Yo guys and gals...how would you feel about a best of best DVD from studentfilms.com? I think it would be a cool purcase.

HOODIE PRODUCTIONS......"making it happen"

Well considering everyone here has different opinions on the films and I don't think ANYONE (well, maybe Chris) has seen EVERY FILM....so I'd be hard to judge.....for all we know there could be some real gems deep in Studentfilms.com.....



No, nevermind....I don't think so. I think I've watched jus tabout all the films in every genre except comedy and Drama...

But what would be the choices on the DVD? Who would choose? Would there be a vote? Would the film have to be copyrighted along with all music?

Its a lot to consider.

-TacoWagonSuperFun!

KILL BILL - OPENS NATION WIDE OCTOBER 10th!!! THATS NEXT FRIDAY!!!!! AHHHH!!!!

i kinda like the idea actually. i dont know how easy it'd be to set up, but maybe if there was a way to requesst certian films... or set it up so all of the films by a certian director... might be a cool way to make a little extra revenue for the site and get some more exposure for some films. i like the idea, worth some brainstorming at least.

-Justin
http://www.lone-palm.net/

Great idea!

Who would like to volunteer to conduct the vote, handle all the orders, burn each DVD, and distribute them?

Anybody? Anybody?

maybe there should be SEVERAL DVDs.....like maybe a BEST of 1998 or BEST OF 2002, ya know?

THis way more films can be purchased and it doesn't just narrow down BEST OF EVER.

More variety.

-TacoWagonSuperFun!

KILL BILL - OPENS NATION WIDE OCTOBER 10th!!! THATS NEXT FRIDAY!!!!! AHHHH!!!!

JW - hey man, i know it'd be a lot of work. but that doesnt mean its not possible. cut the kid some slack. it's a pretty cool idea if you ask me.

-Justin
http://www.lone-palm.net/

I'll be willing to help with the DVD menus if this comes through.

Who gets the money? How much do the filmmakers get. I think it's a great idea but there is several issues to deal with.

- C. Davis
YELLOW HAMMER PRODUCTIONS

this would be great, but if we start making money off of these shorts and there is copywriteded music then we will def be noticed for infringing on the copywrite laws and it mite bring negative views to the site and its a risk i dont think is worth taking. but its jus my opinion of course.

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Mike Jones
Green Sky Productions

I think it is a great idea, I would buy it.

I think it's a great idea and I'd be willing to help with DVD authoring or whatever, but for this to work there can't be any copyright infringments. It just ain't worth the risk.

I’m glad you’re looking out for the best interest in everyone but I really do not think that many musicians come to the site looking for kids to sue for using their music. If they did sue someone..then they are pricks...we’re not trying to make millions here.

lets keep thinking about ways to fix these problems.

HOODIE PRODUCTIONS......"making it happen"

I've gotta disagree with you on this one Tyler. Stealing is stealing is stealing. The fact is, we can call someone a prick all we want to, but that doesn't change the fact that IT IS ILLEGAL TO MAKE MONEY OFF OF THEIR MUSIC WITHOUT PERMISSION. True, we probably wouldn't get caught. But how does that make it right? If someone took your film, which you worked really hard on and poured your soul into, and started selling copies of it without your permission, and they didn't give you any of the money, wouldn't you be a little upset? Why do we think that these musicians worked any less on their art than we have on ours? I'd be furious if someone made money off of something I wrote without my permission.
One more thing to consider. If you take a few royalties from John Williams, he's not going to notice. BUT - the new move in the industry is to give the musicians NOTHING up front. That is, in some cases, THE MUSICIAN'S INCOME COMES SOLELY AND COMPLETELY FROM ROYALTIES. Again, John Williams won't notice if he doesn't get a few hudred bucks in royalties. But, if I don't get my royalty checks, I can't feed my family, and I mean that quite literally. I don't buy porsches and swimming pools; I buy groceries and diapers for my kids. When you take music without paying royalties, YOU'RE TAKING AWAY SOMEONE'S INCOME. It's just the same as if I stole your paycheck. I have no right to do that, no matter how much you may not need it. If it's only a 50 cent check, IT'S STILL NOT MINE TO TAKE!

Sorry about all the caps. I get a bit touchy about this subject. Let's just remember that these musicians have worked just as hard on their craft as you have on yours. They deserve respect. They deserve not to have us steal from them. I used to download stuff and use music illegaly. But, now that I'm on the other side of the table, I understand how it can really hurt a career and a pocketbook. Let's not condone crime on this board, no matter how petty it seems. I mean, if you can't make your vision happen without breaking the law, maybe you should change your vision.

Jeremy

- www.jeremydelamarter.com -

brilliant music for brilliant films

Couldnt we just buy the dvds at the price of a blank dvd? That way no one would make any profit.

