Copyright
Copyright in Film
All products are protected by the copyright, designs and
patents act of 1988 – this is the copyright law for the UK. It gives the owner
of the product or text to control which ways their material will be used. A
product is an idea, visual, or tangible thing that the owner has thought of or
created. The product becomes copyright protected the moment it’s made and
belongs to the owner until the owner gives up ownership or the duration of the
law reaches its due date. e.g the moment a person takes a picture, they own
that picture and people have to ask for permission to use that image. However,
you need to apply for trademarks (product names, logos etc.), registered
designs (packaging, colours etc.) and patents as they aren’t automatically
copyright protected. For my film, I have to ensure that I have the rights to use the song in the background as it can be copyright protected, especially since I found it on YouTube.
Duration Time
For films the product is copyright protected for 70 years
after the last director, author or composer dies (if it wasn’t released to the
public), or 70 years from when it was first released to the public through
authorised performance, broadcast or any other form of authorised distribution
and exhibition.
Intellectual Property
Intellectual property is a concept that a person or brand
has, it’s not a tangible product e.g Batman, and no other companies other than
DC and Warner Bros. can use the name and identity of Batman in films unless
allowed by the companies that own it. Intellectual property laws stop people
from stealing or copying; the names of a business’ products or brands, a
business’ inventions, the design or look of a business’ products and things a
business writes, makes or produces.
BBFC Rating
My film is a bit hard to pin down to a single age rating because of all the differing topics raised and the language used by the characters. It's a battle between rating it as a PG or as a 12/12A because the film meets criteria for both. In the end I've decided to give "Potato" the age rating of a 12A because it meets in between the two (PG and 12). A 12A follows the same guidelines of A 12 but also states that if an adult deems it suitable for a child under the age of 12 to watch it, they can take them in to watch. However, this doe mean that anyone under 12 can't go watch it alone and will not be allowed to purchase it in a shops. I have chosen to give this a 12A certificate because when initially developing this idea I wanted it to be a 12 because of the discriminatory and strong language used, as well as the topics raised however, after developing it further and filming it I saw how much the script had changed to having no where near as much swearing as I initially thought they'd be as well as not being able to talk about each of the seven topics I initially planned because of time restraint to develop each idea fully, so as a result the reduction to three topics and minimal strong language made me make the film a 12A.
A big part of my rating was the discrimination section on the 12 and 12A rating page on the BBFC website as I had to carefully consider if the characters were endorsing, but more importantly condemning discriminatory behaviour and language. This is vital not just for my films message as a whole because of the touchy subjects that come up in the discussions but also for the BBFC because if the characters don't condemn the language, it would take the films age rating higher and risk losing lost of potential viewers and therefore, it's impact.
Representation
When thinking about the films characters I wanted to go against the normal casting choices and typical characters you would see in a film. I chose to have two women of two different faiths and sexualities, with differing opinions on almost everything. Sam is a lesbian Muslim girl from a minority ethnic background who strongly believes passionately in equal rights for all but isn't too much into her religion or some of it's beliefs, where as Laura is a heterosexual Christian girl who tries to be as truthful to her fait and is set on believing what the Bible tells her. These two opposing characters are very different because I wanted to create characters that people could relate to in some way or another. They are essentially a representation of society, albeit being a mix bag of each type of person. Making the characters as relatable and realistic with their opinions and views as possible was a big task that I couldn't do alone because I am only one person with my own views on what I believe, so I went around my school and other places to ask the general public what their views on the topics that I would raise in this film, and their responses became what the characters ended up saying, some of it was word for word. Asking people of differing faiths, sexualities, beliefs, genders and ages really helped to make the characters be as realistic as possible. The only people that I think could complain was the men as the only two males to show up in the film are the waiters who have one line and virtually no screen-time between them. However, this was intensional because I wanted to make a film where a male character isn't a lead or has any power. Having two people of the same sex was important to me because I wanted the viewer to see that the characters are very similar, but if I had used a male and a female I think it would've caused a lot of anger with the viewer as they may think one gender was more dominant or stronger than the other. In the end I think the representation was fair because almost everyone was represented.
Permission to film at venue
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