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Creative Commons Moving Images Winners

ArcRiley writes "The winners have been announced for the contest that Creative Commons launched last fall to deliver their ``some rights reserved'' message with a short video. Congratulations to Justin Cone, Sheryl Seibert, and Kuba & Alek Tarkowski for their winning videos!"

43 of 99 comments (clear)

  1. Now to get this kind of stuff out in the public by lavalyn · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Too bad it's impossible considering how television is financed and broadcast. It'd be such an irony to see these videos (they're pretty good) broadcast over HDTV, with the no-copy flag on.

    --
    Doing the Right Thing should not be preempted by making a buck.
    1. Re:Now to get this kind of stuff out in the public by iswm · · Score: 3, Interesting

      There's always the grassroots method. But then again, the media is just so controling now it's hard to get something such as a grassroots campaign to have any major influence on anything. Oh well.

      --
      Buckethead
  2. Marketing by gid13 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It seems to me that this will only matter when one of two things happens.
    1. Heavy promotion of creative commons-licensed material happens somehow.
    2. There is a severe crackdown on copyrighted file-sharing to the point that few or none feel comfortable doing it.

    I can't see 1 happening ever. 2, on the other hand, may be beginning. Personally, though, I think the better way to address this is just to allow copyrighted file-sharing.

  3. Are they actually playable? by H4x0r+Jim+Duggan · · Score: 3, Informative

    Before I download the files (over a 56k dialup), does anyone know if the .mov files are actually playable with a Free Software player?

    I'd expect Lessig to mandate that this commons content be in a non-proprietary format - or at the very least, a proprietary format that has been widely reverse engineered. Playing .mov files is hit and miss for me. sometimes no sound, or the picture appears in the top right corner of the viewer, or... Anyway: can someone confirm/deny that these are viewable? thanks.

    1. Re:Are they actually playable? by ArcRiley · · Score: 5, Informative

      Got one better for you. The second place video, "Mixtape", is available in Ogg Theora format here courtesy her brother (who's involved with Xiph). If anyone can get the first video to play please publish how. I've been unable to get it to play with either MPlayer or Xine.

    2. Re:Are they actually playable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      They play without a hitch in Media Player Classic.

      -- paper

    3. Re:Are they actually playable? by Xanlexian · · Score: 3, Informative

      If you're using Windows Media Player, you can download the quicktime codec (as well as Real) from here:

      http://a3.edskes.com/quicktimealt122.exe

      Quicktime

      http://a1.edskes.com/r/realalt111.exe

      Real

      --Xan

      --
      "Congratulations, Boots. Your robot has become self-aware. You're a daddy now." -- Dr. Rho Bowman
    4. Re:Are they actually playable? by ArcRiley · · Score: 4, Informative
      Note that these are transcoded. That means that you get the loss of the original plus the loss of Theora. A few of us put them together last minute because so many people were having trouble viewing the ones on creative common's website..

      Ogg Theora is actually very close to beta release. It's still VP3.2 with no improvements beyond adding flexibility for future improvements. The goal of this is that files made with Beta-1 will be viewable by any future player, making it suitable for archival use, but as beta's progress more optimisations will be made making it both faster and higher quality.

      Once again, the URL to download the Ogg Theora versions of these videos, for those using Free Software media players, is http://xiph.org/~arc/CreativeCommons-OggTheora.tor rent

  4. Re:Cut Spending by Neil+Blender · · Score: 2, Funny

    Make a contest and have somebody ELSE come up with your campaign...

    Reminds me of something....what was it...oh yeah - a t-shirt contest.

  5. *Confirmed* by (1337)+God · · Score: 5, Informative

    They work fine for me (Red Hat Fedora kernel with all critical updates installed, ATI video card, Altec-Lansing sound card, etc.).

    Too bad you don't have broadband though 'cause they're fairly large.

    --

    Background: 28/M/Bi-Sexual; Owner of a Linux company; MBA Harvard 2003; B.S. Comp Sci MIT 2000
  6. (CC) by ElliotLee · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Wow, I hadn't heard of Creative Commons before. What do they get their authority from?

    1. Re:(CC) by magnum3065 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Authority? Well, I guess you could say they get it from the people, and the copyright system. Similar the the GPL and LGPL, these are just licensed drawn up by people with knowledge of the law and an interest in promoting freedom. If you're interested in distributing a copyrighted creation and allowing other people certain freedoms in using your work, these are well-crafted licenses that aim to meet your intentions, so you don't have to learn the legalese to make your own license.

