make the mistake of coming over for dinner. But I have worked hard on all of the vids on the sight (well, not "Mean Sleep" - it sucked and Dawn has promised to never repost it again). A couple of months ago I found a lot of vids that featured cut up footage of my older vids. "West End Girls" and "A Change" were the most used - and this was not just one particular vidder - it was several different people at several different sites. I shrugged it off - I figured it would be impossible to stop - and those vids sucked by definition. I also wasn't as attached to the earlier vids - I look at them now and see everything that I did wrong. Then I started seeing "Golden Years" in other vids - curiously enough - just the Spike parts. I worked really hard to get those sequences down on that vid and when I see another vid that has Spike put the cards down on the table in "Life Serial" and then get rolled out the door, it really bothers me. Those 2 scenes aren't even from the same season and it took forever to get "Goodbye to Iowa" formatted so my WMM would accept it, so I feel proprietorial about that sequence. I also hate confrontation and decided that most of the offenders didn't know not to do this, and I am much to lazy to be responsible for schooling an entire plethora of people genuinely interested only in having Buffy and Spike screwing to as many different songs as possible. Since the majority of the offenders also appeared to be teenage girls who, like me, discovered that their computer came with WMM and they too could have some vidding fun, I really did not think that it would become an issue or would bother me beyond temporary annoyance. I understand that they do not have a clue about how to get source and I discussed it with Dawn. She posted headtilt.com's opinion toward the whole deal - basically don't take from other people's vids - that is a form of plagarism, here is how you get source if you want it, if you can't get a scene any other way- rather than taking scenes from earlier headtilt vids - why not email sisabet and she will help you get the original source, but if you do take source from the older vids - we won't bust you for it, and all future headtilt vids will be modified - please leave them be. I understand that the post we put up was confusing and appeared to give permission to plunder every vid I had made and will make. I intend to clear up that confusion.

Leave my vids alone. Here is why: I work damn hard on each and every vid. I'm tired of seeing my hard work set to crap. I hate confrontation - I really do - remember I'm the girl who broke off her last 2 relationships by moving. I'm beyond passive-aggressive; I'm MIA-Aggressive. At this point, however; I have reached the end of my fucking rope and I am getting ready to throw down. If you need source I have offered to help. Please understand that offer does not mean that if you send me an email asking for random clips of Willow "looking goofy" that I will get right on that - especially if I ask you to be more specific and you respond - "oh, you know, season 1-3" - Hey, if I'm gonna clip for your vid, I might as well make the whole damn thing. You will not get sympathy from me if I find out you have a cable modem and a system better than mine. Go to Hell. I understand it is damn hard getting source - you know why I understand? - because I had to go and download it as well. I've spent the better part of today trying to get my computer to recognize the new capture card Dawn bought, so I won't have to rely on the downloads as much. I have spent this whole damn weekend in front of the damn computer and I enjoy it so quit fucking with my fun! It is not like me to get this angry. But if you use Premiere as your main editing tool then I know what you have to do to steal my vids. All of the vids I have made until "Last Stand" are only available in wmv format. Premiere does not recognize that format. The only way to get it to recognize my vid is to convert that file to mpeg or avi. If you know enough to be able to convert my vid - then you should know enough to keep your goddamn hands off it.

I am really angry. It is all because of the Snoopy dance. Again on the show: medium shot, full shot spin, medium shot, Willow, close-up. In "Pink Houses" the Snoopy dance goes close-up, full shot turn, med shot. When I was editing that sequence Dawn made a crack about how long it would take someone to swipe it. Well, I downloaded this vid and Dawn watched it with me. She immediately started pointing out the "Pink Houses" shots - I was wanting to believe the vid was "inspired by" and not directly lifted until I saw the Snoopy Dance. Dammit. I hate this. I understand seeing a vid and then subconsciously doing a sequence that is similar to the vid you saw - we are all drinking at the same well. Since "Pink Houses" I've noticed a lot of vids using the Xander drool scene from "Teacher's Pet". That's great, the more Xander the better as far as I am concerned. But don't lift from Country Cavalcade. Don't lift from Last Stand. Don't Lift from Twilight Zone. Please Leave Golden Years alone. The rest of the vids have been so cannibalized I really don't care what you do with them. Hey, Let's see Clint Eastwood set to "My Heart Will Go On" and at the end Tara can say "Shhh" and you can put your name on it. That'll be fun, won't it? Oh - I know you want to make vids, too. I understand that desire. But if you make 50% of your vid by taking out various bits and pieces of mine you are a hack. How in this world can you make a comprehensive narrative out of "Everybody Went Low" and "A Change" - the damned vids are completely different!!! I am pissed off - I have a very high threshold for anger but apparently touching my Xander will put me over that edge.

