Steady Diet of Film

2008's Copyright Champions & Losers

The culture of ownership (examined with great detail and wit by CNet's Molly Wood) presents an especially aggravating challenge to documentary film-makers whose entire ability to make engaging work relies upon being able to use cultural and historical touchstones to make their work relevant to audiences.

 

It could be argued that if the present climate of copyright control existed twenty years ago, hip hop, (a genre that appropriated portions of other songs and added commentary to create a new form of musical expression) would not have been able to exist, much less flourish into one of the most influential music movements in American history.

In an age of increasing distrust and disinterest in mainstream news sources, film-makers are imbued with new opportunities to tell stories that would fall by the wayside and to do this effectively they can't be yoked by governmental efforts to prop up dying business models.

And with that I bring you the very unlikely list of people who struck a blow for rational reforms to copyright law..

2008 Copyright Champions

Ben Stein
Adding documentary film director to a resume that includes Nixon speechwriter and gameshow host, Ben Stein's Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed film about creationism grossed an impressive $7.7M in its box office release. But one scene that employed approximately fifteen seconds of John Lennon's "Imagine" under footage of Joseph Stalin waving to a crowd without permission from the Lennon estate provoked Lennon's widow Yoko Ono and record label EMI to sue for copyright infringement.

Stein and the producers of the film were defended by lawyers from the Stanford Fair Use Project. On the SFUP's blog they wrote of their decision to take the case:

"The right to quote from copyrighted works in order to criticize them and discuss the views they represent lies at the heart of the fair use doctrine. The lawsuits filed by Ono and EMI threaten important free speech rights that need to be defended."

Ultimately the court dismissed the charges. Still, the film's distributor opted to remove the song from the DVD release.

Arstechnica who has been following the film and the copyright infringement case, wrote of the decision:

"It is unfortunate that Lennon's heirs sought to use copyright law to squelch criticism of Lennon's lyrics. No matter how dishonest Stein and company's arguments may be, they have the right to make them, and copyright must give way to the First Amendment. Ono's aggressive tactics will give Stein and company an undeserved PR victory, allowing them to play the beleaguered underdogs fighting the "Darwinist" establishment. The way to counter Expelled is with logic and evidence, of which there's an ample supply. Overzealous application of copyright law is counterproductive. "

McCain for President 2008

The Republican senator may have lukewarm interest in copyright and intellectual property reform. But that changed when CBS sent YouTube takedown notices over the McCain campaign's use of news footage in their web ads. According to a CBS official:

"CBS News does not endorse any candidate in the presidential race. Any use of CBS personnel in political advertising that suggests the contrary is misleading."

 

The woefully out-financed presidential campaign tried to fight the matter in the editorial pages. They took the tact that political ads are part of political speech and thereby qualify under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act as Fair Use. Though not before trying to float the idea that it was all part of a vast liberal conspiracy.. a case the campaign attempted to make on National Public Radio. 

 

YouTube is currently being sued by Universal Music and Viacom Entertainment. The issues are copyright infringement as well as violations of the Electronic Frontier Foundation for Fair Use. Had the McCain campaign been better financed (or more victorious), it would have been interesting to see just how many angles there are on suing the video-sharing website.

The National Journal compiled a list of all political campaign ads that were hit with takedown notices.

President George W. Bush
Hear me out, folks. Last month the President signed the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act. It raised the amount of statutory damages for the broad term of 'intellectual property theft' to astronomical levels as well as created a new position within the executive branch which is being dubbed "the Copyright Czar". Being that he is currently in a lameduck session, it's unlikely anyone will be appointed to the office until the Obama administration comes to power (still, I can't recommend Rachel Maddow's Lameduck Watch segments enough). Nearly every rumored candidate for an Obama Copyright Czar is someone who, at the very least, appears to know how to use a computer and could bring.




2008 COPYRIGHT LOSERS

Heart, Foo Fighters, Orleans, Van Halen, Warner Music Group on behalf of Frankie Valli, Bon Jovi, John Mellencamp, ABBA

That would be every musician or musical group that sued a political campaign over the use of their songs at rallies. These artists signed licensing deals with ASCAP that limited (in most cases eliminated) their right to discriminate over how their music is used for live events. Complaining about it to the media or initiating a bunch of baseless lawsuits was a waste of everyone's time and tax dollars. It's worth noting, none of these artists offered to donate their ASCAP earnings from the period of the campaign to oppositional candidates or causes.