    2. Re:(CC) by LostCluster · · Score: 4, Informative

      Wow, I hadn't heard of Creative Commons before. What do they get their authority from?

      They're a self-appointed authority. But when you think about it, all of the GPL advocates are too.

      They're basically a non-profit that has the main idea that there can be many licenses that exist between full-on copyright protection and public domain, and the GPL is only one of them. Their main licenses are comprised of letting the author make four binary choices and giving them a fully written-out license that matches those decisions, and they have a few offshoot licenses as well such as one called "Founder's Copyright" which is an agreement to release your work under the public domain after 14 or 28 years of full protection instead of the 95 years that the law otherwise grants, and the CC-GPL which is the based on the official GPL with the addition of the metadata and translation features they offer with their other licenses. They also do the same with the LGPL to create the CC-LGPL

      They also advocate a metadata standard for license conditions that in the future will hopefully lead to a contrent-creator-aimed search engine that allows people to search for available works that can be dropped into their own works.

      It's really a group that understands that the GPL isn't perfect, and allows for anybody who wants to splinter from it from any good reason to create a new license that doesn't have that attribute.

    3. Re:(CC) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Wow, I hadn't heard of Creative Commons before. What do they get their authority from?

      GOD

  7. obligatory /. joke by NotAnotherReboot · · Score: 5, Funny

    And congratulations to slashdot for giving the winners huge, unexpected bills for bandwidth!

    1. Re:obligatory /. joke by mlinksva · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Actually Ibiblio is hosting the files on behalf of CC on behalf of the winners. The files are also uploaded to the Internet Archive here here and here. IA has offered to host any CC-licensed content free of charge.

    2. Re:obligatory /. joke by SW6 · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Actually Ibiblio is hosting the files on behalf of CC on behalf of the winners. The files are also uploaded to the Internet Archive here here and here. IA has offered to host any CC-licensed content free of charge.

      Am I the only person to notice the irony of Open Source films on there being encoded in propietry formats sich as Windows Media and Quicktime?

    3. Re:obligatory /. joke by volsung · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Actually, we made copies of our video in Ogg Theora format available, but Creative Commons chose not to link directly to the Mix Tape page.

  8. Use the source, luke, use the source. by cyt0plas · · Score: 4, Insightful

    A number of the clips use clips from (or at least available in the) Prelinger Archives.

    All of these videos require you to attribute their work should you build on it. It would be nice if they would provide credit to their sources as well (although, as public domain, they are not required to).

    --
    Contact Me (got tired of viruses emailing me).
  9. Why did they have to pick share-alike? by LostCluster · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm a bit disappointed that two out of the three winners chose the "share-alike" attribute on their Creative Commons license.

    One of the strongest selling points the CC system has is that they're not the GPL... they offer variants that don't have the "viral clause" that requires those who use CC pieces to require that the whole work be licensed the same way. Since the strongest selling point of the CC system is that there are really sixteen CC licenses that are formed by mixing and matching four binary attributes. It's possible to insert a CC work into something that's under full copyright, and that's something the GPL just can't do. Flexablity is the whole point of CC.

    But maybe they took the flexability too far here. I'm a little surprised the contest organizers left the free selection of CC licenses open to the entrants. I would have suggested that all entries be under a CC license with Attribution and No Derivative Works... therefore allowing anybody who wants to spread the word of Creative Commons to republish the essentially PSA ad works without dictating what the publisher has to do with theirs.

    Afterall, the winners got some pretty cool stuff. They've been well paid for their work...

    1. Re:Why did they have to pick share-alike? by qtp · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I'm a little surprised the contest organizers left the free selection of CC licenses open to the entrants.

      Considering the motivation behind the Creative Commons organisation, I'd be a little surpirised if they didn't.

      Besides, to license the "Mix Tape" video under anything other than a ShareAlike license would have been a little too ironic.

      --
      Read, L
    2. Re:Why did they have to pick share-alike? by Landaras · · Score: 2, Informative
      From the original poster:

      It's possible to insert a CC work into something that's under full copyright, and that's something the GPL just can't do.

      Minor quibble, but it's important enough to be stated. GPL'd works are under full copyright (to use your phrase). There are simply certain additional, relatively major rights that are granted if you accept certain additional, relatively minor responsibilities.