So. Don't. Do. It. Okay? That is all. I'm sorry if I sound ungracious, but I have changed my mind about my position and I hope that it will be respected. I wanted to be easy-going about this, but it ain't gonna happen.

Comments

Say thank you to the good Doctor...

[surfal666.livejournal.com]

6) "If I make up my own stories, but base them on another work, my new work belongs to me."
False. U.S. Copyright law is quite explicit that the making of what are called "derivative works" -- works based or derived from another copyrighted work -- is the exclusive province of the owner of the original work. This is true even though the making of these new works is a highly creative process. If you write a story using settings or characters from somebody else's work, you need that author's permission.

10 Big Myths about Copyright explained (http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html)

I think you missed the point

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

You have your opinion and I respect that. But I am not saying that I have a legal beef against someone. Fan vids violate copyright - that is true. I have a beef against someone wanting entrance into the vidding community by taking portions of vids (we are talking about specific cuts and edits here) that I made and saying that she made them. That is all. It pissed me off and I vented. I rarely vent. Vidding is a part of fandom and has been for a long time. I don't think it is any more illegitimate than fanfiction but I also don't want to get mired in a discussion regarding copyright infringement because it is boring. That is all. If you don't think it is a legitimate form of expression, that is fine. I totally disagree with your viewpoint if that is the case.

There are hard and fast rules in the fan vid community and the #1 rule is you don't steal footage from another vid.

Re: I think you missed the point

[surfal666.livejournal.com]

I have a beef against someone wanting entrance into the vidding community by taking portions of vids (we are talking about specific cuts and edits here) that I made and saying that she made them. That is all.
So it would have been ok if you were given credit? And once again, your work doesn't credit ME, so...

I don't think it is any more illegitimate than fanfiction but I also don't want to get mired in a discussion regarding copyright infringement because it is boring.
Well, you ever notice those disclaimers that are on -every- single piece of fan fiction, in every genre? The ones that give credit to creators and copyright owners? They still don't make fan fiction 'legal', which is why Anne Rice aggressively prosecutes anyone who tries to write Lestat fanfic, but they attempt to show 'good faith' by acknowledging the creative and legal reality of the situation. As for copyright law being boring, I wonder how you find something is so relevant to your hobby to be boring... I always find that when I understand exactly how I'm breaking the law, it's much more fun to do so.

If you don't think it is a legitimate form of expression, that is fine.
It is a legitimate form of expression. I've praised your work in specific several times during this debate. I'm just arguing that you are currently advocating a highly hypocritical position with regards to what is 'ok' to use as source material, and trying to show the logical flaws in it.

There are hard and fast rules in the fan vid community
Is there a web page or something where they are written down? I've been debating trying my hand at the fan video thing and I'd really hate to break a rule just because I didn't know about it.

and the #1 rule is you don't steal footage from another vid.
You mean, steal footage from another fan vid?

My position is simple - Give explicit credit for the footage you use, regardless of source. That's what I'll do if I try my hand at it. If I don't want others to use my work as source, I won't distribute it to the web. (Ever notice that ME doesn't post their stuff to the web? Someone has to capture it in explicit violation of the 'no unauthorized copies' statement that is on every episode...)

Re: I think you missed the point

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

There is a disclaimer on the site. I'm sorry if you missed it. I'll talk to Dawn about making it bigger. I leave the site alone after almost deleting it when Dawn was out of town.

