Song Videos/Home Movies

[Raineypark]

Maine Girl....in order to send Gothick a private IM do the following:  Click on his underlined name on any of his posts....that will take you to a profile.  Scroll down until you see "Send this member an IM" or something to that effect.  When you click on that line it takes you to the Instant Message form with Gothick already inserted as the person you're IMing.  Fill in a title, fill out the body of the IM, preview it....then send it.  A copy of your IM will appear in your outbox. 

[MaineGirl]

Maine Girl....in order to send Gothick a private IM do the following:  Click on his underlined name on any of his posts....that will take you to a profile.  Scroll down until you see "Send this member an IM" or something to that effect.  When you click on that line it takes you to the Instant Message form with Gothick already inserted as the person you're IMing.  Fill in a title, fill out the body of the IM, preview it....then send it.  A copy of your IM will appear in your outbox. 

Thank you so very much - it's very kind of you to take the time with a newbie. I will do that very thing.

Maine Girl

[Midnite]

(there's an address for DCP?)

You can find it in a Google search; they're in Los Angeles, CA.  If you can't find it, IM me (click on the green page under my avatar / if it's bright green then I'm on the forum).

[MaineGirl]

Hey gang, for anyone who would like to know...I talked with Jim Pierson, and asked him, straight out, face to face:
Hey Jim, would it be alright if I made songvideos out of Dark Shadows material and traded it, or shared it, or gave it away?
He said: Sure, as long as you don't make a profit.

That is a direct quote.

He has given his permission.

I asked him about the issue of copyright, and people selling stuff that they'd made for a profit, and how he felt about it. His concern was that people would be making money on what Dan Curtis created. I asked him, well, how is that different than fanznies. He kinda smiled and said, you ever know anyone to make a profit off of those? No, I hadn't. : )

At any rate, Jim Pierson has given the okay to make and trade songvideos. And I read something on the back of some "vid movie making software" that talked about the user understanding the "Fair Copyright" laws, in that they could make...oh, how did they put it, diversified copies, or something like that, for their own personal enjoyment.

So I think we're in the clear here. : )

Regards,

Maine Girl

[MaineGirl]

Midnight suggested:

Well, perhaps not forever. Obviously you feel passionate about it, so why not see if you can affect a change in the policy DC Productions has concerning the distribution of DS music videos?

And I'm so pleased about my conversation with Jim Pierson. He works for you know who, so he should know if it's okay or not. And it is. I am planning my songvideos as we speak...

Regards,

Maine Girl

[Midnite]

MaineGirl,

You may want to check out this post and the posts that follow:

Re: DCP and Fan Music/Tribute videos, sites, etc.

Note that the poster was contacted, not by DCP Productions, but by an independent distributor.

Also, on p. 2 of that same topic, there's a very basic explanation of Fair Use of copyrighted material.  Please beware of so-called legal advice that comes on the back side of video making software.  I believe the only assurance can come from consulting a copyright attorney.

[MaineGirl]

MaineGirl,

You may want to check out this post and the posts that follow:

Re: DCP and Fan Music/Tribute videos, sites, etc.

Note that the poster was contacted, not by DCP Productions, but by an independent distributor.

Also, on p. 2 of that same topic, there's a very basic explanation of Fair Use of copyrighted material.  Please beware of so-called legal advice that comes on the back side of video making software.  I believe the only assurance can come from consulting a copyright attorney.

Dear Midnight,

Thank you for taking the time to point me in the direction of the other thread regarding this subject. I feel that your points are very valid, and that copyright laws need to be considered when borrowing from source material made by another.

In general, I went to the government website to to look this up, and it states that there is no clear way to determine whether something is fair use or infringement. The Fair Use laws seem very broad in their determination of what can and cannot be used. They listed the parameters, but even those seem open to interpretation. It seems like a very muddy subject, even for those writing the laws. And given the new technologies evolving every day, the law itself seems a bit behind the times becuase it seems to discuss mostly written material, although there is a reference to newsreels.

For example, one statement reads, that fair use is okay when "use(d) in a parody of some of the content of the work parodied." If I consider songvids a type of parody, then, under that definiton, songvids are okay. Another statement reads, you can use material for "criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research." If I consider what I'm doing as scholarship, the same as I would by writing a story in a fanzine, then by making songvids, I am, in effect, studying the characters in order to understand them better, and to share my interpretation with other fans.

Obviously it would be better to err on the side of caution. But there are so many songvids for other out there, and so many makers of songvids, and so many ways to make songvids - so many fandoms enjoy and share them, I am never clear on why, in Dark Shadows fandom, a mature, venerable, and active fandom, that there seems to be this general kibosh on songvidding efforts. I encounter it a lot, even though I'm not really producing any of them. And when I talk to others who want to make songvids, they very sadly tell me, "They said I couldn't make them." I ask them who "they" are, and no one seems to be able to tell me.

I think the main point I'm making is that I went to Jim Pierson, who represents Dan Curtis Productions, and asked him, can I make songvideos and give them away. He said it was okay, so I have, in effect, gotten permission, which is one of the stipulations for fair use. Permission for everyone, actually, because it was an "okay" for fandom in general.

Perhaps the issue is the way that some songvids are distributed. Jim only said that he doesn't want people making a profit off of what they create. He didn't say anything about websites, or tapes, or discs - the issue for him was if money was made. That seemed to be a reasonable response to a reasonable request. I certainly won't be making any money making them, and probably won't be posting to any websites, since I don't have the werewithal for that either. And since vidding on computers takes speed, memory, and lots of space on your hard drive (all of which cost loads of money), I probably won't be maknig them unless I come into cash.

Everyone who knows me knows I'm passionate about this. Midnight said back in 2003 for me to go to Jim Pierson to check what the policy was, so I did. (I guess if I was more passionate, I would have checked with him back in 2003, but real life made its demands...) Given that, given the permission that has been granted from up above, I guess I was expecting a yippe-yahoo! from DS fandom and an onslaught of songvid making. I'm shocked, I tell you, shocked!

Perhaps I ought to be spreading the word with as much passion as I discuss it, but you can't make people wanna make songvideos!


Best Regards,

Maine Girl