1) Just what is considered vid clip theft?
2) How to determine if those clips are really yours, what to look for.
3) How to protect yourself from vid clip theft.
4) How to approach the offending clip thief.
5) How to proceed when they refuse to acknowledge (who else you can contact).
6) Where can I find source material?
7) Some basic netiquette for new vidders.
8) What are some other no-no's in the vidding world?

Just what is considered vid clip theft?

When someone steals your fanvid clips, the first thing you'll hear trotted out to defend the action is that, "You stole from the original source, so you have nothing to complain about!" This is a spurious, silly argument. 

Who "Stole" it first is a lame excuse for anything.

So please don't tell me that a vidder is stealing by making vids, therefore it's no different from what you're doing. They've riffed someone else's work -- and stated it openly, giving credit where credit is due. You've riffed someone else's work and presented it as your own, not even giving the name of the person you're riffing.

Let's talk about what's being stolen.

Are clips being stolen? No. We don't own any of the footage that is used in the vid. Neither would any clip-thief.

What's being stolen is credit. The original vidder made edits, put effort into their product, and credited the original show in the bargain. (And yes, editing is work -- that's why film EDITORS are credited separately.) I've never seen a vid that didn't have a comment like "Footage copyright to MGM," or whatnot.

Many of us, who have the power and capabilities of capturing and making these "Clips" in the first place, just aren't slacking off, it's damned hard work, and if you don't know what you're doing, nothing turns out right.

Has any Buffy vidder ever said, "Look at these wonderful characters I created!" Has a "Stargate SG-1" ficcer ever said, "I invented these four people named Jack, Daniel, Sam, and Teal'c, and look at the cool adventures I gave them!"

No. Of course not. We work with other characters, giving credit to their original creators. I owe Double Secret Productions, J. R. R. Tolkien, and C. S. Forester credit for creating the characters that I've worked with most recently. And I say it out loud. And if you, clip-thief, are working with someone else's material, then you give credit. Don't you dare try to fob that work off as yours.

Video clip theft is well, the following example. The vidder captures an episode/movie. She shares them openly and freely with anyone who asks. Now 99.9% of the people who use the stuff that's been captured, give something in return, lest it be "thanks for the clips" in their video, on their website, or even via e-mail. What really chaps our ass, is when we'll make a video, spend many hours compiling a montage of clips in a certain order, set for a certain mood, and someone will grab those right out of the video and claim them as their OWN. If they've been altered in any way, the creative process and effort that went into that should at least be credited to those who originally put them together. 

Give credit. Tell us where your source is. That's what everyone does.
Contributed by Roach
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How to determine if those clips are really yours, what to look for.

I know of maybe three vidders who have that combination of amazing talent, technical skill, obsessive perfectionism, and expensive equipment necessary to pull off flawless edits every time. Everyone else has defects that drive us crazy.

If you just watch vids, you may miss them, but try going over the edits frame by frame and you will see stray frames, stray half frames, rendering glitches, interlacing problems, etc. These are almost impossible to duplicate exactly. If you're watching a vid and something starts to look familiar and you can remember what vid it looks like, you can compare the two of them.

If you find, they are indeed the same edits, it is very easy to tell which one came first by the quality of the footage. It never IMPROVES on successive generations. There may also be more stray frames, etc. in the copy than the original - especially if the plagiarist attempted to add her own "artistry" to the piece.

Another good tip-off? The vidder goes on and on about how much fun she has vidding with iMovie or Windows Media Maker but her vids have all sorts of complex overlays and effects that weren't in the original footage.

It's simple, most videos have tell-tell signs. A horizontal crawl on some, a certain tape mark a vcr leaves, or identifying logos like Q13, WB22, etc. For me, if I make a music video, I always have a "Calling card" stuffed in there somewhere. Personally, in every video I've made since my 5th one (going in order) has a Horizontally flipped scene in it. Usually totally unnoticeable and just about everyone blows over it.
Contributed by Roach
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How to protect yourself from vid clip theft.

There are many ways, depends on the level to which you've been burglarized. Here are some easy ways. Encode to crappy formats that are difficult to maneuver around, like RM (is the best for all out frustration) WMV (A pain in the ass) Encode the audio to something obscure and make people download codecs. Or better yet, encode it to some wonky sampling rate, that just doesn't match up with other clips. (like 22500 is a fun one, most do 44100 or 32000) Or do the same with video, screw up the aspect ratio a little. instead of 320x240 make it 328x240 (you have have to move in 8x8) or even 320x248 it's just odd enough that it won't blend with other materials, but is playable, watchable and enjoyable by all, but doesn't play nice with others. Or, if you use a good variety of encoding software/editing software, you know that some formats/codecs don't play well in editing, (Divx 5.02 is easy on most things) but not for everything.
Contributed by Roach
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How to approach the offending clip thief.

