Copyright

  • Copywritre products are protected by the copywriter symbol ©.
  • According to Oxford English Dictionaries

copywriter is “the exclusive and assignable legal right, given to the originator for a fixed number of years, to print, publish, perform, film or record literary, artistic or musical material”

  • According to BBC Bitesize

“copywrite gives the creators of some types of media rights to control how they’re used and distributed. Music, books, video and software can all be covered by copyright law.” (2014)

  • Copyright lasts for the life span of the creator and 70 years after his or her death. In the case of joint creators the term of copyright protection is calculated with reference to the date of the death of the last surviving author.
  • In film- Copyright in a film runs out 70 years after the death of the last two key directors
  • Broadcasts- Copyright expires 50 years after broadcast
  • Sound Recordings- Copyright lasts for 50 years from when it was made or published.
  • According to Baylis and Proctor

“Copyright is an important issue to be considered during your production planning. Make sure that the ideas you are presenting are your own and avoid mimicking too closely any that already exist in the creative media sector” (2010,p37)

Pixar got in a legal copywrite situation after the release of there film “Monsters inc”. After the film was released song writer Lori Madrid claimed that the film had stole the idea from her 1997 poem “there’s a boy in my closet”. Poster Artist Stanley Mouse (real name Miller) claimed that Monsters Inc stole his idea for the two main characters, they both tried to take legal action under this law.

Libel law

  • According to Baylis and Proctor

“ The lible law prevents media producers publishing or broadcasting anything about somebody that is untrue or may damage his or her reputation” (2010, p94)

An example of this was in 2007, Keira Knightley sued the Daily Mail under the Libel law for comments about an alleged eating disorder and was awarded £3,000 in compensation.

Race Relation Act

  • According to In Brief

“Under the Race Relations Act 1976 (RRA) people are protected against discrimination on racial grounds. Racial grounds are defined as colour, race, nationality, or ethnic or national origins.” (ND) It goes onto say “It covers employment, education, housing, advertising, and the provision of goods and services.” (ND)

 

The BBFC

The BBFC gives ratings to films for the appropriate age for viewing bed on the content. There classifications are U (viewing for 4+), PG (means parents are warned and its up to them), 12A (appropriate for under 12’s to view whilst accompanied by an adult), 12 (No one under 12 can see the film), 15 (no one under 15 can see the film), 18 (no one under 18 can see the film).

The differences between PG ratings and 15 ratings are, 15 ratings can include;

-strong violence
-frequent strong language (e.g. ‘f***’).
-portrayals of sexual activity
-strong verbal references to sex
-sexual nudity
-brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence
-discriminatory language or behavior
-drug taking

but PG rating at most will include mild language and occasional mild sex and drugs references.

 

My work

When shooting the footage for the national emergency services museum I was aware of the wide viewing age so I had to make sure that the final video would be rated ‘U’ based on the BBFC’s regulations for this certificate. This meant my video could not contain; drug references, frequent use of mild language and no violence, racism, sex references or antisocial behavior. I made sure my video didn’t contain any of this so it was appropriate for anyone to view meaning that children (the target market for the museum) will see the film and want to come. I had to stick to copywrite law and use licence free music in my final video, this is because the client didn’t have the funding to licence a song.