X-andrew
Imported Account
Apr 3, 2001, 2:05 PM
Post #1 of 2
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copyright images/law
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We are doing a no-budget documentary about two boys who committed suicide 7 yrs ago. The mother strongly feels in her interview that her sons where influenced by religious pictures of armageddon, destruction and lots of people dying. We show short
2-3 second clips of closeup stills from the religious literature,
some of which contain scribblings of the boys' own art. there may
be a dozen or so images in a program of 45 minutes in length.
Problem 1: we do not have copyright, and are unlikely to get
permission from the organization since it doesnt look good
on their teachings and philosophies. I have thoroughly investigated the fair use doctrine, and news reports of the tragedy used similar clips in their newscasts 7 years ago.
We thought about getting artists to redraw the images, yet it would not have the same impact as the original, and could be construed as leading the viewer on. its the originals which have the impact of the reality.
Problem 2: we cannot afford an entertainment lawyer at the moment.
the documentary was shot in wisconsin, although we are located in a small town in ontario, canada. there do appear to be minor differences in canadian and US fair dealing/ fair use copyright law. (fortunatly, we are using original music)
where could we get advice without spending an arm and a leg?
seems like a catch 22 situation. the images are in literature
which is given to the public for donations, so it is not sold for profit, and individual artists are not credited by the copyright holder organization.
Also, do you have distributors whom you know of that might be interested? firstly, we hope for TV /network exposure. the educational field may be good too, although which distributors would be most active in international marketing?
thank you..andrew
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