Releases

Discuss text adventures here! The classics like those from Infocom, Magnetic Scrolls, Adventure International and Level 9 and the ones we're making today.

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Tdarcos
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Releases

Post by Tdarcos »

I wanted to mension something here because I happened to see a video by a photographer on You Tube about model releases and how in some cases they are necessary.

Now, in the case of Jonsey's latest game it's such a small distribution and as such nobody is likely to notice. But use of someone's likeness requires a release if the person might object and it may also require additional provisions if it puts the person in a bad light.

Let me note I'm not talking about myself, I'm actually kind of flattered that Jonsey used my picture for one of the characters in his game.

But there is the possibility he might develop something big in the future and if someone whose picture (likeness) is used for commercial purposes - a game in this case - and someone smells money they might want to go after it.

So it's a good idea to have a model release or some paperwork indicating they approve of the use. Also, releases are not contracts so no money has to change hands for one to be valid.

Also, beyond having a model release, you may also, in certain cases, want a "false light" release, lest you be sued for defamation. If you portray someone in a bad light, e.g. you show them as suffering from AIDS, are a child molester, are a nasty villain who uses kittens for bait to attract fish, or eats puppies, that sort of thing, you could be sued if the person feels this portrays them in a bad way that is untrue, i.e. "in a false light."

The photographer in the video I saw told a story about another photographer who failed to do this. One charitable organization had a release for pictures used of a woman and a boy, but the ad it was used in showed as an example how she was a woman who had overcome her drug habit but not before her son picked it up. One problem was neither used drugs and the woman didn't know that the ad would be used to portray her negatively.

The organization that ran the ad - a public charity - had to pay quite a bit of money in damages even though they had a release, because they did not have a release for "portrayal in a false light."

You can bet every movie where someone plays the bad guy (or girl), their paperwork includes a release where the portrayal of their character is clearly stated and has been signed off.

So I wanted you to be aware of this in case you do a game where someone is shown as a villain, criminal, has a loathsome disease or is otherwise shown in a bad light. Because you could be in trouble, requiring the game be pulled and the material removed, possibly even money damages.

It's just good sense to be aware of this.
Alan Francis wrote a book containing everything men understand about women. It consisted of 100 blank pages.

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Jizaboz
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Post by Jizaboz »

I once got subpoenaed for creating a Quake II level that was a replica of a warehouse I used to work and named after the company. Had to pull (hide? heh-heh) it from my website.

They're out of business though so no harm in it now.

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Flack
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Post by Flack »

I've had two copyright violation notifications from YouTube.

The first was a video I uploaded of Christmas lights in our local park. I didn't realize it, but the radio was on in the car and the video picked up the Christmas music from the radio. I guess the copyright owner was concerned that someone was going to rip the audio from that video, as it's well known that pirates all over the world often deal in bad audio rips of Christmas tunes playing on a car radio and picked up by a cell phone. YouTube gave me the option of muting the audio or removing the video. I removed it, as it had four views which is two more than I was expecting (my mom and grandma wanted to see them -- maybe they each watched it twice).

The second was a "Literal Video" I did of the Cars' "Drive." A "Literal Video" is when you strip the audio off of a music video, release the music with a vocal-free track, and then make up comical lyrics that simply describe what is going on during the song.

This is the first one ever done, Aha's Take on Me:

[youtube][/youtube]

And here is one of my favorites, Total Eclipse of the Heart:

[youtube][/youtube]

Anyway, YouTube sent me the same email, asking me to either remove the audio to my video or delete it. What pissed me off was that the audio didn't even belong to the video -- I found a karaoke track and had used that, which wasn't who filed the claim. Anyway, having a music video with no music didn't seem to serve any purpose so I deleted it. It had a little over 100,000 views at the time I think. The dumbest thing about this is that literal videos only serve two purposes: to make people laugh, and advertise the original videos. Nobody is going to NOT buy a song because of a literal video. I would think all it could possibly do is help sales, but don't ask a guy who had to delete his. I also have no idea how some of those remain up there for years and some get deleted. There's a good one of Journey's Separate Ways that gets deleted all the time.
"I failed a savings throw and now I am back."

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RealNC
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Post by RealNC »

I once uploaded video and music with permission from the copyright holder, and still got flagged by someone claiming to own the rights.

I told them to go fuck themselves. The claim was retracted.

Go figure.

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Ice Cream Jonsey
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Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

I have a copy of the Max Headroom Pirating Incident on my channel with no watermarks or other shit that assholes have placed on it.

I got a takedown notice from THE BBC because for 10 seconds leading up to the incident, Doctor Who is playing from like 1979.

I could not believe that the BBC has no better things to do than get to that level of detail.

I told Youtube to tell them to go fuck themselves, as per RealNC, and Youtube kept it up. Then I pirated some Matt Smith-era Doctor Whos, because fuck the BBC.
the dark and gritty...Ice Cream Jonsey!

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AArdvark
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Post by AArdvark »

In my telephone video I used A Herb Alpert song and all Youtube did was to tell me that I used a Herb Alpert song. Since I knew that already I ignored it. It's still there


THE
LONG TIME
AARDVARK[/url]

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Tdarcos
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Post by Tdarcos »

AArdvark wrote:In my telephone video
I have two things to say. Your whole video shows what happens when you leave your phone on "roam". Second, I'm wondering how.

Stop motion would be difficult to do, so I'm thinking either a wheel underneath and a small string like dental floss or fishing wire, or a video trick where the phone is pasted into the video.

It was amazing, and was a good as some professional stop-motion ones, like Gulf's famous commercial for No-Nox from about 1968.

[youtube][/youtube]


And this similar film from MGM with the crazy quote. "The producers of this public safety film wish to express their gratitude to the following organizations...without whose cooperation this motion picture was made."

[youtube][/youtube]
Alan Francis wrote a book containing everything men understand about women. It consisted of 100 blank pages.

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Flack
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Post by Flack »

"Mind blowing" is apparently relative to the mind.
"I failed a savings throw and now I am back."

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