Tim Wilson
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COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
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The moral of the story is that nobody here is afraid to answer anything.
🙂
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I’m sorry to step into such a passionate topic, but I am. It seems to me that the potential for this discussion to enlighten anyone has passed, at least for now. Some (and I emphasize SOME) of the posts have veered far off a potentially informative topic, and (SOME) are getting more personal than is appropriate, no matter how heated the discussion.
Perhaps it’s my background as a pre-school teacher, but I think in situations like this, a time out is called for. So, after I was requested to do via email, I’m locking the thread for now.
Because I was asked to close the thread in email, I’m open to suggestions about opening it back up, moving it to another forum, or deleting it altogether (which I’ve also been requested to do).
One of the places to consider moving it is the COWBlogs, whose purpose includes off-topic and political perspectives….although even there, personal attacks are unacceptable, and will be either removed or edited at the discretion of either the blogger or the COW’s management (which at the blogs will more often than not be me).
Because of the hour here on the east coast, I haven’t consulted with Kathlyn or Ron on this….and may hear from them that I should let it go, which has happened before. 🙂
Again, if anyone else has any opinion regarding the administrative action I’ve taken here, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me.
Best,
Timtim at creativecow, etc.
six one seven nine four seven four seven three three
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You can find the tutorial Paul mentions here in the Creative COW Library.
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I just posted very nearly the same answer in the News forum, suggesting that this discussion be posted here instead! 🙂
For folks reading the thread here, I’ll say what I did there: back in January, we sent out a newsletter BEGGING COW members and visitors to submit their news through our PR mechanism. As Kathlyn says, we WANT to promote fellow COWs.
We look forward to your announcements…which hopefully include an award in the very near future!
Tim
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[David Roth Weiss] “I’m wondering if you can’t jumpstart your career between now and your discharge in 2009 by getting some production experience in the military?”
It’s ideal if you can. For decades now, AFN has been the world’s biggest producer of television. Even if you can’t get reassigned, a “nights and weekends” internship with THOSE cats will be a very, very good thing.
DRW’s advice is helpful and sincere. I’ll also give you the advice that my writing teacher – a self-described weiner…although he used another word – gave folks back in the day:
“You want to write screenplays? Write one. Then write another.”
His point was that you can get started on a shoestring, for nobody but yourself. You’ll learn the skills that you can eventually get paid for…if you have the skills. So don’t wait.
Since you mentioned multimedia, you can start with free, legal media that you find online, and start animating it with one of many free apps that you can also find online. Any even vaguely modern computer will come with free DVD burning software.
You can do even better with the video part of the deal. Free apps like iMovie and Windows Movie Maker have a startling number of the tools you’ll use with FCP, Avid, Premiere, etc. After you wrap your head around cutting, titling, graphics and music in the free apps — from there, learning any other app is mostly just learning buttons.
Seriously.
Of course, if have a few dinars, you can buy some very cool software suites and start up in a bigger way….but you really don’t have to if you can’t afford it.
So start somewhere, anywhere, and as David says, we’ll be happy to help as you do.
Good luck!
Tim
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[walter biscardi] “Fair use really only applies to news stories and documentaries that are about the music itself, the composer or the singer. Even there, it’s not a black and white “yes you can use it for this story.””
Since the issues come up here all the dang time, from various perspectives, here are some of my very favorite web resources.
The Stanford Copyright and Fair Use Center has a heavily scholarly orientation, maybe moreso than you’ll find useful. But the coverage here is certainly exhaustive. https://fairuse.stanford.edu/
One of the coolest things about it is a free, digitized version of Stanford’s Lawrence Lessig, called Free Culture. He’s been a pioneer on rights in the electronic age from pretty much the beginning, and has fought vigorously against the rapidly diminishing rights that we have, both as creators and consumers of media. Gotta love this:
As more and more culture becomes digitized, more and more becomes controllable, even as laws are being toughened at the behest of the big media groups. What’s at stake is our freedom–freedom to create, freedom to build, and ultimately, freedom to imagine.
