I strongly disagree with Pip’s suggestion to get authorization. To even make an inquiry reveals an intention and an awareness of possible legal ramifications that does two things:
1. the rights holder may well demand an exorbitant fee, and there’s no way to re-negotiate that; you’ve undercut your own position. (if you don’t believe me, try to get rights by sending a letter to Disney Corp for one frame grab of any Disney film). The people you are often dealing with are not artists but low level lawyers whose job is to extract as much money as possible out of the rights. —Yes they have a case: you shouldn’t be able to take a frame grab of a Disney film and put it on a T-shirt and sell it without them giving permission, forming a contract, and you paying them part of the proceeds. HOWEVER the exact same procedure is used for someone wanting to use an image in a critical essay in a film journal or a PhD dissertation: pay up front or you face endless threats of "cease and desist” letters, threats of lawsuits, or actual suits (these people have nothing else to do; they get paid to harass you.) 2. the law on copying of “copyrighted” images varies greatly by country and jurisdiction. For example, in he USA, the Society for Cinema and Media Studies has conducted many years of campaigning and advocacy for the right to use frame grab images in academic/critical publications without permission or paying for “rights” when the intent is clearly intellectual and critical. Think Bordwell and Thompson’s textbook: FILM ART, AN INTRODUCTION. Details and a position paper on the SCMS website Also essential: the work of Patricia Aufderheide at American University’s Center for Social Media. www.centerforsocialmedia.org<http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org> which has worked to fight for the rights of creative people (especially in documentary forms)—e.g. your are filming/taping an interview on the street and a passing car goes by with the strains of a Kanye West or Taylor Swift song being heard….you should NOT have to pay the “rightsholder” any fee for this accidental arrival of a thin slice of reality in your environment. But the above mentioned lawyers want the law enforced so you do have to pay full freight. Today most (but not all) US university presses follow the SCMS guidelines: look at the webistes for ms. submission for Duke, California, NYU, etc. for a rough guildeline. However, fair warning, UK publishers tend to be incredibly backward and chicken about these matters. I’d say get your images first without asking anyone anything. Then if your book ms is accepted, negotiate with the press. You may well have to fight for what you wants to do—university presses often use the university’s own law office which is filled with experts on the patents end of “intellectual property” and also real estate transactions…they do not understand art or the humanities. On Sep 30, 2015, at 10:06 AM, Pip Chodorov <framewo...@re-voir.com<mailto:framewo...@re-voir.com>> wrote: Dear Jihoon Kim, 안녕하세요 DVDs are not high-resolution. You can only get standard definition compressed screen grabs. Moreover as a film distributor I advise you to seek authorization and high quality stills from the filmmakers or rights holders. Good luck! Pip Chodorov (FrameWorks founder and progessor of film at Dongguk University, Seoul!) At 1:44 +0900 1/10/15, Ji-hoon Felix Kim wrote: Anyone who can advise me how to obtain high-resolution (600dpi) screen grabs from DVDs? I'm in preparation for my book manuscript and want to include some frame grabs as its accompanied illustrations. _______________________________________________ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com<mailto:FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks Chuck Kleinhans Associate Professor Emeritus Radio/TV/Film Dept. Northwestern University co-editor, JUMP CUT: a review of contemporary media www.ejumpcut.org<http://www.ejumpcut.org> chuck...@northwestern.edu<mailto:chuck...@northwestern.edu>
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