Forum - View topicAnswerman - Evil Answerman
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Utsuro no Hako
Posts: 1034 |
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While putting a commentary on YouTube would be illegal, there's nothing stopping someone from someone releasing an audio file which a viewer can just play while watching an episode. I know Mike Nelson has done this, and the Film Sack podcast does it occasionally as well. But you definitely need a talented group to make it work.
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ChibiKangaroo
 Posts: 2941 |
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kngofharts22: This is one solution. Also, if you really want to do it in a live or youtube video format, your primary option would be to not show the audio or video from the actual show, but display something else on the screen while you are talking (like some original artwork or something). This might not be so awkward if you are having 2 or 3 people talking, with one person sort of summarizing what is going on in the show in real time. Similar to the audio file option, you would probably want to set it up so that a viewer could time your video commentary with them starting the show on their own tv/computer. You could for example show a cue card at the beginning that says "Start anime now," but you would have to take account for commercial breaks. It would also probably be wise to have a clock shown somewhere on the screen which keeps record of where exactly you are in the episode at any given time in case the viewer needs to re-synch. |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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Yeah, one of the biggest things about this that nobody ever really seems to be willing to say is that the odds that these guys are actually funny are really low. It comes from the idea that "hey my buddies and I crack eachother up making dumb jokes while watching anime in my living room, we should take this act on the road!" when really the only people who are going to enjoy your jokes are you. The MST/Rifftrax guys work with a team of writers and watch the films over and over again, it isn't just off-the-cuff stuff they came up with during one viewing, and they're trained, experienced comedy writers. It's a bad idea for two reasons: 1. illegal and 2. you're probably not funny. So yeah. |
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Tuor_of_Gondolin
 Posts: 3524 Location: Bellevue, WA |
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Sir, in my heart, I know I'm funny.
Thank you, Lieutenant. |
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cjovalle
Posts: 31 |
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I'm never a fan of blanket "that's absolutely illegal" answers. While the particular course of action is *very likely* copyright infringement, and more importantly the risk is likely too high for a reasonable person to proceed along those lines, copyright law is a lot squishier than some give it credit for. My go-to phrase when I teach copyright: the answer to almost every copyright question is "it depends."
For example, if you had your heart set on doing something along those lines, ChibiKangaroo's suggestion might work- or you could do it without using the entire episode. You could use short clips and have a much greater chance of not infringing. (There is, of course, still an associated risk.) |
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Kenshiroh
Posts: 28 |
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The person who asked the question should look into RiffTrax's iRiffs. They host fan-made commentaries. |
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ChibiKangaroo
Posts: 2941 |
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Also, my suggestion would be NOT to do it as comedy writing, but to instead do it more as just friendly conversation among buddies/pals who are watching this show. I think the best humor from normal people such as ourselves often comes from natural interaction, rather than actual attempts at being funny. If you attempt to write a bunch of jokes or try to pull off a MST3000 type parody show, there is a high chance that your jokes will fall flat and you will instantly kill any viewership. However, if instead it is more just a fun/irreverent conversation about this or that particular anime show, the audience might just be able to connect with what you are saying and have fun.
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EireformContinent
 Posts: 977 Location: Łódź/Poland (The Promised Land) |
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What does fair use say about that? You can "quote" intellectual property without permission while criticising and reviewing, but does it make extract statement about "amount" of original work you can use? Common sense says that whole episode certainly violate all laws possible, but where is the borderline?
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HitokiriShadow
 Posts: 6251 |
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This is certainly a big part of why I import and the main reason I would bring it up in discussion with non-importers.
Visual media companies have apparently largely decided that it means "any of it". |
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The King of Harts
 Posts: 6712 Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia |
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I can't say I'm a big fan of how Justin skipped right over the part where I bring up how video companies let people make careers out of streaming the entirety of their games online without paying them so that he could jumped straight into turning a legitimate inquiry into a joke about "crushing my dreams" and helping me "dodge a bullet". I know my question revolved around the legality as far as anime is concerned, but I added the part with video game youtubers for a reason that I thought you'd catch on to. Basically, why are people like PewDiePie and TobyGames able to make livings off of the hard work of video game companies, but anime fans can't post AMVs without fear. I also added the part with R1 companies since it's been my understanding that anime clubs across the country used to work with R1 companies to do public screenings during the boom era. To, you know, avoid legal problems. Again, I thought maybe you would've read into that and extrapolated on it a little bit, but I was wrong yet again.
If I had the foresight to see that this would've have been your response, I would've written a more appropriate question; one consisting of two, maybe three sentences with a couple misspelled words and I would've made a new email address called DuBzRtHeSuKzOrZ to specifically send in this question. I also would've sent it yesterday in the afternoon when I assume you start finalizing the piece instead of sending it earlier in the week (Saturday, actually) so that you would have time to think out a clear and thoughtful answer while juggling all the other work you do. Hindsight is 20/20. But thanks anyways, Justin!
