Video Game Footage on monitor in background

Raditude

Raditude

Simple question:

In my upcoming film, there is to be a scene where the main character is playing on XBox Live. He will be passed out on the couch as a friend is talking to him in chat. The matchmaking screen would be on the television. The camera will slowly pan across the room, and over the TV, showing it briefly. I don't plan to show any gameplay, nor have any game or menu sound, as there will be voice-over and a backing track playing.

Would I run into any copyright issues with having a video game menu on the TV screen?
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
Raditude said:
Would I run into any copyright issues with having a video game menu on the TV screen?
Click to expand...

Yes. The menus for a video game would still be covered by copyright. Showing them without permission would, technically, be illegal.

But...

As Kebab has alluded, you probably wouldn't run into problems if this film is just to be thrown up on YouTube. If you plan to show it around, enter festivals, etc. I wouldn't run the risk of having to remove it.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
It's easy enough to make your own screen in After Effects, why walk the line?

If it was me, even if I had permission I would still be using their graphics on a screen replacement done in post rather than shooting live. Lots of problems you could potentially run into trying to do it for real, plus in post you'll get perfect timing as far as when chat messages appear, etc.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I agree... it shouldn't be too difficult to make up a screen for this in After Effects or similar. So if you did get a lot of attention for the video, you wouldn't run into infringement issues.

You could track it onto the screen in post, or (the more realistic option) you can pipe it through to the TV and record it "live".
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
What if the camera went out of focus as it was panning over the TV? There doesn't need to be anything readable on the screen, it just has to show someone in a game menu, and hear a voice coming from the TV.

I could do something with Photoshop and After Effects and try to pipe it in.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top