San Francisco, 5:27 PM
Sat Dec 19
18 posts in the last 24 hours
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I watched Alien again last night, and I'm amazed by the quality of the script. It's like a Howard Hawks movie, in that it's really driven by the dialogue. It could almost be a play.
I think it helps to use the phrase "Arts and Crafts" to delineate what has happened here, and why.
Whatever is the product of 'Art' (I won't even attempt to define that, but there are plenty of possible definitions here [en.wiktionary.org] ), is protected by 'copyright' for 70 years (if it was considered to be sculpture, in this case).
Whatever is the product of 'Craft' (much 'easier' to define [en.wiktionary.org] ), "the skilled practice of a practical occupation", is protected by 'copyright' for 15 years.
What appears to have swung the judgement, is the fact that although Andrew Ainsworth was an 'industrial designer' when he was employed to produce the Stormtrooper helmet back in '76, he was not paid to exercise this 'art'.
Instead he was paid only for producing the product of this 'art', in the form of a rate of £20 a piece, for 50 helmets.
Because they didn't treat him as an 'artist' and pay him for his 'art', what they got wasn't art.
It was the 'product' of a 'craft'.
This is a colossal win for 'artists' of any sort, producing any sort of 'art' for pay.
If they don't treat you right (and pay you right) at the beginning, they don't get treated right (and payed right) at the end.
People seem to be missing the point. Who cares about the nitpickey bits of copyright law, this means they're going to make Stormtrooper costumes on the cheap! And without fear of the thunderous hand of Lucas crushing them!
What about clone trooper armor? Mandalorian? The bounds are endless!
this article minces a few words in its report. the stormtrooper from star wars was not deemed utilitarian. the stormtrooper replica helmets that an independent british man was making were deemed utilitarian and not art. the guy made the helmets for lucas and the star wars film, his props were used in the movies, and he retained the mold he made himself to spec from lucas. he already lost a case in california to the tune of 20 million. the ruling establishes the creation of props as a utilitarian adventure, however the usage of the image would still fall under 'art' as defined by british law. it's a little hairy but it's as if the court ruled the the man isn't breaking the law by creating and selling the helmets but anyone that buys them would have to be really careful how they used them to avoid breaking it.
While I think that the post-Millennium Act (or whatever it's called) went too far in protecting copyrights, I completely disagree with this court's ruling. What if, instead of live action movies, Lucas made animated films or a series of comic books using Ralph McQuarrie's original designs as the basis for his Stormtroopers? Would it be considered art then? McQ's design here: [www.originalprop.com]
Anyhow, not the first court ruling I've disagreed with, and I'm sure it won't be the last.
I'm pretty sure this only applies to the look/design. So, you couldn't have a Meet the Stormtroopers show based in the Star Wars universe ... you could simply have a character that is dressed as a Stormtrooper, but the first time you begin to riff off of the still copyrighted movies/books/comics/etc, you're at risk.
He's actually not Sgt. Pinback, but I'll leave that tidbit for the folks who haven't yet seen Dark Star. Some call it slow, I call it hysterically brilliant! Remember, it was made before Star Wars, so Trek, Silent Running, and 2001: A Space Odyssey were the main sources of sci-fi for that era.
Benson, Arizona the same stars fill the sky. The nights seemed so much kinder when we watched them, you and I. R.I.P.
I'd forgotten about his involvement in the Jodoworsky Dune. Now *that* was a batsh*t crazy production. (Sample tidbit: Salvador Dali was supposed to play the emperor. He demanded that he be paid more than any other actor to that point, even though he would only be working for a day. Seriously - google this. It would have been the most insane movie ever made)
Thinking about it, O'Bannon is responsible for many of the things that scared the crap out of me the most as a young'un. Even as an adult, I saw his zombie airman segment in Heavy Metal and it freaked the hell out of me. He was definitely on the vanguard when it comes to zombies and body horror.
