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Predicament: Rights to Logo
Hello,
I am a novice video editor/producer.
I have been working on a DVD project for some time now and am looking for a little advice.The DVD is a boxing instructional video led by an ex-professional boxer that is designed to help people learn the basics of boxing in the comfort of their own homes.
The issue that has me pulling my hair out is that for the first one minute of the video there are products in the shot that have the logos completely exposed.
There are three possibilities here and I will explain each.
1: Blur out the logos.
I have already spent about two days working this through but it is proving quite challenging and time consuming as the bag and gloves move a bunch and motion tracking is proving very difficult since the bag becomes distorted with every hit. Two things here, is there a company that does this alone and would it be cost effective?2: Get the rights to the logos.
There are two different companies involved here. One for the bag and one for the gloves. If this is the way you would recommend, please provide advice on how to go about this. I have never had to deal with this before as I strive to create my own content.3: Re-shoot the scene.
The scene came out how we wanted it and that is why this is a hard decision. The talent does not act and has a hard time doing the same scene twice in the same way.
However, we thought we were going to need the bag and gloves again so we did already tape over the logos in a fashion that is not obtrusive and covers them well.Other information that would be useful:
The project has been going on for about a year and a half and needs to be finished soon (hopefully by Feb.).
I believe this and just a few little tweaks are all that stand between getting the project finished.
This project is green screened but the lighting is not ideal so pulling a good key is hard (pertinent for re-shooting the scene).Please give me some advice here.
Thanks in advance! -
9 Replies
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Hey Steven,
Why do you actually want to remove the logos? Could you not get the companies to pay you money for being in the shot?
Otherwise, the very best forum for Logo removal is right here: https://forums.creativecow.net/imagineer – if you can’t do it yourself, I’m sure that they can find someone to do it.
You could also try the job forum and offer it out.
All the Best
Mads
London, UKPlease do visit our faceBook page here: https://www.facebook.com/MacMillionProductions
Mac Million Ltd. – Digital Media Production
Blog: https://macmillionltd.blogspot.com -
Thanks for your response.
I am only worried about a lawsuit since the logos are the intellectual property of their respective companies. -
Hey Steven,
Are you mis-representing them or mis-using the product?
If so, be happy that you didn’t shoot the sequence in Times Square (That was a bad attempt on me making a joke). Never the less, logos appears all the time, hence why they are printed in the first place, and as long as you’re not breaking any laws, you should be OK.
Seriously, why not just ask the companies in question?
They might even want to have an infomercial for their products in the video = more dollars + solves problem of painting tippex on all the frames…Bottom line; consult a lawyer before getting further into a twist over this.
All the Best
Mads
London, UKPlease do visit our faceBook page here: https://www.facebook.com/MacMillionProductions
Mac Million Ltd. – Digital Media Production
Blog: https://macmillionltd.blogspot.com -
After effects makes such a blur easy, but most NLEs have a way to keyframe a blurred mask. One minute of video is only 1800 frames. Even if you were completely rotoscoping the blur and moving it frame by frame, you could still finish well under two days. I’m sure it wouldn’t even require that. You just need a better process. Figure out what tools you have and ask in the appropriate forum. I could do it easiest in AE, and reasonably easily (for only one minute) in vegas or even photoshop extended. These are just your base tools, there are third-party blur plugins you can get as well.
Cory
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Cory Petkovsek
Corporate Video -
[Mads Nybo Jørgensen] “Seriously, why not just ask the companies in question? They might even want to have an infomercial for their products in the video = more dollars + solves problem of painting tippex on all the frames…”
I’m with Mads on this… I would most certainly call the public relations point people at those respective companies and tell them that your client uses their products and ask for written permission to include their logos in your project. They put their logos on their products so potential customers can identify them. The fact that pros use those products is an endorsement they should relish.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
https://www.drwfilms.comPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Business & Marketing and Apple Final Cut Pro forums. Formerly host of the Apple Final Cut Basics, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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Thanks to both of you!
I am actually not mis-representing the companies (opinion) but I was really just unsure of how this works. I understand that a lot of times companies will pay to have their logo in shots but I didn’t know how it worked if you were just going to do it for free.
I do not feel that this video or I are at the level where companies would want to pay for their logo in the video however I do feel that it is a high enough quality that they shouldn’t be upset about it for free.I will attempt to find a lawyer for advice on the best course of action with the companies because if they want to pay for their logos in the video, great!
Thanks for your advice and believe me, it will not go to waste. -
Cory,
Thanks for your input. I was doing it in AE CS4. I am able to blur the big logo on the bag just fine but there is a rim of multiple logos around the top of the bag as well as multiple logos on the gloves.
Therefore while you are correct at only being 1,800 frames, it is 1,800 frames 4 or 5 times. Granted you could do more than one blur at a time making it 1,800 frames one time but the point still stands that it takes a lot longer.I guess the bottom line here actually comes down to the fact that I really don’t want a DVD that people are going to pay for to have blur spots all over it. It is only one minute of film but it is at the very beginning and that is a bad first impression.
Thanks!
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[Steven Woods] “I will attempt to find a lawyer for advice on the best course of action with the companies “
Steven,
Before finding a lawyer to do this, just pick up the phone and speak to a PR person as I mentioned earlier.
As an indie producer you really need to get in the habit of handling the business of filmmaking yourself, there is simply not enough money in indie production to pay for lawyers to get involved in minutia such as this. Furthermore, when a lawyer calls a company on something like this, the answer is almost always “NO!!!” That’s what any prudent company representative would, and should, do in order to minimize their own company’s legal bills.
And, let me add this as well, lawyers are all about worst-case scenarios, and once a company’s legal rep says “no” that bridge is burned, and it becomes virtually impossible to unburn it. PR people on the other hand are in the business of promoting business, and they are much more likely to see the benefits of your project rather than it’s hazards.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
https://www.drwfilms.comPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Business & Marketing and Apple Final Cut Pro forums. Formerly host of the Apple Final Cut Basics, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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[David Roth Weiss] “lawyers are all about worst-case scenarios”
Thank you, David, for stating such a truism so succinctly.
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