Word to the wise, old timers, announcing to the world you don't read contracts before signing them is not the best way to get your name back into the cultural conversation.

Lion's Gate communication team
In marketing Oliver Stone's recent W the Lion's Gate marketing team put together a website where users could download clips of the film and make their own trailers for the film. But as Chris Thilk reports, no one told the in-house legal counsel. The company was forced to serve itself a takedown notice. That must have lead to some awkward inter-departmental meetings.

Billion dollar titan of industry defends himself against ruthless indie film-maker

When I read statements from the MPAA I'm reminded of what Mary McCarthy once said of Lillian Hellman: "Everything she writes is a lie, including the words 'and' and 'the'". But Freakonomics author Stephen J. Dubner recently put his readers' questions to Jack Valenti-successor Dan Glickman and the claims of movie industry losses to piracy, his affinity for the NC-17 rating and of course chastising the expose-documentary of his organization This Film Is Not Yet Rated begs response.

First, he throws down:

Q: How has the documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated changed how movies are rated?

A: It hasn’t changed the way we rate films. The one thing it did do, however, is help us realize that there was a lot of misunderstanding about the rating system.

I think the most relevant thing that’s changed since the film is that we have made a significant effort to be more transparent and educate both filmmakers and parents about the process. We’ve also, I think, spent more time getting out into the independent film community, walking through the process, really letting in more sunshine, and demystifying the process.

To be clear, Kirby Dick’s movie was a one-sided and inaccurate view of the system and it should by no means be considered a credible source on the topic.

Meow meow. But here's a more interesting nugget:

Q: What is the long-term vision of the movie business? Will hundred-seater cinemas still play a central role?

A: We ask moviegoers of all ages about the many ways they enjoy movies. Across every category, they say going to the movies with your friends is the best way to see a film.

Ultimately, audiences make these decisions, but my fervent belief and hope is that there’s room for everyone. Another interesting fact: We asked people who wire their living rooms with plasma TV’s, digital video recorders, HDTV, and all the rest about going to the movies.

What we found is somewhat counterintuitive to what you might expect: The more elaborate the their home theaters, the more they are going to the movies — about 50 percent more each year for the die-hard home theater folks. It’s not the either/or choice people often assume it is.

It is profoundly inappropriate that a (privately-owned but wholly accepted) regulatory agency would also be conducting market research. If memory serves, This Film is Not Yet Rated had equal concern about censorship and the lack of transparency (and for a documentary that Glickman claims had no credibility, it sure did inspire a lot of reform) but also the far-reaching but largely unknown influence the MPAA has over exhibitors.

Glickman, a former Congressman who held a cabinet-level position in the Clinton administration, later goes on to discuss his lobbying efforts in Washington DC to strengthen intellectual property and copyright laws. He also makes a point of championing local tax incentive programs with an unverified statistic that cities who play host to film productions see a 54% increase in tourism.  

For someone who seizes every opportunity to mention how inaccurate he finds the documentary made about his organization, Glickman does very little to dispell the notion that the Motion Picture Association of America is little more than a political action committee cloaked in moral authority because they spend their weekends determining how much of Natasha Lyonne's O-face is too much.

Methinks it might be time for a sequel, Mr. Dick.    

Watch great documentaries without incurring the wrath of the MPAA.

Great news, documentary lovers. Frontline and HBO Documentaries are now streaming their full-length programs free online.

PBS's Frontline (possibly taking a page from the creators of South Park) has uploaded the last few years worth of episodes including the recent Bush's War and my personal favorite the Merchants of Cool.

HBO Documentaries (who recently won the bidding war for Jennifer Venditti's documentary Billy the Kid) will be be streaming their new films for short periods of time. Tricia Regan's Autism: the Musical has been streaming since Wednesday and will be available until this Sunday.

There is also a new site FreeDocumentaries.org that indexes all documentaries available on Google's free video streaming site. Their selection includes Barbara Kopple's Shut Up and Sing, the incredible BBC series the Power of Nightmares, Eugene Jarecki's Why We Fight and dozens more.

And YouTube competitor DailyMotion has recently launched Cinema Daily Motion, starting out with the festival darling Red Without Blue.

Related: Agnes Varnum reports PBS's POV 2008 line up announcement.   

First they came for the internet radio and I did nothing

This post is not about film but internet radio is going to evaporate in a matter of days unless Congress gets involved.  Details from BoingBoing after the jump.

UPDATE: Alice Tiara saved internet radio!