legal question

B

Boondock

I'm going to be shooting some stuff in a video store for my independent film, does anyone know if I can legally show video boxes or posters for real movies, either up close or in the background.

I believe I can legally mention any movie I want without showing the box, is that accurate?


Thanks.
 
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can legally show video boxes or posters for real movies, either up close or in the background.
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Well... no.

This goes beyond video boxes and posters on a wall. It covers things like, let's say, billboards in the distance that may be showing a product.

For instance... let's say you have a bloody knife-stabbing and killing with a Coca-Cola billboard visible in the background. Chances are (with today's legal weasels) that Coca-Cola will not appreciate having their product associated with a violent crime.

In reality, that crime (or whatever other scenario you may have) is not really related to the background or ambience. The products themselves may feel differently, though.

That is why insurance guards such as "E&O" (Errors and Ommisions) exist.

There are a few companies that make "generic" things. They can provide generic beer bottles, soda cans, posters, and many other background/ambience type things. They'd likley have posters and empty video cases.

If you really wanted to get some networking points (while covering your bases)... since you're making an indie-film, why not contact other indie-film producers and ask for casings & posters? You could easily get (with total permissions) a tonne of posters and inserts to decorate your video store with. It would look like a proper store, and the people you meet & get materials from would be appreciating the exposure.

You win, they win. :cool:


legally mention any movie I want without showing the box
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No idea. Interesting question.
 
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You can say whatever you want...however, it's a bad idea to shed a bad light on a real person or thing...it's legal, but a bad idea.

Logos actually can be legally filmed and distributed, as long as that product is being used in the way it is meant to be used (i.e. you can drink a Coca-Cola on screen, but not smash the can on your head...but filmmakers usually don't so that they can charge for product placement).

AND logos cannot be shown on FCC regulated TV without permission. Wierd but true. BUT if you make a film that has a logo...you own it and it shows in theaters FIRST, THEN you CAN show it on TV...aren't copyright laws fun? I know, that makes no sense and you think I'm making it up...Well, that's actually the real law.

...Long story short: don't even bother having any logos, posters, or art in your film. But you can say something like "Star Wars was a great movie!", just no posters.

There is a book on this that explains it ALL: Clearance & Copyright by Michael C. Donaldson 2nd edition...it's MUCH too complicated to explain here. Play it safe...no posters.
 
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Watch 'Clerks'.. In the video store you don't (I don't think you do anyway) see any actual movie art, boxes, posters, etc.. but they do mention a bunch of movies.. (Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Navy Seals..)
 
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Titles cannot be copyright protected, that is why you can legally 'mention' them. Where you run into potential copyright infringement is with artwork or logos, which can be copyrighted (or trademarked).
 
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If you're shooting in an real video store and you want to have a row of movies on the shelf in the back ground, what if you took the cases with the pictures and put them behind the generic cases that you pick up and take to the counter? That way you have tape cases in the back ground, but you aren't showing the artwork that went with the movies. Then once you were done all you'd have to do is switch the regular cases back to the front.
 
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Thanks for the help guys.

Zensteve I like your suggestion, I guess this is a good place to start. If anyone has any casings & posters from their own indie-films that they could send me, please send me an e-mail so I can give you postal info.

borg62@yahoo.com
 
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Yeh this is great, I was just about to post a thread asking the same thing, thought I'd search first (as per forum etiquette).

Interesting that you can't show a film poster, a basic form of advertising. I suppose it would depend on the context of the scene whether the copyright holders would approve or not.
 
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You know what, it would a great idea for us indies to be able to upload our film poster designs, for use in other people's films.

We'd be helping each other and it's a great insider gag.

Just a thought. I might have a word with my server provider and see if I can offer it as a service at $1000 Film.

By the way, "up the bracket"... I'm not that far from Northumberland... Durham, in fact.

There's every possibility I've insulted you in person at an NFM event! :lol:
 
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Hey Clive, that's a cool idea, for music posters too, to put on lamppoles and in CD stores, etc.
 
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I'm going to start pumpling out posters for all my stuff to upload onto that site Clive...that's a brilliant freaking idea...I'll link it on the front page of my site too! It's really that valuable.
 
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clive said:
By the way, "up the bracket"... I'm not that far from Northumberland... Durham, in fact.

There's every possibility I've insulted you in person at an NFM event! :lol:
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Ahh I'm in Hexham. I've never been to a NFM event, me and my friends are just planning on making a short film (or films if it goes well) and I was scouting the web for legal issues and came across this site.
 
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I love the poster-share idea! Reminds me of the inside jabs in between Raimi and Craven... originally, in The Hills Have Eyes, there was a Jaws poster torn in half, and Raimi interpreted it as "You thought Jaws was horror? THIS is horror"... so he put a Hills have Eyes poster in Evil Dead torn in half. Craven responded by having Evil Dead on the TV in the first Nightmare on Elm street, and Raimi served it back in Evil Dead 2, with a Freddy-Claw above the door in the workshed.

Could lead to some great production stories for press clippings and the like!
 
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clive said:
Just let me check with my server provider first... I get my site hosted for free and I don't want to abuse the privilege.
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I'll abuse my host. I can host the content if you host the page (I just don't have time to make a page ;) ) PM me and I'll arrange an sftp account for you clive :) It's that cool of an idea!
 
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Can I suggest a cool workaround?

What if people uploaded their posters to their flickr accounts... then they could email me the links

Then all I'd have to do is create a new links page... which would be easy.

Any thoughts anyone... it would also be possible to create a thread here... so people could just add more posts as and when they had new stuff.

Just a thought.

I'm in a mini-max mood at the moment and I'd like to keep this as simple as possible.
 
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OK... I've thrown up a page to show how this might work

Free Indie Artwork

The way it'll work is you email me a link on Flickr, to the medium sized image of your poster... + a brief description of who sent it, so I can credit it... a quick line telling me you own the rights to the image and give me permission to distribute it for free on the site.

email your link to me on $1000 Film

If anyone decides they want the image removed... just email me and let me know.

How does that sound?
 
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