Hello. I'm in the middle of making my first film and I have a quick question about youtube copyright. I want my character to be watching some videos on youtube in my film, so is that allowed by copyright? The videos will be used "as they were intended to be used," as he'll just be watching them, and it's not like they will even be the focus of the scene. It's more like a glimpse of the video. So, would that be legal? Do I need to get permission from the video's owner or something?
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Youtube Copyright
- Thread starter Spock
- Start date
If it's not public domain, yes you do need to get permission.
There's no shortage of public domain material, though, or even suitable Creative Commons movies. Heck, you could probably get permission from a dozen people on this forum alone, to have their video be shown in someone else's movie. Sometimes ya just gotta ask.
The one thing it sounds like you haven't considered, is the actual YouTube logo & webpage itself. To be squeaky clean, you could make a fake YupDude logo and a simple look-alike webpage. Heck, you could make a knock-off page in MS Word or Office in less than 30 minutes.
Hope that covered what you need to think about.
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Everything Zensteve tells you is true.
Unless your film gets mass exposure, you can totally get away with infringing on all sorts of copyrights.
But like Steve points out, why do that? There's plenty of film in the public domain, and if you specifically want youtubey type of stuff, I think the vast majority of youtube users would give you permission to use their material.
In fact, you have my permission to use any of my youtube videos.
Unless your film gets mass exposure, you can totally get away with infringing on all sorts of copyrights.
But like Steve points out, why do that? There's plenty of film in the public domain, and if you specifically want youtubey type of stuff, I think the vast majority of youtube users would give you permission to use their material.
In fact, you have my permission to use any of my youtube videos.
Well the problem here is that it has to be a very specific kind of video, namely martial arts instructional (yes my character is teaching himself martial arts via the Internet, I promise it's not nearly as corny as it sounds). Though it doesn't necessarily have to be YouTube, I can't really make a knock off webpage as the video itself has to be moving. Suggestions?
If you have a youtube partnership, or are going to distribute the film.... NO. If you give the person credit, and you are not making money, it is probably okay. I would try to contact the person.
I don't know what you mean by "what video is it." It's my first full length feature, my first big project really, and I intend to submit it to some festivals to see if it gets in. If it gets in I figure I might actually have a chance as a director and that would excite me greatly.
As far as the rest goes, thanks. So if I just ask permission it'll be okay? Though I really don't know if it will ever be distributed. Probably not, but hell if the movie gets good reception at the festivals I might try to distribute it some. So I'm trying to keep the option there, I guess.
As far as the rest goes, thanks. So if I just ask permission it'll be okay? Though I really don't know if it will ever be distributed. Probably not, but hell if the movie gets good reception at the festivals I might try to distribute it some. So I'm trying to keep the option there, I guess.
Well, they'll either say yes or no.
If they say yes, get a quick release form out of the way and carry on making your film.
If they say no, ask someone else... and continue making your film.
You could hit up a half-dozen martial arts YT channels in the time it would take you to tap out another reply asking if it's really really okay to simply ask permission.
So go do it, instead of wasting time wondering if you need to.
Yeah, what he said. Especially since this is for a feature film, you need to keep it on the up-and-up. Just ask permission, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with the results.
And if not, you can just make one yourself. Shouldn't be too hard, and you'd be able to tailor the online lessons for exactly what your main character needs to be working on.
I do recommend figuring this all out in preproduction. The stuff your main character is practicing of course needs to match what he is watching, so whatever film you use should be chosen/approved/filmed in advance.
When I said "which video", I was asking what youtube video the character in your film will be watching.
