One of my most favorite conferences of the year is the Making Your Media Matter Conference. It is put on by American University’s Center for Social Media. This is the place to go if you are interested in the intersection of film, video, documentary, web video and social change. And you should be interested — this is the most important communications method available to nonprofit organizations. We are moderating the panel on short-shorts and new platforms.
Here’s the info on the conference. It is small and ALWAYS sells out — so reserve your spot.
The Center for Social Media is sponsoring the Making Your Media Matter conference on Feb. 7-8 at American University. The conference, geared towards established and aspiring filmmakers, non-profit communications leaders, funders and students, is a place where leading-edge practitioners learn and share cutting-edge practices for creating media that matters. The conference will feature panel discussions on the latest tools and trends in creating and distributing social issue media, including panels on games for social change, intercultural media, and short-shorts and new platforms; demos of cutting edge practices; networking opportunities as well as the chance to hear from our keynote speakers, filmmaker Byron Hurt and outreach expert Sonya Childress. Click here to register and learn more.
SPACE IS LIMITED! REGISTER NOW TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A SPOT
I am here at the Yearly Kos Convention which is being held in Chicago, home of See3 Communications. For the uninitiated, Yearly Kos is a gathering of what’s called the Netroots – liberal/left bloggers who have changed the face of American politics. Kos comes from the website DailyKos, which is the top rated left/liberal blog and one of the most trafficked blogs online. Last year, the bloggers and community around the website DailyKos decided to meet in person. And because all the bloggers were coming, so came the politicians and the organizations wanting to get this community writing about these issues.
Right now I am in a session called Video for Change. Of course this is what we do here at See3. The people on the panel are all talking about hour-long or feature length documentaries. Interesting, but honestly not something that is really in the grasp of most organizations or individuals. Two of the panelists are from Robert Greenwald’s shop, Brave New Films. They do hard-hitting documentaries designed to make change – against Fox News or Wal-Mart.
I spoke at a conference with Robert Greenwald — the Make Your Documentary Matter conference from American University’s Center for Social Media. And one thing he said was that he does not believe you can make a film to be great — as in Oscar great — and make a film designed to make change. According to Greenwald, these things require different sets of choices that are not compatible.
In the session right now, Adam Chapnick from DocWorkers.com is speaking about talking to the organizations that are interested in the issue before you make the film — rather than simply making the film you want to make and then seeking an organization that can help you distribute it. In contrast, our focus at See3 is on empowering the organizations to make the films that advance their mission themselves.
Jim Gilliam is speaking now about the Wal-Mart film they did. He is saying that the research was a mix of what they got themselves and what the organizations — such as the unions — had done over time. They are talking about how the film was distributed in more than 7,000 screenings – school groups, unions, home screenings, church groups, etc.
Tracy Fleischman from Brave New Theaters is talking now about online marketing of the films. First, set up a website. She is saying that the site should be as much of a resource as possible, so people interested in the issue can use the site for research. Made short ads, had people vote on the title of the film, had people voting on different covers for the film — lots of ways to get people involved.
Adam is saying that you need to have people feel ownership — send us your videos or photos, vote on something, the more time people sign something or click the more likely they are to go the next step. He is also saying what we know from all internet marketing — create landing pages that are specific for specific types of groups and audiences.
Tracy now talking about how Brave New Films is focusing on short-form video and not the feature length pieces as they did in the past. For example, they have a site called FoxAttacks.com which is using short pieces to advocate for specific issues — for example trying to get the Nevada Democratic Party to not have a debate on Fox News.
“Fair Use” is a legal term that is getting a lot of play lately. I have written about this before because it is so important to those of us making media. Fair Use is a carve-out of copyright law that says that though someone may own this TV show or movie or song, you can use it, or part of it, in certain ways without having to pay them if it falls under the Fair Use principle. Criticism, for example, is fair use. If I want to write a book review and I print an excerpt from the book, that is fair use. Same for a movie review.
Another area of fair use is parody. I can make fun of something and not need to pay them. So the record company tried, but failed to get paid for this funny video using “I Will Survive”
The problem with Fair Use is that there is no totally clear standard. The good news seems to me to be that while media companies send out a lot of cease and desist letters these days, they also back down when someone chooses to fight them. The worst case for them is to lose in court and then have legally created a stronger fair use standard.
The folks at American University’s Center for Social Media are hosting a dialog on Fair Use with OneWorld. You can “Ask the Experts” online. Patricia Aufderheide, the Center’s Director and a good friend of See3 and DoGooderTV, was interviewed this morning on NPR on the issue of fair use. You can listen to the story here.
The legal concept of “fair use” is very important to our business and is an issue you really care about, even if you don’t know it. Fair use is a carve-out of copyright law that allows people to use copyrighted material for certain uses. Parody is a great example of fair use. For example, Saturday Night Live can do a skip making fun of American Idol without having to purchase rights to that show. And, for example, we used some Jimi Hendrix in this video for Amnesty International and we didn’t pay for it. (You can learn more about Fair Use from our friends at American University’s Center for Social Media.)
The issue of fair use is complicated because there is no one to go to that will tell you if your use qualifies. The only definitive way to know is if you are sued. The dynamic here is interesting because even big media companies don’t have a big interest in suing too often and for something that just might qualify. The reason is that they might lose and the bar for fair use might be set in a way they don’t want it.
MoveOn and Brave New Films did a parody of Stephen Colbert called “Stop the Falsiness.” Viacom, the owners of Comedy Central, issued a take-down notice under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and the video disappeared from YouTube. MoveOn and Brave New Films, with the help of a great organization called the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), sued Viacom because they said this is clearly a case of fair use. Viacom backed down and the video is back up. And in exchange for dropping the suit, Viacom agreed on all kinds of consessions. From the EFF press release:
… The lawsuit was filed in federal court last month, after a parody of “The Colbert Report” was removed from YouTube following a meritless copyright complaint by Viacom. The humorous video, called “Stop the Falsiness,” was created by MoveOn and BNF using clips from the Comedy Central television series. It was a tongue-in-cheek commentary on Colbert’s portrayal of the right-wing media and parodied MoveOn’s own reputation for earnest political activism.
Viacom initially denied sending the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice that resulted in the removal of the video from YouTube, while saying it had no objection to “Stop the Falsiness.” However, Viacom later conceded it was the source of the demand and admitted error in taking action against the parody.
In the course of discussions with EFF and FUP, Viacom described the steps it endorses for protecting fair use and free expression as it targets copyright infringement on Internet video sites. This includes: manual review of every video that is a potential DMCA takedown target, training reviewers to avoid issuing takedown requests for fair use, and publicly stating that it does not challenge use of Viacom materials that are “creative, newsworthy or transformative” and are “a limited excerpt for non commercial purposes.”
Furthermore, in reaction to the MoveOn/BNF suit, Viacom moved the ball forward for Internet users’ rights. In order to address any similarly erroneous takedown notices in the future, Viacom has agreed to set up a website and email “hotline,” promising a review of any complaint within one business day and a reinstatement if the takedown request was in error.
