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LoTR Fan Film — The Hunt For Gollum
stevedcc writes "This weekend sees the release of The Hunt for Gollum, a Lord of the Rings fan-film. It'll be available on the web for free. The BBC are running an article about the making of the film, with a budget of £3,000 (spent mostly on costumes and make-up). There were 160 contributors involved, many over the internet." I hope it lives up to the trailer (linked from the BBC story); the finished film is approximately 40 minutes.
memoryhole supplies links to YouTube for both the full trailer and a second trailer. Reader jowifi adds a link to NPR's story on the film, writing, "NPR discussed the legality of this type of creation with EFF lawyer Fred Von Lohman, who said it's not clear if such a production violates the copyright for Tolkien's work."
The cool thing about fan films and fan series is that you don't have to like them or even watch them if you don't wish.
You can't take the sky from me.
Looks like tim is trolling just a bit.
Though, in general, LotR should be public domain. It's a definite part of our cultural heritage, and these sort of copyright issues are about as insulting as someone claiming copyright on the Shakespeare Canon.
"NPR discussed the legality of this type of creation with EFF lawyer Fred Von Lohman, who said it's not clear if such a production violates the copyright for Tolkien's work."
It's as clear as a pane of glass.
The character is recognizably Tolkien's creation.
The universe he inhabits. The voices. The dialog. The languages.
The maps. The character designs.
The story.
The film can't honestly be described as anything other than a derivative work.
The cool thing about fan films and fan series is that you don't have to like them or even watch them if you don't wish.
As opposed to big budget Hollywood films where you better watch 'em, and you better like 'em, or else some guy comes for your knee caps?
That the technology revolution has almost overtaken feature films. The trailer looks almost as good as the real thing. Pretty soon it will be hard to tell fan fiction from the real thing. Hell, some of the fan fiction might end up being better than the real thing.
Than won't Hollywood and the RIAA be in a bind.
The character is recognizably Tolkien's creation.
...The character designs.
The universe he inhabits. The voices. The languages.
The film can't honestly be described as anything other than a derivative work.
None of those things are covered by copyright, and thus cannot be a derivative work. Some of them could be covered by trademark, but that is an entirely different matter.
The dialog. The maps. The story.
These are covered by copyright, but they are not being used (maybe the maps are I don't know). It is a fan-flick: a new story with new dialog based on the characters and word created by Tolkien.
I would like point out that I am reading the entirety of this thread in the so-called "Comic Book Guy"'s voice. Including this post!
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
The reason the differences from the Jackson films vs the books don't bother me, is that these are tales from a legendarium as Tolkien called it. To be told and retold, as legends are. He retold many of the stories in various formats, and with variations in the stories. So for me the movies are just a variation on the war of the ring legend, and for the most part damn good.
Yeah but they also use the fact that no-one is consuming their crappy drivel as a means of proving that their low sales are about piracy.
They do this anyway whether or not you do watch the movies they make. Even when downloading the film actually help box office sales.