Star Wars Revelations
p2pnet.net News View:- Today I ran across “Star Wars: Revelations,” a coming low budget fan film based on the Star Wars universe.
My first thought was: What would George Lucas the rights holder, think of this? He’s been confronted many times before with fans editing, adapting and distributing his works out of love. But does he launch actions against them out of fear?
Star Wars Revelations, a 40-minute feature that’s sophisticated by fan-film standards, is based on the Star Wars universe. It’s a provocative prelude to the May 19 release of the sixth Lucasfilm in the Star Wars series, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
The official site is here, and there’s a trailer here. And it’s free !
How far can you go?
There are varying degrees of using works by others to make your “own”. For example; a parody on a work is considered non-infringing.
At the other end of the spectrum are fan subbed Anime flicks which leave the complete work intact except for the translations. I’ve stated my thoughts on that in Subtitles, Copyright and Anime.
And in between you have many ways of adapting and editing, or remixing, established works.
Some need more sweat than others to produce and Revelations is using its own script, actors, costumes and occasional decors to develop a story.
However, the Star Wars format and characters are copyright-protected, much like in sitcoms formats. The law will stop short of copyrighting Sci-fi entirely and that’s how it should be. But one can feel the strain.
As I mentioned earlier, George has been through this already. A well-documented incident involved Star Wars Episode 1.1 – The Phantom Edit. A fan used footage from the DVD Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace to make a revision. That incident took on a life of its own. Read more here.
To my knowledge, the official Lucas Ltd stance is: it doesn’t have a problem with it as long as people don’t sell their works. George Lucas was even a judge at the official Star Wars Fan Film Awards at Atoms Films.
But not only Star Wars bears the brunt of disgruntled fans coming up with their own versions.
A famously distributed fan edit version named the Matrix Recut used footage from the Matrix game and the Matrix Reloaded movie to make a more viewable edit.
Remixing culture
Lawrence Lessig, author of Free Culture, is also active supporter of the practice of freely remixing works.
In a public appearance at the New York Public Library last week, he spoke of exploring the right to share, mix and burn.
As the New York Times reported:
“Mr. Lessig said that ‘the freedom to remix, not just words, but culture’ was critical in the development of unforeseen works of art. He pointed to ‘The Grey Album,’ produced by the D.J. Danger Mouse, a remix of the Beatles’ ‘White Album’ and Jay-Z’s ‘Black Album’ that resulted in a wholly new and unexpected piece of music”
Raymond Blijd – fk2w
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April 15th, 2005 at 5:48 pm
Impressive work…
April 16th, 2005 at 2:20 am
Major characters are generally protected by trademark/Copyright in and of themselves. While it would be a stretch to sue them for copyright infringement based on the “format”.. it would be a slam dunk under trademark laws, specifically the star wars name and any major characters used therein.
April 16th, 2005 at 2:22 am
It makes good points and is a lesson to brash organizations like the RIAA/MPAA.
Additionally, it’s well balanced and COMPLETELY true.. take it from me.
April 16th, 2005 at 10:16 am
Even though I totally support the remixing and retooling of ideas on screen, have you seen this trailer? I mean, come on…it’s utter crap.
April 17th, 2005 at 12:25 am
You’re right, suits are mostly combined but success with trademarks is greater