Watermarks and copyright

Morel vs AFP copyright verdict.

Just read an interesting article on copyright of photos http://www.pdnonline.com/news/Morel-v-AFP-Copyrig-9598.shtml

Essentially the key point is that although images uploaded to Twitter are freely available for re-distribution by other Twitter users under their terms of service. This does not make the image public domain and freely distributable.  So Getty were break the Law by selling the images to other people outside of Twitter.

Whilst this relates to American Law I’d be interested to see if a similar case can be made in England.

Additionally reading through the comment thread. Alfonso Bresciani makes a good point.

You don’t have to put a watermark But if you do: Section 1202 of the U.S. Copyright Act makes it illegal for someone to remove the watermark from your photo so that it can disguise the infringement when used. The fines start at $2500 and go to $25,000 in addition to attorneys’ fees and any damages for the infringement.

You can read the copyright act yourself here: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1202

Watermark images to make copyright clear.

In this day and age publishing our work online is essential. If someone steals an image then we may have a fight on our hands to prove the image wasn’t public domain. However by watermarking each image the copyright becomes clear and it’s illegal for someone to remove it.

 

Site Improvements

I’m working hard to improve this site. Now I’ve got a lot of content,  I’m seeing that my original category list doesn’t quite work.

I’ve started moving things around a bit so that it makes more sense. As a result your bookmarks may break. Please bare with me and hopefully things will settle down soon.

New VFX Showreel

I’ve finally found the time to cut a new reel 🙂

Music by: Dan Warren

This is a brief collection of my work over the last few years. Including:-

The Fades (bbc) at Lexhag
South Riding (bbc) at Lexhag
Bert and Dickie (bbc) at Lexhag
Sniper Elite (MC2)
Wardog (rebellion)
Pete ‘the Temp’ (Cockpit Theatre, London)
SOS New York (EA)
Avp 3 (sega)

I’ll add some detailed descriptions of my contribution to these shows soon.

Many thanks to all 🙂

Crowdsourced Storytelling

The Random Adventures  of Brandon Generator is online project from filmmaker Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World),and comic book artist Tommy Lee Edwards (Turf, Marvel 1985). It’s difficult to describe what it really is. But it kinda sits between motion comic and animation. The interesting part is how they’ve engaged the online community to contribute ideas and content.

Check out the making of http://www.brandongenerator.com/behind-the-scenes

and the movies http://www.brandongenerator.com

Indie Film

Last weekend I joined up with a bunch of friends to enter the sci-fi London 48hour short film challenge. It was a pretty intense couple of days…. with sleep definitely optional. The schedule is nuts. Half of the 360 teams missed the monday deadline to submit the film. But we made the top 10 shortlist.

Backwoods from Ascension Productions on Vimeo.

Shot on the Panasonic af101. Outside with no lights and clouds rolling across the sky The camera team had to work hard to keep up with the changing light conditions. As a result some of the images were blown out. Maybe if it was a 12bit camera ….

I’ve been looking for a good indie film camera for a while now. After the rather disappointing release of the new canon 5Diii and the high price of the c300  I felt it would be next year before something suitable came a long. How wrong i was….

http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/blackmagiccinemacamera/