This week we had the final guest lectures from Julian Davis covering copyright law and contracts. Again these were very interesting lectures and easy to follow and engage with. The fundamental concepts that I came away with are these:

– You can’t claim copyright of an idea itself, only the expression of that idea. As a recordist and creative media creator I have at least co-ownership of my recordings, as long as the performer has given consent. Without consent, the performer claims full ownership. My own creations automatically have copyright in Australia, and other countries which are signatories to relevant agreements, from publication and for 70 years.There are lots of layers of intellectual property in the creative media industry, and for clarification it is best for all parties to enter a written contract.

– A contract doesn’t have to be written, but is much easier to prove if it is. The 5 factors that make it legally binding are: Offer; Acceptance; Certainty; Intention; Consideration. The contract must be complete and cover all details. If there is any adjustment or negotiation it becomes a rejected offer and a new offer must be made in full. There has to be some form of ‘Consideration’ (usually money but not always) in exchange for goods or services supplied.

Using a contract helps to clarify the scope and details of a project and holds each person to account for their actions, past or future.

I have a couple of interesting projects at SAE outside of the AUS230 course which will involve directly applying the skills being covered in these studio units. I’ve teamed up with Cameron, Hugh and Lucas to work on the post sound for a short film called ‘Interference’. This week we booked a couple of sessions to make a start on the foley and SFX recording. These sessions were a god learning curve for us as we ended up using 3 of the studios – the Neve, Tascam East and D-command 24 – at different times. Each room had its challenges with setup which we were able to overcome ourselves, except for the Neve genesys which luckily Matt noticed us pondering as he walked past. Although it was frustrating at the time I think that it was good to have been through the process and things will be more fluent next time.

The tape project is coming up next week and our planning is looking pretty good. The trello page is a good resource and it will be useful in the future. We have been relying on Google docs which are not as centralised and flexible. The next step is to coordinate with the group 7 who are on before us and make sure the transition is okay. I’m sure we’ll discover on the day al the things we’ve missed!

Thanks for reading!