learning aim a

1. Unit 4 Pre-Production learning aim A
Copyright-
People use copyright the protect their creative ideas and their pieces of work so it cannot be
used in another project without the owner's permission. The copyright law says they can't just
remake your work and copy and sell your own work. It states they also can’t copy characters,
settings or plots it also says your ideas can be copied however this one is harder to pin down as
people may come up with them before hand and not pursued their idea into a reality. Usually
you would only grant permission after charging them a fee. If people break the copyright, they
can be sued and can be ordered to pay damages.
Copyright protection lasts for different periods of time, depending on what kind of work you
have made:
 Written work is protected for seventy years after the authors death.
 Television broadcasts are protected for 50 years from the date the broadcast is made.
Films are protected for 70 years following the death of the last of the following persons:
the principal directors; the author of the screen play; the author of the dialogue or the
composer of original music commissioned for or used in the film.
After copyright has expired work falls into the public domain and can be copied or remade by
anyone. One reason why so many different versions of Sherlock Holmes stories get made on
film and tv is that it is out of copyright and in the public domain.
You can make ‘fair use’ of copyright works in some circumstances- you can quote small sections
to illustrate analytical work or to create a parody. The ‘scary movie’ franchise copies lots of plot
ideas and characters from other films but it does it to create a parody horror movie, and that’s
allowed under fair use.
Health and safety
1. You must always carry out a Risk assessment for any task you, your cast or your crew do
that carries any identifiable risk. You carry out risk assessments to:
 You can identify what might reasonably be expected to go wrong
 You identify the steps you will take to try to make sure it doesn’t go wrong
 You identify the steps you will take to protect people from harm if it does go wrong.
You can think of examples from your work to show that you understand how this works.
2. All professional media shoots will have public liability insurance, which will protect you if
anything does go wrong and you harm a member of the public or their possessions

2. 3. You must take particular care if you are casting children- people working with children
have to criminal Records Bureau clearance, you need permission from the local council
to employ children and there are special rules about how long children can work for and
what must be provided for them as well as rules about harmful content in the shoot that
they must not be exposed to.