Who owns raw footage

Flagler Productions is clearly not an employee and so if there is no written agreement about copyright, then Flagler owns the copyright! This includes the raw footage, project files, EDL, etc. There should also be a clause explaining that copies of the material can be made at such and such a rate. Typically, the client owns just a copy of the finished work. If raw footage is not defined in this section of the contract, clients are not entitled to it.

However, NOT defining something is simply not enough, and you should still include a clause in your contracts that specifically relate to your raw footage policy, the costs, as well as your Archival policy I will get to what this means soon. Make this a clause in all of your client contracts.

State if and how you, the creative, will retain rights to the raw footage after giving it to the client. You can give them rights to privately screen the raw footage at home, but not for public viewing, however, there is no real way to monitor this once the footage leaves your hands. By retaining copyright of the raw footage, you can retain greater control over how the footage is used and have the legal backing of your contract to protect you.

If the footage can be purchased by the client , you need to print the exact amount in this clause as well as set the usage rights for the clients, such as, only for private screening. Keep in mind that this cost can include the cost of the hard drive that you will send the raw footage on. Raw footage takes up hard drive space; and as months and years go by, this space gets larger and larger, costing you thousands of dollars.

Another important clause to include with your raw footage policy in your contract is your Archival Policy and how long you will hold on to raw footage before deleting it to make space for new projects.

The Archival policy also frees you from any responsibility of holding onto the footage after a set length of time. For example, in your contract, you can say that you do not keep raw footage longer than 6 months after the final delivery of the product; in order words: the client can order raw footage up to 6 months after their shoot, after which the footage will be wiped from all hard drives and is no longer your responsibility.

Again, whatever your fee ends up being, make sure to protect yourself and include that number in your contract. Having a raw footage policy in place for your business is a small but important contractual aspect of freelancing as a videographer. It is not just about pleasing the client, but protecting your creative work, your brand, and your career. A camera operator may spend an hour trying to get the perfect shot. During this time, 59 minutes may be complete rubbish with the odd swearword thrown in every time they mess up.

Handing over raw footage does have a cost implication. If you imagine that on some high-end cameras an hour of footage can be GB. If on a project 10 hours of footage is filmed that would be 7, GB! Nearly 8 terabytes of data! The hard-drive cost alone would be into the hundreds of pounds. If they are going to begrudge you that, I think you have a fair case to make as a student, and your advising professor should be able to vouch for you and bargain on your behalf.

Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group.

Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Who owns raw footage? Ask Question. Asked 9 years, 7 months ago. Active 2 years, 8 months ago. Viewed 9k times. I am not sure if it makes a difference, but I am in Canada. Improve this question. Graeme Graeme 83 1 1 silver badge 5 5 bronze badges. Albeit this a legal question and should be addressed by an attorney familiar with all the details of your case, it is an interesting question, and I am curious about the outcome.

If this is work done for a college course, your college might own the rights. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. I am not a lawyer, but I played one on TV. Unfortunately if they hired you to create the "work" of the footage, then it may be a " work for hire ": A "work made for hire" is— 1 a work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment; or 2 a work specially ordered or commissioned for use as a contribution to a collective work, as a part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, as a translation, as a supplementary work, as a compilation, as an instructional text, as a test, as answer material for a test, or as an atlas, if the parties expressly agree in a written instrument signed by them that the work shall be considered a work made for hire.