      You are still welcome and encouraged to ignore the GPL and use the standard rights that are granted under copyright whenever you receive GPL'd software. You simply will not be able to use the additional rights (such as freer redistribution or modification) that the GPL grants by leveraging its own "full copyright."

      - Neil Wehneman
    3. Re:Why did they have to pick share-alike? by Daniel+Quinlan · · Score: 2, Interesting
      I'm surprised you're upset about share-alike and not at all annoyed by the non-commercial restrictions on the movies. Given the large number of activities that can be interpreted as commercial, it seems like the far more restrictive attribute, one not even found in the GPL.

      I think the true genius of the GPL is that it helped move hordes of developers who were formerly in the "non-commercial shareware" camp into the far more productive and revolutionary "share-alike" camp (with no non-commercial attribute). That is, I believe a large number of developers who were not and would not be satisfied with a BSD-style license fell back on simplistic "non-commercial use" licenses and often did not share source code. The GPL gave them an outlet which at the end of the day is a very fair compromise and improves the commons much more.

      Finally, the thing that makes GNU, Linux, and other GPL projects (along with other open source licenses, to be sure) competitive with entirely proprietary projects is that commercial use is not restricted. When commercial use is disallowed, then companies (and their employees who often work on open source in their free time so they can apply it at work) have no incentive to invest time and energy in a project.

    4. Re:Why did they have to pick share-alike? by Stallmanite · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "Since the strongest selling point of the CC system is that there are really sixteen CC licenses that are formed by mixing and matching four binary attributes"

      Actually there are only 11 licenses because some of those binary attributes are incompatible. Like "share-alike", which is what they call copyleft, the "viral" part of the GPL, which forces derivative works to have the same license; and "noDerivs" which forbids derivative works completely.

      If copyleft "infects" derivative works, then noDerivs aborts them. It doesn't make any sense to get upset about one, but not the other, unless you're a troll or just resent the GPL for some reason.

      Their "strongest selling point" can be a weakness because CC licenses are incompatible with each other.

    5. Re:Why did they have to pick share-alike? by volsung · · Score: 3, Informative

      In our case (Mix Tape), we selected the Share-Alike license because that was the license selected by Jim's Big Ego for the "Mix Tape" song we used. That made our choice pretty straightforward.

  10. The 2nd and 3rd Ones by magnum3065 · · Score: 4, Informative

    worked for me. Unfortunately the 1st place entry crashed both Mplayer and Totem.

    1. Re:The 2nd and 3rd Ones by dieman · · Score: 5, Informative

      You'll need to use '-vc qtsvq3'

      --
      -- dieman - Scott Dier
  11. Field order by Hoplite3 · · Score: 2, Informative

    It looks like all of the clips have the wrong field order in their interlacing leading to jaggies around moving objects.

    Anyway, I really liked the third place entry more than the second. It had a lot more information, if a bit fast paced. I found the second place entry confusing with loud lyrics and text on the screen simultaniously.

    --
    Use the Firehose to mod down Second Life stories!
    1. Re:Field order by volsung · · Score: 2, Informative

      No, I think it was a result of either me not knowing what to do with the MPEG4 codec in Final Cut, or the awful output of our cheap DV cam.

  12. MIRROR by parkanoid · · Score: 3, Informative

    Here's a (hopefully) fast mirror for your enjoyment:
    One
    Two
    Three

    (Should finish uploading in a sec, be patient)

  13. Bring on the artists by nmoog · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Spend 10 minutes talking to an artist about OSS ideas and you have a OSS supporter. Art wants to be free. Software wants to be free. What a happy combination.

    Now, we need to get those converted artists and get them making linux a little easier on the eyes! Although, you'd want to be careful about which artists helped out....

    1. Re:Bring on the artists by bcrowell · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Spend 10 minutes talking to an artist about OSS ideas and you have a OSS supporter.
      Interesting that this is your experience with artists. My experience with musicians is just the opposite. They can't seem to think outside the Napster/Kazaa box. To them, free==piracy.

    2. Re:Bring on the artists by nmoog · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Yes, well there are musicians and there are musicians who are artists. You'd have to consider which type of musicians you have encountered in your experience.

