We frequently get questions from video creators about the rules for making use of other creators’ work in their own projects.

If a piece of art was created so long ago that its copyright has expired and it’s since fallen into the public domain, you’re free to make use of it any way that you want. (To learn more about using archival footage in your videos, check out our  informative Archival Storytelling book) But if a piece of art is still under copyright, you’ll want to make sure that you’re in the clear. Most U.S. Creators are aware of a legal doctrine here in the States called “fair use,” an exception to copyright law that lets you make use of copyrighted material for your own artistic purposes. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of confusion about exactly what constitutes fair use. Let’s try and clear up some of the misconceptions so you can better understand when you can incorporate others’ material into your videos.

(First, please be aware that nothing said by Videomaker should be construed as legal advice. If you’re really worried about your rights, you should consult an attorney or legal expert before you make any rash decisions.)

Here are some common misconceptions that we see from video creators:

“This counts as Fair Use because I gave credit to the original artist.” Giving credit where it’s due is always a best practice – and just good manners. However, giving credit does NOT instantly bestow fair use protection upon you. At best, a polite tip of the hat may encourage the original artist to allow you to use their work for free. But this is entirely up to the artist’s discretion. They don’t have to let you use their work just because you acknowledged that they are the original creator and, if they don’t like what you’ve done, they can still try to make you remove it.

“I’m not making any money off of this, so it must be fair use.” Again, whether or not you make money can be a consideration in fair use, but it is not dispositive. In fact, some fair use works can be sold for profit. The fact that you’re not profiting may again make the original artist more sympathetic to your case, but it doesn’t mean that you’re automatically covered by fair use.

“I found this original artwork on the Internet, so obviously it’s free for me to use.” Just because an artist places his or her work on the Internet does not mean that they are giving you carte blanche permission to use it as you will. The same copyright restrictions that apply offline still apply online.

Again, acknowledging that you don’t own the original artistic work, giving credit to the original artist or using a work without any intention to profit will often encourage an original artist to let you use his work, but it does not necessarily mean that your work will fall under fair use.

You’ll always want to make sure that you’ve got your rights protected when you put together a video project.  Besides Archival Storytelling, you can get more help in keeping your project legally in the clear with our Indie Film/Video Legal Documents DVD.

We all knew it was coming. Ever since Google bought YouTube back in 2006, there’s been constant talk that Google may some day launch it’s own premium original programming on the popular video uploading site. As expected, Google announced in October that it planned on investing over 100 million dollars (that’s right, 100 with six zeroes after it) in order to get quality original content. During that time they also leaked a few of the big celebrity names that had signed on to the project such as Ashton Kutcher, Shaquille O’Neal, Tony Hawk, Jay-Z, and Madonna. There was no talk about the format behind each of these videos but given the names of some of the producers that they listed, you can be sure that they’ll be specific channels on music, movies, and sports – which all happen to be some of the hardest mediums to break into.

Shortly thereafter, YouTube also unveiled their movie and television streaming service which means that not only will YouTube be serving up videos of people’s crazy antics around the world, it will be serving up content from established entertainment providers and from their own user-created library as well. If all of this works out for Google, they will not only be the largest online repository of user-created and established entertainment company videos.  That may make them a force to be feared in the video world.

The reasoning behind this move is a desire for Google to get people to stay on their site longer (for advertising purposes) as well as being a vehicle for instant niche content which Google feels it’s uniquely suited to do. This niche market idea will also have the benefit of giving advertisers a more targeted audience to reach for less money than it would take to do a more generic campaign. In addition, the people and companies that Google is in the process of recruiting will be able to share in part of the ad revenues giving them a real incentive to make sure quality content is always available on the site.

Google plans on grabbing a big cut of the $300 billion television industry with this idea and with all of the cash and human resource reserves they have, they could very well make that desire into a reality. This means that if Google succeeds, we may end up seeing a day where we no longer give our edited video content to cable channels, but to YouTube instead.

What  if you could make professional grade video the first time you picked up a camera? Videomaker’s new free report “8 Tips for a Stellar First Video” will show you how to become a better videographer on your first shoot.

Maybe you’ve wanted to make video for a while; maybe you just caught the video bug recently. Either way, something’s holding you back – maybe you’re worried that any video you make will look amateurish next to those made by long-time video enthusiasts. We know that initial step can be daunting when you feel like you don’t know the first thing about making video. You feel the passion to create and share video stories but it seems like there’s so much to learn first.

No more excuses! Videomaker’s “8 Tips for a Stellar First Video” is exactly the resource created for you. It’s written with the eager young newbie in mind, so you don’t need to have any familiarity with video equipment to get the most out of these tips.

