Producing a DVD for sale, Featuring many years of sexy club dancing footage.(How To?)

[dreamteck]

hello Vjforums.

Because my VJ'ing is soley based on the theme off sexy ppl dancing on-screen...I have accumilated a LOT of great party footage of sexy people dancing.


The footage wouldn't be raw as is.

It would be fade-stilled with cool keyed backgrounds ect (i would have to create them myself of course and not use other ppl loops, or at least mess them up as much as possible hmm)....


here's a quick basic example.
www.visualintent.tv/demos/demo2.flv

Is this legal to do ? eg a one hour looped DVD of great close up sexy dancers ... and would people buy it ?

remembering though that its not raw video footage...

quick thoughts/opinions appreciated !

[Kyle]

Hi, from the 3 second sample provided its difficult to say. What I would think you will have to keep in mind is model releases and the legalities with that. Not sure if that applies to people in a club setting. Check the laws on that.

I think people will buy it if its well produced, high quality and priced well. You could probably fetch $20-40 US for a 1 hour DVD.

[Scratchpole]

Here in the UK, if you have a sign at the entrance to the club stating that images/video is being recorded and by whom, I believe you would be covered.

[SteveG]

Here in the UK, if you have a sign at the entrance to the club stating that images/video is being recorded and by whom, I believe you would be covered.

I think you'll find that this point would not stand up in a court of law. The person only has to argue that the sign was not seen. Individuals would have to have it pointed out and they would have to sign to say they have read and agree to it's contents.

[karl]

I think you should get a written release from each person that can be clearly identified by the footage.

I'm not sure about other countries but in Norway you will need a warning sign that informs the public that it is being recorded for security and surveillance, but that does NOT give you the right to publish the same footage in any way, and surely not in a commercial setting like a footage DVD.

The rules are surely different for each country so you should find a lawyer that can answer your questions in particular, because if you just take advices from people in general you might end up in a pretty unpleasant lawsuit.

With a written release you will also be covered from situations where people have entered a club but is intoxinated, drugged, in drag, under age or by some other means unsuited for a published footage.

An interesting case I read about where about some underage teenage girls sending nude pictures of themselves to a slightly older boy for fun. They where in risk of being slammed with the distribution of child pornography and the boy was being accused of possession of child pornography.

In Norway publishers and commercial distributors are law bound to honor the "Vær varsom" (Be careful) policy for protecting personal privacy. In short, if you're not sure, don't do it until you have a lawyer's opinion.

[stickygreen]

very true, a lawyer would be a much better opinion than VJ forums. it will cost you a few bux, but money well worth it, if your really going to make some dollars from these DVD's.

Dancing girls always sell......

[dreamteck]

Thankyou all very much for replying :)

A lawyer visit would be best.

There's no timeframe on this it's just something i thought about on spur of the moment.

its great footage though, i'd just want to treat it in such a way as to A:) disguise the identities of the people as much as possible and B:) Make it arty and cool to watch

[asterix]

Demo looks good though - keep us posted eh