@Wookie1972: Lifeforce "ruined"!? You mean it could've been even better? Seriously, I do love that movie. I guess for some Naked Space Vampire Movie is a negative. Not for this guy.
And I did get a chuckle out of that until they showed Riker smirking at the viewscreen at which point it turned into a full on LOL.
@Wookie1972: Cameron deserves the credit for the awesome AlienS. It was the respectable sequel to the hard to follow classic Alien that O'Bannon, Giger, Ronald Shusett, Ron Cobb, Moebius, Ridley Scott and others.
@John Hazard: Nonetheless, I've heard people say how Cameron "made" the Alien franchise, which really annoys me (yes, I fully admit, I don't like the guy) which ignores the fact that the first movie was a colossal hit, and the first major horror/sci fi combination.
@John Hazard: Fair enough. It just bugs the hell out of me when *some* act like Cameron took this little cult movie and made a big sequel to it. The fact is that Alien was HUGE when it first came out. I was way too young to see it at the time, but I remember the iconic posters and people talking about the chest-bursting scene. I actually saw Aliens first, but when I saw the original, it was kind of like seeing 2001 after seeing 2010: improved FX did not make for a better movie.
@firstofnormalin: Didn't know that. Cool. Van Vogt is from my hometown. ALthough I read that one of the influences on the "chest burster" was his battle with Crohn's disease.
@Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.: Its not my fault. I was young. I didn't know. It is on my netflixs list now. Have a heart. Didn't you ever do anything foolish?
@LittleDragon: I saw it a long, long, long time ago on TV late one night. Only line I remember is "we just got your last transmission. Got great reviews in the trades."
02:54 PM
09:33 AM
Whatever is the product of 'Art' (I won't even attempt to define that, but there are plenty of possible definitions here [en.wiktionary.org] ), is protected by 'copyright' for 70 years (if it was considered to be sculpture, in this case).
Whatever is the product of 'Craft' (much 'easier' to define [en.wiktionary.org] ), "the skilled practice of a practical occupation", is protected by 'copyright' for 15 years.
What appears to have swung the judgement, is the fact that although Andrew Ainsworth was an 'industrial designer' when he was employed to produce the Stormtrooper helmet back in '76, he was not paid to exercise this 'art'.
Instead he was paid only for producing the product of this 'art', in the form of a rate of £20 a piece, for 50 helmets.
Because they didn't treat him as an 'artist' and pay him for his 'art', what they got wasn't art.
It was the 'product' of a 'craft'.
This is a colossal win for 'artists' of any sort, producing any sort of 'art' for pay.
If they don't treat you right (and pay you right) at the beginning, they don't get treated right (and payed right) at the end.
FTW!
10:53 AM
09:06 AM
What about clone trooper armor? Mandalorian? The bounds are endless!
08:54 AM
07:45 AM
Anyhow, not the first court ruling I've disagreed with, and I'm sure it won't be the last.
07:41 AM
07:30 AM
12/18/09
Benson, Arizona the same stars fill the sky. The nights seemed so much kinder when we watched them, you and I. R.I.P.
10:28 AM
12/18/09
He will be missed indeed. SF movies wouldn't be what they are without him.
12/18/09
12/18/09
12/18/09
Didn't laugh once, and I loved Blue Harvest.
12/18/09
ROTLD was pure, unadulterated genius.
12/18/09
12/18/09
12/18/09
12/18/09
And I did get a chuckle out of that until they showed Riker smirking at the viewscreen at which point it turned into a full on LOL.
12/18/09
12/18/09
Nitpick!
12/18/09
12/18/09
12/18/09
12/18/09
12:44 PM
Who borrowed the idea of an acid blooded outerspace alien who lays eggs inside the crew members like a predator wasp from A.E. van Vogt.
02:34 PM
12/18/09
(on side note I really need to watch this clip's movie. Attacked and tickled by a giant beach ball)
12/18/09
OMG! Go rent it before I petition to have your star taken away!
01:23 AM
02:35 PM