Like I said, you can download a free copy of the book with rights to reuse and remix for non-commercial purposes, so he’s putting his money where his mouth is.
If you’re going to get into a fight about rights, definitely better to know the real lay of the land. Even if you’re not a scholar, definitely a site worth checking out.
More oriented toward practice than legal underpinnings or broad social examples, the Center for Social Media at American University is amazing. They offer what they call “Fair Use and Free Speech Resources.” Note that they, like Lessig, equate the two. There’s a goodly pile of articles to support documentary filmmakig in particular, as well as one on “participatory video.” Again, well worth checking out. https://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/fair_use/
Those who *do* want to use music in a fair use context should note that there’s not a lot of leeway here.
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[Steve Wargo] “It’s kind of hard to watch The Closer without thinking about that award wrapped in a slice of pepperoni pizza.”
Ah, encounters with the famous.
As I watch the show tonight, I will enjoy a slice in your name.
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[David Roth Weiss] “Kinda like showing your movie on TV first to create buzz for the theatrical run… I’m no genius, but I’m pretty certain thats not such a fine idea.”
Except that there’s no way that airing on the HD channel is going to create buzz for the SD channel. But the opposite has clearly happened – you want Shark Week in HD NOW.
My guess is that they want to drive as many people to the SD version because the ratings there are meaningful. The SD channel is the one making big money for them. In fact, given how few HD ads there on DHD, it looks to me like they’re giving most ads on DHD away as freebies, collecting money on their “real” channel.
And as far as ratings go, by airing in SD first, they create the possibility — however remote — that you’ll watch it on both channels. That would never happen if they aired on HD first.
Shark Week or not, there’s nothing that can make me watch the SD version of Discovery any more. Or darn near anything else. Battlestar Gallactica, The Closer and Eureka are the only things I watch in SD these days, and I’m not sure I would if they weren’t letterboxed.
Yes, I’m a format snob. But you surely could have guessed that, even without this post.
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[Eric Susch] “My practical (not legal) advice is to concentrate on your SERVICE and forget about the intellectual property. It’s too much of a hassle with very little return potential.”
I had a 1099 job with federal clients for a few years. My understanding (right or wrong) was that they owned the raw footage, with an additional twist: since it was paid for by taxpayer dollars, anyone who wanted the footage for any reason, including commercial reuse, could have it. I’d get to charge reasonable fees for duplication and tape stock, but it was theirs for the asking.
Again, maybe right, maybe wrong, but my it was my understanding…which made it crystal clear from day one that, after I got paid to shoot it, my footage was worth exactly zero to me.
So after the first 2 years, the style changed from run-and-gun, just-in-time newsy stuff to slow, documentary style, fit for reuse. I asked for more money, which triggered a new request for bids. I lost the gig, and a youngster started using the footage I’d shot along with his new stuff.
Until HE lost the gig a few months later.
There were a number of reasons, but the biggest was service. The client came back and said, “I’m using the word ‘grovel’ here.” They had kind of known that my value was greater than my shooting and editing, but they had no idea how much. It turned out to be a pretty good thing all around.
It was a hard thing to wrap my head around, but I really did come to place zero value on the *things* that I made after I’d been paid for them. Payment for *things* is retail, and we’ve seen that any goofball with a camera and a box of cheap software can get into the retail business, where slashing prices is the norm.
My value was my ability to help clients understand their goals more clearly than they had before they started working with me, turn those goals into plans, and execute the plans with flair. That is, my own goal was style rather than art. Art was beyond my reach. 🙂
PS. I made the elements in my comps available to client and their new boy. Most of it was footage I’d shot on their dime anyway. But the “recipes” were proprietary. I wouldn’t even tell them that I used After Effects, much less let them see the project files. Even if that wasn’t entirely my legal right, I’d been easy enough with the rest that they didn’t bother to ask twice.
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To tell you the truth, it never crossed my mind that this topic would come up in The COW, so I haven’t been looking.
Anybody who wants to chat should feel free to call any time.
617 947 4733
Namaste,
Tim