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Geek Culture / movie copyrights

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Dr Manette
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Location: BioFox Games hq
Posted: 10th Sep 2006 01:58
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Over the past few weeks, me and a couple friends have been planning to do a tv show on our public station. Our idea was to do a show similar to MST3K (Mystery Science Theater 3000), and watch old movies, mostly B-movies, and make funny comments during the film. This is all well and good, however, we have a slight problem, Namely copyrights.

Basically, my question is, is it legal for us to record ourselves watching these movies and showing them on public tv? Of course, this isn't for profit, purely entertainment, but does that make any difference?

The first movie we were thinking of doing is The Time Machine, the 1960's version, which we found out is copyrighted by Time Warner. It says on the back of the dvd that unauthorized distribution, reproduction, or exhibition of the copyrighted movie is illegal.

How can we solve this problem, or is it even a problem? Any insight or maybe personal experiences in this matter would be helpful. Thanks.

Bio Fox...four guys, one computer, games like nobody's business.
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Gamedesign er20
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Posted: 10th Sep 2006 02:45
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How much are you showing of the movie?, even so, i have seen at the end of movies or shows a little copyright notation for the company who owned the movie shown. You could always ask for permission, unless you are doing something offensive to it they shouldn't really care.

Cocacola and Pepsi aren't that differnt. Deal with it.
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Dr Manette
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Posted: 10th Sep 2006 02:59
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We will be showing the entire movie, from beginning to end, and no, there will be nothing offensive, just jokes about what's going on during the movie. Don't get the impression that we are just showing the movie over, though. Search for Mystery Science theater 3000 to get a better idea. I know, we could ask for permission, but it would get tedious contacting the person with the rights and asking every time considering we plan to view many many movies.

Bio Fox...four guys, one computer, games like nobody's business.
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Krilik
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Location: Arizona, USA
Posted: 10th Sep 2006 04:10
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In short the answer to your question is, no its not legal. To publically show a movie you'll have to buy a license to do so. Most likely from the studio that made the movie.
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Medieval Coder
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Posted: 10th Sep 2006 04:14
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You can always beg.

Begging is good.

My friend once found a hair in his deritos (spelling? ehhe). So he called in and they told him if he kept quiet he could have 10 bags. So they sent him 10 bags of them.

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Peter H
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Posted: 10th Sep 2006 04:21 Edited at: 10th Sep 2006 04:21
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Quote: "My friend once found a hair in his deritos (spelling? ehhe). So he called in and they told him if he kept quiet he could have 10 bags. So they sent him 10 bags of them."

well you know so it obviously didn't work

"We make the worst games in the universe..."
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Medieval Coder
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Posted: 10th Sep 2006 04:23
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That was only because I was there when he called...

He still got the 10 bags though...

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Agent Dink
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Posted: 10th Sep 2006 04:47
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Dude, sounds easy enough to just do that every one in awhile when you need some chips for a party or somehing. Just call in and say theres a hair in my bag of chips, and voila you get all the snacks you need.

I'm working on a high res photorealistic texture pack. High res as in 7 megapixels, e-mail me with suggestions.

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HandK
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Posted: 10th Sep 2006 09:55
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What would be on the edge of leagality would be for you and you friends to watch a film on TV on another channel. Effectivly what you would be doing is providing a "commetary" to a channel already being broadcast.

As I said this would be on the "edge" of leagality you would have a problem in that the original broadcast channel would want you to show their adverts, yet the public bradcast channel would have its own rules about this.

To be honest the best way to do what you want is to be a radio program, and simply broadcast yourselfs watching a film that is on another channel. This I feel would not be totaly ileagal, and would not require permission

H&K
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Tinkergirl
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Posted: 10th Sep 2006 12:12
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Depending on what films you use, some have fallen out of copywrite in some countries. Admitedly, there's not many (and they are by definition OLD) but you might be able to scrape a few to start you off. Things like, "A Trip To The Moon" are over 100 years old now; you can find it on YouTube. (Great film, and amazing for its time (oh, and a bit Steampunk ))

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Matt Rock
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Posted: 10th Sep 2006 13:22
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There's a show on ESPN called Cheap Seats where they pick on old sports broadcasts, like Spelling Bees and wrestling matches and dog vs. human athlete competitions. It's super funny, you might like it. It isn't as tongue-in-cheek as mystery science, no talking robots or movies about brains with teeth, but a great show nevertheless


"In an interstellar burst, I'm back to save the universe"
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Dr Manette
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Posted: 10th Sep 2006 17:10
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Tinkergirl, that's probably the best way to go about things. I'm betting that there are a lot of movies that no longer have copy rights (especially old and or very bad movies). How could I find out if the copyrights run out, though? Also, what if I just contact the people with the rights, and ask them if we can use their movie? I mean, if anything, we would be creating publicity for their shows without getting paid to do so. And who would turn down free advertising? I don't if some people are confused about what we're doing (maybe not), but we aren't just showing a movie. We a literally putting our voices over parts of the movie. Thanks for all the on topic comments!

Bio Fox...four guys, one computer, games like nobody's business.
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