If you respect the other vidders and the time and effort that is involved in creating a fan vid then you would not say that I am a hypocrite for getting pissed of when someone makes a vid comprised primarily of footage from my fan vid. You say that you have enjoyed the videos on this site - do you have any idea how much work is entailed making those vids? Yes, the original source is not mine - the finished product is not mine - that is not the point. Fan vids all start from the same place: The original source, which for me is BtVS and AtS. Where you go from there is limited only by your creativity and technical expertise.

As it stands the original source is not readily adaptable to a music video (a fan music video - excuse me)- you must change it in many different ways if you want the vid in your head to be the vid you make. I would love it if you decided to make fan videos. I offer you my help in any way possible - email me at sisabet@yahoo.com and we can discuss vidding at length. I think you would then understand the level of involvement that the process requires. No good video is made overnight. It takes time and effort. There are rules in this community - just like any other community. However, vidders as a rule are extremely nice and speaking from experience, they will take newbies in readily and explain the ropes.

Generally I review each episode that I feel should be addressed in the vid and take the clips I think will work. It is a painstaking process, but I think it makes my vids better overall - I try to aim for a fresh look every time (although there is a shot of Xander looking a Anya in Graduation Day II - he looks down and then takes a step back and the camera does this great pan around him and I know I use that shot way too often - but I love it. I've never seen another legitimate vidder use this shot - I feel like I discovered it. Silly, to be sure, but then again I can be silly on many levels. I have seen this shot in other vids - but they are always an amalgam of West End Girls or Broken Hearted Savior.)

Again, I was upset and I ranted on my LJ after I read a post at a board I frequent that basically said "Come look at my new vids - I worked really hard on them." Obviously I am the one that worked hard on those vids (fan vids, of course - and I'm sure the fine folks at ME also worked very hard as well. Yes, hard work all around). It has happened before and I ignored it. I feel that rampant lifting of my vids cheapens the amount of work I put into this hobby and makes me not want to do it at all - or not share it (you do raise an excellent point about not posting my vids online. I have considered it, but at this point I feel I need the feedback internet posting ensures in order to improve my skills. I am still a newbie myself. I started vidding back in April and only started using Premiere within the last few months).

I understand your point, really I do. I also disagree with it, respectfully. I realize that you feel that I and other vidders are major hypocrites because we use source we did not create for our vids, but we get upset when someone takes our vids and says that they made them. No one (meaning fan video makers) made the original source, right? I get it - but you don't understand my point and I don't think this debate will change your mind - or mine. I wish I could explain this better than I have. bonibaru had a lovely post called "The Unwritten Rules of Vidding" or something close to that. If you are considering vidding as a hobby I'll try to find it. It really does put forth the notion of "Honor Among Thieves" much better than I ever could. Plus, I'm tired and need a nap

Again, if you are interested in vidding - or in learning more about the subject of fan vidding as a whole, please contact me and I will let you know everything that I know (should be a short lesson). If you want to debate the logics of my rant or copyright issues, I really lack the time and energy for the argument, so you win. Go you.

Re: I think you missed the point

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

What you're looking for is here, sis

http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?journal=bonibaru&itemid=56231

It's not illegal to steal from a thief, of course. But it doesn't make you very popular with the vidding community. And it is a community, after all; people with similar interests talking together and networking.

ME posts things to the web: Firefly has tons of stuff up at their official website. It's Fox, WB, and UPN lawyers that keep a tight rein on everything else. Stuff that's already popular, you know. ME doesn't care if the fans take ownership of the characters and source and manipulate them for *non profit* enjoyment. The studio lawyers, however, get bored on occasion and take down fan sites for vidding and fanfic and manips.

That scene in the "Twilight Zone" video where she jump cuts the four shots of Xander with the guitar in his rock star dream? That took a lot of work to put together. That is Sis's interpretation of the original footage. If someone took that sequence and put it in their own video, people who see the video will assume that they made that sequence. Nobody is foolish enough to think that they went and shot the scenes themselves - it's known, and understood, that the original source is made by the studios and producers, just as much as the song is made by the recording artist. She certainly didn't write or sing "Twilight Zone". Don't Take Without Asking is simply considered good form, polite, and *respectable*, and failing to do so garners you the unfortunate position of being unliked by your peers in the thieving community.

