…Anyone know how to put together a home-made motion capture studio for less than $1k?  :P

The NPR story focused on the question of copyright, and whether such a high-quality production can be considered in violation of that copyright – even though the creators go through great pains to express that this is a not-for-profit film, available only online, and is meant to be a tribute to J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson. I’m not sure why NPR chose to raise the question, especially considering there appears to be no official word from either New Line Cinema nor Peter Jackson. However, the question has been raised regardless, and they interviewed Fred von Lohman, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The article states:

Von Lohman says fans have always written their own stories based on TV shows and movies. That’s legal.

But a high-quality movie available over the Internet could change the game.

“Now the fans can reach a global audience immediately through the Internet and make it available in a global way,” von Lohman says.

Perhaps I don’t know law as well as I should, but I don’t see why the quality of a production nor the breadth of its audience would cause concern over whether the copyright is protected. If fan films are legal as long as they make no profit, and that is the established law, why should an excellently-made fan film suddenly be subject to prosecution? Are we to say that those who do the best they possibly can in an endeavor while reaching an audience as wide as possible are meant to be prosecuted, while those who make sub-standard attempts are allowed to go free? The law should not suddenly apply to the person who does their best, and not apply to someone whose is half-hearted in their effort.

Still, I doubt there is much to worry about. As I said, it appears that there’s no official word from the copyright holders that they look down upon this effort, nor does it appear that the production group (Independent Online Cinema) is being sued. More often than not, these tributes are even lauded by the copyright holders as excellent additions to the canon (in the case of Ernie Cline’s “Fanboys,” a movie about Star Wars fans and their humorous attempts to break into Skywalker Ranch, George Lucas himself gave his stamp of approval and even offered the use of original Star Wars sound effects for the production).

If I were Peter Jackson, I believe I would be flattered at this effort to adopt my style in order to expand on Tolkien’s story, and I would likely be scouting the production for new talent that I could use in my next production.

“The Hunt For Gollum” is being broadcast online at http://www.thehuntforgollum.com on Sunday, May 3rd. You can view the trailer here:

Anyway, you can see how even to someone who has never seen it, iconic stories can still leave an impression. In this version, all the basic elements are there – they’re just…scrambled…a bit. :) And the animation…well, that just proves that sometimes simplicity tells the best possible story. (I also love how there is a Fat Tire sign on the “bar planet”…w00t for Colorado breweries!)