Moho Animation Forum

hey there, newbie here. thanks for your time.

my favorite thing to do while animating is to capture frames from DVDs (Jaws, etc. for my current short SHARK WEEK) and then input the image into a AS file, copy the pic using the drawing tools, then delete the inital DVD image. Does anyone know if this is a copywrite infringement? The fact that I've used images from Jaws will be obvious to some but technically there is no actual image from the movie in the final animated product.

similar question: is it legal to quote other movies (Jaws again) in your animations? I'm quoting (doing the VO acting myself) and not sampling but I'm still concerned about the legality.

Thanks!

mm

Herm...I'm not an expert but I'd imagine if you wanted to sell the footage you might be in a bit of wrong there...if its for personal use, perhaps you're safe. I'm not sure? Piracy of software is illegal even its for your own use as far as I know. If its for personal learning its probably alright. If its for commercial gain, perhaps not so. What do you think yourself?

If don't use an "original" image of the movie and use only an "drawn copy" of it, I think you don't broke any copyright law...
And then, your picture will be "similar" to the original... Who can tell that image is taken from the movie? It is only "a shark" not "THAT shark"...

If you are afrid to broke any law, try to search sharks pictures on google...
I think there are a lot of them!

The use of single ideas and images from other films within your own films is covered by terms like "parody" and "quotation", both covered by US copyright laws. It doesn't matter, however, wether you simply lift an image from other's films, or re-draw it, since the idea behind it still remains the same.

You may read up upon "fair use".

thanks for the replies.

and slowtiger, thanks for your info: i did, in fact, look up "fair usage" per your request and think i got the gist of it. of course copywrite infringement just isn't an issue for most artists, since few of us make anything successful enough to gain anyone's attn, let alone Spielberg's thanks again!

oh yeah, also, i liked the point you made in another thread about writing/story being one of the most important parts of animation success. very true. some of the most rudimentary animation is the most successful because it really comes down to character, story, dialogue, etc.

the personal style i'm starting to develop is pretty minimalist re: animation skills because i'm first and foremost a writer. i'm relying more on writing, camera movement, composition, great backdrops, my voice acting and my scoring than i am on complicated animation. and if i've got the time to spice up some of the scenes with good animation then it's a bonus. slow tiger, where can i find some of your films?

mm

I don't have any complete films online, but you find example scenes on my website http://www.enigmation.de. Some of my older stuff can be found at http://www.one-line-graphic.de/portfolio.html. And two of my oldest films are here: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=24slowtiger.