Archival Storytelling: A Filmmaker’s Guide to Finding, Using, and Licensing Third-Party Visuals and Music is a new book from the hard working folk at Focal Press who publish so many essential books on filmmaking. Copyright and clearance is such a minefield for filmmakers who are frequently faced with the double whammy of complex legal rules and enormous licensing expenses. This book is a great resource because it surveys the entire landscape from ethical/creative considerations to fair use to changes in the digital age, and the focus is always on the importance of telling stories. Which is what it is all about after all!

Archival Storytelling features roundtable discussions with people like Rick Prelinger, Claire Aguilar, Stanley Nelson and Sam Green and conversations with experts in the field like my personal hero, intellectual property law activist Lawrence Lessig. The inclusion of people from different disciplines - historians, archivists, lawyers and filmmakers - is very useful in conveying the complexity of the subject but there is also lots of good practical advice to help you get your films made. In fact, it may even make you think differently about how you tell your stories. After all, being able to draw on and build upon the creative output of others is a creative act in itself, and can lead to all sorts of delightful possibilities. Just think of the way music is creatively juxtaposed with images, or how archive can bring history to life or give us new perspectives on social issues. Not to mention contemporary mashups and other creative products of digital convergence culture.

Archival Storytelling focuses on American intellectual property law but it does also deal with legal issues in other countries, for instance fair dealing in the United Kingdom. The authors have kindly allowed us to include an excerpt from a conversation with Hubert Best, a partner at the law firm Best & Soames in London and an internationally recognized expert in intellectual property and media law. Best talks about British law and shows why fair dealing in the UK is so different to fair use in the US.

Download the extract here: archival-storytelling-conversation-with-hubert-best

Ted Hope’s new blog Truly Free Film is definitely one to add to your reader (if you haven’t started subscribing to blog feeds in a reader I highly recommend it - it saves time and allows you to keep track of loads of blogs and websites in one place. I use Google Reader but there are other options out there). I previously wrote about Hope’s Phoenix Rising speech here and his Truly Free Film blog follows on from this with excellent tips for filmmakers. One of his posts talks about what a bunch of luddites filmmakers can be and I have to say that I have found this to be mostly true and it’s a shame because there are some incredible tools out there for us to use now. Shooting People is celebrating its 10th birthday this week and in the last decade we have seen some monumental changes in terms of technology and innovation. It’s hard for filmmakers now because the competition is so fierce (and the budgets are often so low) but the ability that we now have to connect and collaborate with each other and our audiences is unprecedented.

In one of his posts, Hope linked to this excellent resource on social media by Beth Kanter (check out her blog on how nonprofits can use social media). I follow her on Twitter because her observations are often very relevant for filmmakers too. Twitter has become a useful tool for finding out about exciting things happening in the world of Web2.0, social media and technology - and I have been introduced to lots of great people and ideas through it. It is definitely worth investigating although it can also be something of a time-suck. You have been warned.

I have been spending the last few days catching up on presentations and panels from the Power to the Pixel conference that took place in London last month - they are now online and free to wach. There’s some great info and ideas here, from Christy Dena on cross-media production, to Arin Crumley on collaborative filmmaking to Jamie King on distribution. If you are feeling worried about how the credit crunch is going to affect independent filmmaking (and let’s face it, who of us isn’t!) then watch some of these videos and get inspired about all the possibilities out there (many of them low cost, using free tools that are already available).

Here’s Jamie King, creator of Steal This Film, which has been viewed millions of times after being given away for free via BitTorrent.

Another great event from Own It - The Creators Guide to Going Mobile: a Digital Revolution Made Simple.

If you can get to it, this looks like it will address a lot of the questions that we all have about mobile content and how it will pay…
Are you thinking of joining the next revolution in digital media and distributing your work through mobile phones or inventing software applications?

This seminar will give you an overview of the legal framework including licensing, royalties, data protection and more.

Wednesday 12 November 2008, 6.00-9.00pm (6.00-8.00pm presentations and Q&A followed by drinks/networking until 9.00pm.)

Location: Conference Room Suite, Accelerator, London Metropolitan University, Shoreditch Building, 35 Kingsland Road, London, E2 8AA.

To book your free place to attend, please visit: www.own-it.org/events

Topics covered include:
- All about contracts, from licensing to copyright assignments.
- How can you get paid? Various payment models explained.
- Moral rights.
- How can you protect your work from being copied or distributed beyond the terms and conditions of your agreement?
- How can you protect your work from being deemed ‘orphaned’ – meaning it’s distributed to so many users that nobody has any idea who the copyright holder is?
- What’s the value of your work? Is there a difference between music, games, characters, photography or writing?
- Data protection.

The GSMA, the global trade group for the mobile industry, and Mofilm, a pioneer of short films for mobile and on-line distribution has announced the first Global Mobile Film Festival with a call for films to international filmmakers.

The Global Mobile Festival follows the success of the GSMA’s previous collaborations with the Sundance Film Festival to create the Global Short Film Project.

The GSMA and Mofilm are seeking films up to five minutes in length, made both using traditional filmmaking techniques by established and upcoming film directors, as well as films made using mobile devices themselves.