If you determine that someone has plagiarized a vid, if possible, inform both the original vidder and the thief. It is OK to phrase that first request politely, but firmly. Let her/him know that, what he/she has done is considered a big no-no in vidder fandom and now that he/she has been caught, there are 4 things he/she will have to do.

1. Take the offending vids down from every website they are posted to.
2. Admit to the plagiarism
3. Apologize to the vidders whose work was stolen
4. Promise never to do it again and mean it.

Steps 2, 3, and 4 should be done publicly. If at all possible, they should be posted to the same websites where the vids used to be. If this is not done, inform the original vidder.

Get bitchy, but try the nice way first. Like,

A) I was at your website today and noticed that you have some video clips that I do believe I put together. I don't mind really if you used them, I just prefer that you ask, or offer some kind of credit to their source with them. Something as simple as "Thanks" for the clips, or a link to my website (where they can find more clips/videos) even some subtle promotion/advertising is always nice. Usually this works, most people don't intentionally STEAL things.

B) If that doesn't work, I go a little more on the punchy side, and group up my friends and make their lives miserable, by giving them bad reviews, (it just gets down right petty at times). If they're doing anything remotely non-MPAA friendly, I turn them in...get the hound dogs sniffing. Or, I'll find out who their ISP is (usually a free website holder) and I'll turn them in for breaking the rules.
Contributed by Roach
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How to proceed when they refuse to acknowledge (who else you can contact)

If these vids are being hosted on a website run by someone other than the plagiarist, let them know. If you are on livejournal, post something to the vidding forum.

Things you should NOT do.
1. Do not call them on the phone thousands of times or beat them up, or talk your big brother into beating them up or anything else that might result in a restraining order or criminal charges.
2. Do not sue them, or threaten to sue them. Personally, I think plagiarism is worse than copyright infringement but, do you really want to admit to copyright infringement in order to take somebody else down for plagiarizing your copyright infringement? No.
3. Do not inform on them to the Production Company (aka The Powers That Be.) They do not care about fannish politics. They will be annoyed that you bothered them. They will know that you are infringing their copyrights and go after you. And your friends. If you are underage, possibly, even your parents.
4. Do not inform on them to their parents, their school or their employer. Unless their parents, teachers and bosses are fans, they won't get it. Besides, what is this, the third grade? C'mon. We can deal with our own issues.

Roach says: I usually go from my group of friends. I have a contact list of vidders 5-6 pages long. (Single spaced, in Excell, broken into 3-4 columns) If I send out a blanket e-mail about something like this, believe me, their lives get unhappy.
Contributed by Roach
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Where to find source material.

You can find reasonably decent clips (like 1-2 mins) on various websites...like their favorite scenes etc. Just be sure to ask permission first. Kazaa is good, as are any file sharing networks, but I am more or less against these, and only hit them as a last resort, (usually filling in holes I can't do any other way). Besides, they're quickly becoming illegal and more trouble than it's worth. The best way, is to find people you know have them, trade quietly over messenger, ICQ, or FTP sites. A close knit group of friends will produce more than a random anon connection on Kazaa.
Contributed by Roach
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Basic netiquette for new vidders

A ) always label your videos with simple titles, credit all music and sources. put an e-mail address either in the video, or on the site where the video came from. If you download something, (like say 5 or more clips) from someone, send them a thank you. It's amazing how many results this will provide in future dealings. If someone says "Thanks for making that available to me" by golly, I usually get something up for them fairly quick, just for taking the time to drop an e-mail.

B ) if there is no contact e-mail where you got the video clips from, then credit the website..do everything you can to say "I didn't make the source materials, but I used them, and this is where I got them".

C ) always do the disclaimer. "This is for entertainment purposes only" even if your purpose is to make money, don't make it outwardly apparent.
Contributed by Roach
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What are some other no-no's in the vidding world?

Stealing clips from other people's music videos is not the only thing we vidders get upset over. Direct-linking to our videos from another site is also becoming a growing problem. This has always been a big problem for those that have images and graphics on their websites but is now becoming common among music videos. Get a clue people, this STEALS OUR BANDWIDTH! Bandwidth is a very coveted commodity for many vidders as our videos can use up a lot so those stealing it from outside sources is doing us serious harm. It also means the vidder is not getting credit where credit is due. When you are just viewing the video and not seeing the site where it comes from the vidder is not getting credit for it. Another no-no is compiling videos from other sites and putting them on CD's to sell. Without permission this is a serious no-no.
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