      Metallica has spoken out about their views of free==piracy, where has Aphex Twin has spoken out and said he couldnt give a shit if you took his whole album and released it under a different name. Not all musicians are artists. (and to be fair, not all artists are any good :)

    3. Re:Bring on the artists by LostCluster · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The way to explain the Creative Commons system to a music artist is this: There are other artists out there who need source material to use in their works, but don't have the money to pay you right now. If you release your song under a CC Attribution and No Commercial Use license, fans can listen to you and movie makers might be able to include you in their early films. However, if that movie maker finally gets a hit and wants to make money with their early film that used you, they've got to come back to you and buy the rights then. If a radio station wants to play your song, they have to at least contact you to get your permission. It's giving other artists at the same level a way to audition for partners so that a collective work.

      Record labels angle to get their artists into movies not for the royalty money, but because being used in a hit movie can bring attention to an otherwise unknown artist. Artists perform for free on talk shows to promote themselves. If you're not bundled in with something somebody's already paying attention to, how's anybody going to notice you?

      Of course, the closed label-system presently shuns anybody who has already distributed their work by bypassing them because they fear the first recording star who launches into the "big time" without a label contract...

  14. Mix Tape by kjoonlee · · Score: 2, Informative

    Congratulations, to the winners! Congratulations to Sheryl Seibert for her Mix Tape movie!

    You can download the music for her video, for free, from Jim's Big E-Shop.

  15. very cool by sdibb · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I watched both of the movies on their website and I thought they were really cool, and explained things very well. I finally "got it" on a lot of points, as far as the effects of a standard copyright, and the flexibility that a Creative Commons License offers.

    Best of all, now when I explain this stuff to someone else, their eyes won't have to glaze over as I try to extol the merits of free (as in freedom) -- instead I can just say "Here, watch these cool three-minute videos" and that does all the work. :)

  16. Um, actually... by cubal · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yes, the Mov came from moving. But, like talkies, the ie is just a familiar kinda thing. Like, Moving Picture needed to be abbreviated, and "moov" was already taken by move, so someone was like "movie", and everyone was like "dude".

    Um yeah...

  17. you're all wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    > if you don't believe in copyrights

    People can choose to believe in easter bunnies, santa, and god, but copyrights exist - like it or not.

    > you can just put it out there with no license at all

    All works of an author give the author exclusive rights - if you recieve something without a license, you have no legal right to make a copy for your friend (etc.)

    The CC people *do* believe in copyright - they just believe that it's been stretched out of proporation (either in term/years - or in scope/what you can or cannot do with a work).

  18. Re:Thanks for the Help by IgnoramusMaximus · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Fuck, man, I just double click the file and it opens.

    No you dont. First you download QuickTime and make sure you got up to date codecs. Then you go clicking on things. The poster above, on the other hand, had all he needed but didnt know how to turn it on. That does not make your environment in any way superior. Just different.

    The mplayer is one of the most sophisticated and powerful media players, capable of playing so many formats on so many devices that it makes Windows based playback tools look silly by comparison. But it does require a bit of know-how.

  19. 'Fall' by zsau · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Seasons describe weather conditions, and differ around the world. Time is described using words like 'Monday' or 'January', and are constant (at least in secular english-speaking contexts). I shouldn't need to know what continent you're on...

    --
    Look out!
  20. Free Software playable versions of videos avail. by ArcRiley · · Score: 5, Informative
    We just put together a set of videos (transcoded, so lower quality than origs) for those who don't want to use non-free software to view them. You'll need a BitTorrent client and a fairly recent (post-November) copy of libtheora, as they're encoded with Ogg Theora.

    This one .torrent will download all three videos and a README explaining how to view them.

  21. Open Media for Linux PDAs? by wehe · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The CreativeCommons GetContent page contains a huge list of media. But what I am looking for is content, which fits to a Linux PDA like the SHARP Zaurus series. Are there eBooks, AudioBooks and movies, especially designed for small computers? BTW: Though there are many sites, which offer free mobile cell phone logos and ringtones, are there any logos and ringtones available under the Creative Common Licenses or the GPL?

  22. Re:Thanks for the Help by Chris_Jefferson · · Score: 2, Interesting
    First you download Quicktime

    So.. mplayer just appears on your computer automagically? then you make sure you got up to date codecs

    No, QuickTime auto-updates. Can you say the same about mplayer? or do you have to go and download updates when a new version comes out?

    It is true that mplayer is powerful but like you say, it involves considerable knowhow. (and I don't know if things have got better but until recently basically involved compiling yourself whenever you wanted to install it, along with grabbing all required libraries. It's not simple). In this case I don't see how you can claim it is superiour to quicktime.

    --
    Combination - fun iPhone puzzling