The law states that you can use copyrighted materials for educational purposes, so. . . for any profit that the DVD does make, give it to a school.

1clue3

Profit isn't the point! It's still illegal. It's still taking someone's intelectual property without permission.

I intend to make my living with intelectual property. When I previously said it wasn't worth the risk, I was thinking of me. I don't want to be afilliated with a pirated DVD. That's not a good way to increase your reputation and a pirated distributed DVD could come back to haunt me years down the line.

And giving profits to a school doesn't make it a for educational use. You couldn't even screen the DVD in a school auditorium to school kids, not charging admission. Educational use is very very finite.

Why don't you guys just download the films and make your own DVD's?

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To be is to do - Socrates
To do is to be - Jean-Paul Sartre
Do be do be do - Frank Sinatra
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Another point that I just thought of is this:

if I were the administrator of studentfilms.com. there's no way I would let someone put the name of my website on an illegal product. I mean, if we made a pirated dvd, and called it "the best of studentfilms.com," or something like that, when it all hit the fan, studentfilms.com could be shut down, and even held liable for all the financial repartations.
The whole profit thing is hazy at best. If a studio makes a picture for 50 million dollars, and it only brings in 49 million, does that mean that they don't have to pay the lisencing fees for the songs they used? Of course not. What you're paying for is the right to DISTRIBUTE. If you distribute or broadcast the music, you have to pay, regardless of whether or not you make a profit. In some cases, you're paying a fee just to sync the music to film. So, even if it just sits on the shelf for 20 years, and it never hits the theatres, you still have to pay just for the right to sync it with a motion picture. That includes ripping your favorite track off your SIGNS soundtrack and putting it in your 10 dollar film. Legally, you have to pay for the right to do that, even if no one sees it. The industry has chosen to let that one slide for the most part, recognizing that you're not making any profit off of it. It's the same reason Geroge Lucas lets fans make Star Wars films and use the name. HE DOES NOT HAVE TO DO THIS. The law is on his side, and he could prosecute if he wanted. And he'd win. The point is, the industry has already been a little generous with their product by looking the other way at sites like this. There's a gentlemans' agreement that, as long as you don't abuse it, they'll let you use their music. But, it would be their legal and moral right to prosecute if they wanted to. It's not your property to do with as you please; it's theirs. We need to understand that.

Jeremy

- www.jeremydelamarter.com -

brilliant music for brilliant films

I totally agree that it is stealing but I feel that if you are not trying to make money off of it, considering that "we" or who ever would not be making enough money to profit, but rather just pay the cost of the production of the DVDs because it will be a little pricy, then its seems okay to me. If we were making a ton of money off of our movies then I would think "yes this is not right" but I don't think its too wrong to just try an have a collection of each others movies. But then again I'm not the musician I'm the film maker. I'm not sure how I would feel if musicians were using my images and story to sell their music. Again as long as they gave me credit and were not making millions from it I would be fine with it(my opinion though, others may feel different) I guess this is a bigger problem than expected...some contracts could be made though, I really want to try to get this going. How could we deal with this music issue?

HOODIE PRODUCTIONS......"making it happen"

This site does make money...we are charged to post films...therefor any music used on this site is used in most cases with out consent..I don't think people care though because Chris makes enough money to keep the site up...See I was just thinking that as long as we are doing it in this little community of ours, we can all gain from it and not worry about people becoming upset over us making money. If you want money fro your films and music I think something could be arranged. I was just trying to say that..."hey that would be cool to have each others movies on DVD". I think everyone misunderstood. And sorry if my post seemed that ignorant, maybe I should have taken more time to explain my thoughts...I was kinda in a hurry, my bad.

I was not saying "HEY STEAL MUSIC...THAT'S COOL" not at all. I know musicians work extra hard on the music especially after working with Jeremy on Abomination...which the music was extremely well done by the way. And I was by all means not calling up and coming composers "pricks" I was referring to artist on the top 40 ya know, but maybe they deserve any little amounts of money made as well after thinking more about it.

I guess the new question still is how can we work through this? Is the music problem going to stop the DVD idea? Or can we make some kind of contract or post something that says all profits go to "which ever" wether it be the composers or some sort of charity.

Actually maybe we should wait for Chris person to comment on this topic in the first place since the site "name" is his.

So anyone have an idea? How do film festivals like "SLAM DANCE" sell their "best of" DVDs?" Maybe that would be a good start..I'll try to look into how they do it.

Sorry again not trying to upset anyone just trying to keep the idea alive! thanks!

HOODIE PRODUCTIONS......"making it happen"

[This message was edited by MIND RITE on October 11, 2003 at 09:16 PM.]