What the fudge? You have no idea what I would've done. You don't know I wouldn't had written out scripts. You don't know I wouldn't of rehearsed it several times with people I think could execute the concept. You also don't even fully grasp what the idea was:
Nowhere in there does it say I'm trying to be some kind of loud, joke-cracking, Stephen Foster/Team Four Star wannabe. Commentary with the appropriate people and source material can be thought-provoking and/or funny. The thought was to talk about anime while watching anime. Clearly episodes revolving around School Rumble would've been lighter than those with Haibane Renmei. It's really not different from the ANNcast where you give insights to the anime industry, but also make light commentary when appropriate. Hell, you make entire podcasts dedicated to shooting the shit, which means you're under the assumption people think you're funny, or at the very least entertaining enough in your own right to keep afloat an entire hour of nothing but two guys taking questions and talking. And before you roll your eyes thinking you "hurt my feelings", keep in mind that I'm perfectly OK. What I'm not is a pushover willing sit idly by and be treated unfairly in a team effort. Justin's "here we go again" answer and your assumption that I'm some kind halfhearted, frat boy seem very unfair. I wasn't asking if it was a good or bad idea, because, honestly, I don't know if it is myself and only execution can decide that anyways, but you two seemed to decide that's where you wanted to take your responses for who knows why. I guess you thought you were being funny. Last edited by The King of Harts on Fri Sep 27, 2013 2:36 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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cjovalle
Posts: 31 |
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Intellectual property is a catch-all term describing several different parts of the law. In this case, it's copyright. Criticizing and review tends to fall under fair use, as do a number of other uses, but it's going to depend on the specific circumstances of the use. Just note that other types of law have different ways of determining whether a given use is or is not fair. Under US copyright law, there's no hard and fast "bright line" test (excepting a mid 2000s sixth circuit decision regarding musical sampling). Fair use is entirely dependent on circumstance. There are cases when using the entirety of a work is fair, and cases when using very little of a work might not be fair. Generally speaking, fair use considers the purpose of the use, the nature of the work, the amount used, and the effect on the market in total (instantiated in 17 USC 107). It's intentionally vague, among other reasons so as not to preclude speech- but when it was written, digital works weren't really considered. |
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Happiness for Subaru
 Subscriber Posts: 242 |
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I think they were being honest.
Oh, and being professional. It gives a bad impression when someone working in the industry encourages pushing the envelope of copyright infringement of their colleagues' work, yes? |
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ChibiKangaroo
Posts: 2941 |
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The standard is essentially "however much is necessary to do the legitimate criticism/review, and nothing more." In general application, this is going to be a relatively small amount. The amount "necessary" is rarely going to be high, because I could technically give a wide ranging critique of pretty much any media without showing a single screen shot or playing a single piece of audio from it. (This may vary quite a bit in the case of parody however, but that's another issue). Whether or not the exact amount you use is covered under fair use will be up to a judge. If he or she believes you used too much, they will hold you liable. If they think you took a reasonable amount, then you are fine. When you are dealing with written word, the danger of infringement is high if you take large sections of the work and reprint word for word. In some cases, it can even be infringing if you took small sections if they are deemed the "crucial" part of the work. When dealing with pictures, the danger of infringement is a little lower because it is difficult to only take a small portion of a picture when you are critiquing the whole thing. When dealing with audio/visual (tv/movies and the like) it is a bit of a hybrid situation I think. You could probably get away with showing a few scenes from a show (which is what most reviewers do), but if you showed large sections of the show or "crucial" sections, that could be infringement rather than fair use. This is all general info, if you have a specific use in mind you should consult legal counsel 
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The King of Harts
Posts: 6712 Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia |
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I asked about the legality of such an idea and inquired about how Youtubers get away with similar actions so easily, not what they thought about the actual idea. I got an answer reeking of Oh Boy Not Again-ness that only addressed part of the question and an uncalled for slight where Zac assumes I'm unfunny and that I wouldn't put in the effort necessary to make it work based off an incorrect idea of what I was actually thinking. If I had asked straight for opinions, I would keep my mouth shut because I do not back away from criticism. However, that's not what I intended when typing out that question. I honestly didn't think there would've been any second thought on the quality of the idea and I only included those minute details to provide context for the actual question. I got the simple answer of "Yes, it's illegal" with a heaping helping of unnecessary and uncalled for baggage. |
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Raikuro
Posts: 347 |
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It's pretty obvious that Let's Plays can't replicate actually playing the game, so video game companies likely see it as free advertising, while doing the same thing with an anime is essentially replicating the entire product for free consumption.
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