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watch A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A TYRANT-Short Film

Hey everyone! This is a short film I created today. It goes briefly over the character and mannerisms of my coming films villain! As his army engages a revolution! For this film I tried a new visual style that I don’t think any medieval style or fantasy style battle has ever been portrayed in. I always like trying new things. What do y’all think? Im thinking of using this visual style I made for battles in my next film.

 
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Not that he's here anymore but this is literally a video game being played, called Rome: Total War, colorized with titles.

 
Not that he's here anymore but this is literally a video game being played, called Rome: Total War, colorized with titles.

Not that anyone will read this and it’s been a while. But generally I don’t see why using a game engine for visuals in a short film is an issue. It’s done so much now days it’s common. The only place it would be questionable would be if you Intended that game based short to be sold or in festivals. In which case your not allowed to do that without consent from the game developers. This short was just a cool little flick for YouTube I made in a few hours though so I don’t see why the game base is so shocking. Then again, at the time i got banned so that might be a reason for the feelings toward the style. Which was my fault for starters.
 
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One would assume you created what we saw by your post. But nope, it's just someone paying a video game and narrating. I can see that on Twitch all day. What makes this some new visual style you are experimenting with? Full disclosure would have been appropriate. I can play games and color correct them later too. That doesn't make Pac-Man a new filmmaking style because I change the colors and talk over it.
 
One would assume you created what we saw by your post. But nope, it's just someone paying a video game and narrating. I can see that on Twitch all day. What makes this some new visual style you are experimenting with? Full disclosure would have been appropriate. I can play games and color correct them later too. That doesn't make Pac-Man a new filmmaking style because I change the colors and talk over it.

Yeah you are right I probably should have put a notice giving credit to the game. At the time my younger self must have thought the style of color grade was a bit unique that I was experimenting but it wasn’t really. A few others films did it too.
 
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If someone were to take video games, play them, and turn them into movies, funny, or serious, it could be pretty neat. I'm sure most people here figured you were a graphic designer and you were showing a new style.
 
If someone were to take video games, play them, and turn them into movies, funny, or serious, it could be pretty neat. I'm sure most people here figured you were a graphic designer and you were showing a new style.
They probably did in hindsight. I was fooling around with game engine armies cause alot of my stories have battles. Rome total war is excellent for directing battles as you may know. Just a big money save in the end. Your right though.
 
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But generally I don’t see why using a game engine for visuals in a short film is an issue. It’s done so much now days it’s common. The only place it would be questionable would be if you Intended that game based short to be sold or in festivals. In which case your not allowed to do that without consent from the game developers.

Copyright.

Copyright has nothing to do with intent, or with whether or not you intend to sell it or otherwise make money off it. It literally refers to who has the legal right to make and distribute copies. And even if it’s something that is done by others, it’s still copyright infringement. Publishers who pursue copyright infringement case don’t really care if you’ve made money on it or not. Well... they care if you made money off it, and will seek even more damages, but the point is that copyright lawsuits have been filed against people for simply using it in their YT videos.

Similar example: people put up their own “lyric videos” of their favorite songs and boast quite clearly in the YT video description, “I do not have rights to the music. All copyrights go to the artist and copyright holders.” Well, that’s basically the same as plastering across your video, “I’ve stolen this intellectual property that is clearly owned by someone else.”

Using a game engine for a short film that you claim as your own intellectual property struts right through the middle of copyrights. At the time, you described your short film as a unique visual style, so to watch and see that it’s just game engine footage pretty much discredited the advertising strategy. Not even crediting the source is just twisting the knife after it’s already in. The authors of “Rome: Total War” may look the other way or not bother to go after this stuff, but that still doesn’t make it right.

My point is that it’s always questionable when a content “creator” uses someone else’s intellectual property in their own production without permission or licensing. That’s the kind of practice that can create a reputation that will follow you throughout your career. That’s not a reputation that gets you very far.
 
Copyright.

Copyright has nothing to do with intent, or with whether or not you intend to sell it or otherwise make money off it. It literally refers to who has the legal right to make and distribute copies. And even if it’s something that is done by others, it’s still copyright infringement. Publishers who pursue copyright infringement case don’t really care if you’ve made money on it or not. Well... they care if you made money off it, and will seek even more damages, but the point is that copyright lawsuits have been filed against people for simply using it in their YT videos.

Similar example: people put up their own “lyric videos” of their favorite songs and boast quite clearly in the YT video description, “I do not have rights to the music. All copyrights go to the artist and copyright holders.” Well, that’s basically the same as plastering across your video, “I’ve stolen this intellectual property that is clearly owned by someone else.”

Using a game engine for a short film that you claim as your own intellectual property struts right through the middle of copyrights. At the time, you described your short film as a unique visual style, so to watch and see that it’s just game engine footage pretty much discredited the advertising strategy. Not even crediting the source is just twisting the knife after it’s already in. The authors of “Rome: Total War” may look the other way or not bother to go after this stuff, but that still doesn’t make it right.

My point is that it’s always questionable when a content “creator” uses someone else’s intellectual property in their own production without permission or licensing. That’s the kind of practice that can create a reputation that will follow you throughout your career. That’s not a reputation that gets you very far.

Everything you said is RIGHT, True and fair. But this film does not suffer from those things. The game is credited In the description and comment section. And along with that, Rome: total war is notoriously free to make content from. Especially on YouTube. If it was a film being sold then that is far out of the range of free use and does infringe on the legal allowances permitted by the game developers. However this film is free. The Game actually benefits from content being made from its engine and this film is not the first to use Rome total war as a battle engine for visuals. I also did reach out to them personally for permission and received it. Even though it wasn’t necessary to do so as many others have done the same and it’s common knowledge.

Other games though? I’m not so sure. People would certainly have to watch out and do research into what game they use as a base. Other developers aren’t so allowing.
 
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