Honor Among Thieves was the title of the workshop at VividCon and I am still hoping to get notes from that panel from someone who was there.

Re: I think you missed the point

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

I should correct myself where I said that "ME doesn't care" if fans do things ... because, I'm sure, maybe some of them do care. What I failed to say clearly was that the studios themselves *generally* turn a blind eye as long as it isn't shoved blatantly in their faces. Lawyers, however, can't do that, it being their job and all.

God, I shouldn't be doing this

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

The "10 Big Myths about Copyright ..." article, which I've read a number of times, is extremely restrictive in its definition of fair use and, while consistent with the views of many big copyright owners (he himself is a publisher), in my opinion is completely inconsistent with the developing case law. For example, you may have heard of a recent case in which Alice Randall's book The Wind Done Gone, a retelling of Gone With the Wind from the viewpoint of a newly invented, mulatto character (Scarlett's half-sister), survived a copyright infringement challenge (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=11th&navby=case&no=0112200OPN); the case has since settled. This guy is certainly interested in copyright law, but he's not right. Now, free legal advice is worth what you pay for it -- his and mine both -- but as a law professor specializing in intellectual property law, I feel perfectly qualified to say that his interpretation doesn't apply to most fan activity.

In particular, you can create a work based on another copyrighted work (a "derivative work") and, if it qualifies as a fair use, it's yours. This is not to say that vids are fair uses; I suspect there's a reasonable case to be made for that, but not as strong as for much fanfic because of the special solicitousness courts have for reproductions of audiovisual works. (For more on fair use and fanfic, you can read my article (http://www.tushnet.com) in the Loyola of L.A. Entertainment Law Journal -- click on "law" to get the text.) The next legal step would be whether what the "plagiarist" took from you was enough to itself be infringement. But the real point is that not everything immoral -- especially by the standards of a particular subculture -- is illegal, and occasionally vice versa. I'm basically sympathetic to the claim that participants in vidding culture should not deliberately copy entire sequences from other vids.

Re: God, I shouldn't be doing this

[surfal666.livejournal.com]

For example, you may have heard of a recent case in which Alice Randall's book The Wind Done Gone, a retelling of Gone With the Wind from the viewpoint of a newly invented, mulatto character (Scarlett's half-sister), survived a copyright infringement challenge; the case has since settled.
As well it should have - "Far from amounting to "unabated piracy," 136 F.Supp.2d 1357, 1369 (N.D. Ga. 2001), The Wind Done Gone is unequivocally parody, as both Judge Birch and the Supreme Court in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569 (1994), define that term." Having read the books myself, I'll say that they were both rather tedious... Thank god the legal definition of parody has nothing to do with humour. I don't know (couldn't say) if the better works of fan fiction would pass muster as significantly critical enough of the original material to use this defense. IANAL.

I'm basically sympathetic to the claim that participants in vidding culture should not deliberately copy entire sequences from other vids.
As am I. I'm simply hold to the idea that a policy of accreditation of the sources makes this a much clearer issue. With this, Sisabet's original problem (others taking credit for her work) is no longer a matter of debate.

As for how to do this, when I've done video production in the past, digitally watermarking the frames before the final compression has worked well. This has the advantage of being able to track a video through at least a couple generations of editing after the watermarking. Yes, this is a rather high-end technique - WMM isn't going to cut it.

Re: God, I shouldn't be doing this

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

So the whole point of all of this is that I should "mark" the footage in my vids? I think wildswan does this with her captured footage. I suppose I could - no longer using WMM. Since there have been a lot of storms in our area recently, most of our current episodes have a large tri-county weather map on the lower left screen. Dawn has postulated that could be my new identifier. Since a lot of my Buffy tapes are recorded from FX, I myself lean heavily toward "Watch the Shield on Tuesday" as my mark.

I'm glad this has been cleared up. Here I thought you were saying I was a hypocrite and you actually wanted me to realize the value of a video watermark. Silly how these things get started, isn't it?