Learn:

• How to make sure that, before you even start, you have everything to finish
• The Two Easy Steps to Handling your Video Camera like a pro… and getting the same great footage.
• How to organize your thoughts into a video story
• The Secret to shooting footage that looks good on any screen.
• How video is different than real life… and how you can use that to your advantage.
• The single most important tip for keeping an audience interested. This remarkably simple tip will free you from the old style of thinking that holds you back and let you see the world the way the video pros do.
• The biggest mistake that can sink a first video and how you can avoid it.

“8 Tips for a Stellar First Video” is a quick and easy read for even the greenest video lover, but we didn’t want to leave you with obvious, philosophical tips that wouldn’t actually help you. That’s why we’ve picked the eight tips that you can start applying the moment you pick up a camera.

You can pick these tips out after hours of studying film theory or you figure them out after days of trial and error – or you can get them all here, collected in one place, in just minutes.

Download your FREE report 8 Tips for a Stellar First Video and start learning today!

First a new pricing strategy, and now this. Netflix just announced that it will be splitting its streaming and by-mail video rental service into two brands hosted on two separate websites. Netflix will keep its original name for their once popular streaming service, but will be reorganizing it’s by-mail rental service into a different brand called Qwikster (a name that promises to bring about a fair bit of irony in the future). This comes on the heels of news that Netflix lost almost 1 million subscribers due to its new pricing policies and that various partners such as Starz and Sony are looking to pull out of their popular streaming service.

As anyone can imagine, this has come as a bit of a shock to current Netflix subscribers which prompted CEO Reed Hastings to respond to these concerns in a video online. In it, he tries to put out a few fires by revealing that both websites will be able to communicate with one another allowing subscribers’ ratings and favorites to stay consistent. He also tried to put a good face on the split by mentioning that it will allow them to update and improve both websites faster.

Whatever the case will be, this is certainly ominous news. Especially with new streaming services entering the market from companies like Redbox, Amazon, Sony, and even Facebook, it will be harder than ever to convince subscribers to try and learn how to use both services. Even more so when a splitting company usually signals a tanking market.

Of a more ominous nature, is the second guessing of many video streaming content providers. Just last month, Fox announced their plans to delay new shows on Hulu by 8 days. This was probably to encourage more people to buy Hulu Plus and other premium services, but is a blow to the traffic Hulu would usually receive. In a similar manner, Sony’s pullout from Netflix was probably an effort to drive more people to its streaming service called Crackle. Both of these events seem to be the start of an unfortunate trend of content providers leaving popular services. The logical conclusion is that instead of logging into one site for all of your content needs, it will be necessary to log in to several websites at once to watch programming. This seems like a disaster for both companies like Netflix and for the public at large. The simple truth is, everybody wants to have an easy way to access all of their favorite content without having to jump through several hoops to do it. Hopefully sometime in the future these companies will agree….but you shouldn’t hold your breath on this one.

Lighting green screens can be tricky. There are many factors that must be addressed in order to get results that are not only effective, but believable. Properly lighting your green screen is a good place to start, and lighting your subject in a manner that sells the effect will also help. However, where you place your subject in relation to the background will determine the ease in which you can key the it in post production.

The problem with light is that it wants to go everywhere, and where it can’t go it will certainly leave a shadow. This becomes a problem when attempting to light a green screen. If your subject’s key light throws a shadow on the background, it will be harder to key out during post production. If the green screen reflects onto your subject, your subject will be bathed in a greenish hue, which will obliterate any chance of the effect looking real.

There is a simple way to solve both of these green screen lighting blunders: pull your subject further away from the green screen. By increasing the distance between the subject and the background you’ll be able to avoid shadows cast by your subject. Increasing the distance between your subject and the green screen will also decrease the possibility of light reflecting off of the green screen and onto your subject. Additionally, it’s a good idea to keep the green screen limited to one wall of your studio. Outfitting an entire studio in a green screen chroma may seem like a good idea, but it will lead to a higher risk of spill since the light will be reflecting off of each surface.

Understanding how light behaves will help you get around problems it can cause. Reducing the amount of blunders in your green screen lighting will ultimately save you time and energy during post production while allowing you to create believable green screen effects.

Good videographers seek out projects that challenge them, taking them out of their comfort zone and requiring them to hone new skills and refine old ones. With this in mind, Videomaker has developed a comprehensive line of Video-On-Demand titles covering virtually every detail of good video production. Order 3 or more and save 30%. Learn more.

Interested in more video tips? Sign up for Videomaker’s free email training course. This free tip series is designed to help you improve your video production skills, fast.