Submission forms and films can be uploaded on-line at the Mofilm website.

The deadline for submissions is Friday 28 November.

Films will be judged by an international jury of film, festival and mobile content experts, with the best films showcased at the GSMA’s Mobile World Congress, the world’s largest communications industry event that attracts more than 55,000 visitors from the mobile, entertainment and many other industry sectors to Barcelona each February.

Find out more here.

Hello all,

Am still trying to process the information overload that was yesterday’s very entertaining as well as informative Power to the Pixel forum (continuing today). I will write up the reams of notes that I produced throughout the day, I promise. Liz did say that videos of both days’ sessions would be available shortly so keep an eye on the website.

In the meantime, let me make it up to you with an exclusive Shooters’ 10% discount on the Encounters Short Film Festival’s Film School (22-23 November). The offer lasts until 10 November and the School is limited to 40 places so I wouldn’t delay in applying…

(NB Shooters also get 20% off Encounters delegate passes until 10 November. See the bulletins for info.)

Encounters Film School: The Final Edit

10% Discount on Film School: The Final Edit Fri 21 Nov – Sat 22 Nov
Offer ends 10 November

This year’s Film School will be bigger and better than ever, with the focus on post-production. With support from SkillSet, NFTS, London Film Academy and our industry partners Avid and Apple we are able to offer a day of masterclasses and case-studies, as well as a day of hands-on training. We are offering Shooters, who fit the requirements below a 10% discount on the two day course, which includes:

• Masterclasses and talks delivered by leading industry editors including: Eddie Hamilton (Editor of Resident Evil: Apocalypse), Annabelle Pangborn (Composer and Sound Designer), Alan Marques and Dave Barnard (VFX specialists); as well as a special session by Paddy Considine on his BAFTA-winning short Dog Altogether.

• Full day of hands-on training in post production software (including Final Cut Pro, Color, Avid and ProTools) from accredited trainers.

• Market stands and Final Cut demos

Target Audience: Edit assistants, technical runners, short filmmaker/editors i.e. those who have an interest in developing an existing career in post-production.

‘Quote Shooters on the application form to receive a 10% discount’ Offer ends 10 November

More information and a downloadable application form available here

I have just returned from The Conversation in California where I learned a huge amount about what is possible for filmmakers given the technology (and thinking!) available these days. The good news for those of you in London is that film/tech whiz Liz Rosenthal has produced what I’m sure will be an equally mind-expanding couple of days at this year’s Power To The Pixel - in fact some of the same wonderful people will be there: Lance Weiler, Arin Crumley, Danae Ringelmann, Slava Rubin. I’m particularly sad that I won’t be able to hear Christy Dena speak as I am becoming increasingly inspired by multi/cross-platform possibilities for filmmakers. So please get yourselves there if you can, and if you can’t make sure you follow the action on the live webcast. Here’s all the info from the Pixel folk:

Unable to make it to London for the Power to the Pixel conference? Don’t worry! Our web video partner, Kinura, is making sure you can still see every second of it.

Starting at 10am GMT on Wednesday, 22nd October, we’ll begin webcasting live to audiences worldwide. You can watch things unfold at powertothepixel.com/webcast or at www.screendaily.com

Power to the Pixel!

Lance Weiler is live streaming from The Conversation which started this morning here in Berkeley, California.

Update: You can follow The Conversation blog here - the blog includes links to photos, tweets and other joys.

I’ve just added some links to the blogroll on the right hand side of this blog that link to sites working to protect our digital rights. The more excited I get by the possibilities for filmmakers in the digital age the more aware I am that we need to fight to continue to exercise our creativity (flexible copyright law is key here) and keep the channels of distribution open (if you don’t know what net neutrality is I really urge you to go to Save The Internet now). This is our video republic, our commons, our future.

With regards to copyright, watch this TED video from last year in which Lawrence Lessig, a well-known expert on copyright issues, explains his vision for reconciling creative freedom with marketplace competition.

Scott Kirsner of CinemaTech was commissioned by ITVS to investigate how indepedent filmmakers are working with new technologies and to answer the following questions:

Opening Up Production to Participation
During pre-production and production, how are filmmakers communicating with audiences, widely dispersed teams, funders and prospective subjects in new ways? What new opportunities for involvement and participation are they exploring?

Finding New Audiences
Once a project is completed and ready for release/broadcast, how are filmmakers using blogs, social networks, games and other technologies to reach audiences that will care about their project?

New Distribution Opportunities
How are filmmakers presenting their work on websites, cell phones, iPods and the new generation of Internet-connected TVs and set-top boxes? Do these distribution avenues create conflict with more traditional outlets? Are there substantial economic benefits or simply promotional positives?

You should check out the suggested strategies for connection-creating, marketing and promotion and distribution.

Case studies include:

Byron Hurt:HIP-HOP: Beyond Beats and Rhymes
Katy Chevigny: ELECTION DAY
Curt Ellis: KING CORN
David Iverson: STILL LIFE
Hunter Weeks and Josh Caldwell: 10 MPH
Tiffany Shlain: The Tribe