Current Practices In Corperate Video Production

Introduction

In this assignment, I have been asked to talk about and discuss the different practices in corporate video production. From this, the assignment will cover topics such as copyright, privacy as-well as other factors that the producer of a video would have to consider. It's important for the producer to follow and make sure he doesn't clash or go against any of these points, as they could cause many problems. You could say this assignment covers the rules (as well as the laws) which video producers should follow, to keep them out of any trouble whether it's legal trouble, or just in general. I will also include a variety of example videos for each point, which will allow me to show you how the video producers are linked to these points, and how the video follows the rules/laws that the point is linked to.

Copyright

Copyright is a law which protects a wide number of content, such as films, videos or even the mis-use of songs. Copyright can be extremely simple and easy to understand, but breaking copyright laws can cause you to obtain expensive fines, or even jail time if broken too often. The reason copyright was invented, was so that the creators of work (Such as Music, Films, Broadcasts, Sound recordings etc.) wouldn't have to worry about someone stealing their work to use it as their own) in order to make a profit from it. This also means that copying the work of someone also goes against copyright. When it comes to video producers, it's extremely important that they obey copyright laws, especially if they want to copy another person’s work or use it as their own. If a video producer likes the idea of someone else's work, and wants to use it for his/her own, they can get the permission by asking the owner of the original work piece. It's important that the video producers get the permission from the user written down, so that the video producers can't be sued or taken to court at a later date. Music is the most important issue when it comes to copyright and videos, as not many producers tend to think about the music they're playing, especially when it's distant in the background, which is how they end up accidentally breaking the copyright rules, which results in them getting a fine. This can be easily avoided is the person using the music checks to see whether the music they’re using has a copyright claim on it or not. If the music does happen to have a copyright claim on it, then it’s a good idea to get permission to use the music. If you can’t get permission to use the music, but you really want to use it, there’s unfortunately nothing you can do, except find another song. It’s totally up to the owner of the music to choose whether or not they want you to use their music. Another thing that could cause copyright issues, is by copying a product name and calling it of as your own. This could be a problem in your corporate video, especially if you’re trying to promote something which is a rip-off of another product (This relates more to adverts but can crop up in cooperate videos too). Breaking copyright in this way could cause you to face larger fines than if you were to use someone else’s music.

Privacy

Privacy basically means private information, or keeping things private from other people.

Privacy is a large factor when it comes to video production. You need to consider when creating a video, whether you want it to be for public view, or just for yourself. This factor always comes into play when your video shows information that is private about someone else. It's against the law to give private information about someone without their consent, especially if you're planning on using the information in a video. Breaking this factor, and giving away private information away in your videos without permission, can get you into a lot of legal trouble, which would then be taken to court. Privacy is also important in cooperate videos if the person who is being interviewed doesn't want their face displayed, or any other of their personal information. Someone how is being interviewed might not want their information shared with people if they're all taking part in a corporate video for a company their friends don't agree with, or one that could cause controversy and people to send them hate. Although this is an unlikely factor, it's still necessary. An example of a corporate video that doesn't share any personal information of the person being interviewed could be the 
the one displayed below. This specific video shows people being interviewed but doesn't give out the interviewees name, work place or any other personal information. This could be done because the people being interviewed wanted to keep their information private.

Defamation

Defamation is the action of which one person destroys/ruins the reputation of another person, by either talking them down or purposely savaging their work. Another word used to describe Defamation is ''slander'', which is also goes against the law and could get you into a lot of legal trouble if broken. In video production, defamation is caused when the video being produced is going to rival your competitors, who might also be focusing on making a video like yours. The law for breaking the defamation act is 'The Defamation Act 2013'. Defamation can also become an issue if one company lies to either enhance their sales or to put down another company.  No matter how popular your company is, if you're caught breaking this act then alot of people won't trust you, and won't be interested in your video or your company anymore

Fair Use

In the simplest way, fair use is when you copy at copyrighted material produced for any transformative purpose. For example, to criticize or create a parody from the copyrighted work. Doing this can be done without and permission from the copyright owner being required. Another way to put it, is that fair use can be used to defend someone against a copyright infringement claim. However, your work will only be considered legal if it qualifies to fair use. If you’re commenting or criticizing someone’s work, for example if you’re giving a review of a recent film you’ve watched, fair use allows you to reproduce some of the work to allow you to give a review on it, for example as you’re talking about a specific part of the film, it’s fair to show your viewers the part of the film which you’re discussing. The same works if you were to review a book. You would be allowing to read out quotes from the book in order to achieve your purpose. As long as your review doesn’t involve you reading out the whole book, then you’re safe from being sued of fined. Using work as a parody also falls under the fair use category. A parody is a when someone turns a piece of well-known work (Such as music video or song cover), by making it come across in a comedic way. Unlike the other form of fair use which I’ve talked about, parodies require the person doing the parody to take up a lot more of the original work than a review does, and sometimes require the whole song to be included in the parody.

Ethical

Video productions being Ethical, means that the video contains a fair mix of genders and race, to avoid the video from seeming discriminating or offensive. If a video is released containing only males, females could then argue that the video is sexist, which in total could result in the video being closed down.  People only tend to complain about this only do so, if it's obvious that the company who produced the video are showing sexist, or other similar opinions. Keeping a fair balance of races and genders will make the video show equality, and will also give diversity to the video.
Here is an example of a video which shows a wide variety of ethnicity:


as you can see from this corporate video, there is a wide variety of both race and gender mix.

Releases

Another word for a release would be permission. Sometimes in order to film in specific areas, or use certain pieces of material (For example other people’s videos or work), you need to get a written statement of permission from the owner, which states that the person can film or use a certain piece of material. Another reason that a release is written, is so that the owner of the material can't try fine the person he allowed to use it, in order to gain money. Obviously with a release form it would be impossible for the owner to do that, but if the owner didn't write a release form. there would be no proof that the owner allowed people to use his/her property or materials, and then the owner would win the case. In other words, a release form is just proof that someone is allowed to use something.

Technologies

When it comes to corporate videos, that are many different types of technology which comes into play. Whether it's physical technology like a camera, or software. What budget you have for the video, depends on what types of technology you'd use. The technology may not just be the time of equipment that is used to film the video, but can also be the type of technology that is used to give the video effect. For example, if your corporate video was filmed in an office, you would have office computers in the background so that the videolooks more professional. The technology used this in corporate video would be the computers.

Here is a common camera that is used in corporate videos


This is the Canon EOS 1300D, which is what was used to film teh SNCF corporate video.
This camera is affordable at £250 and gives a HD quality like in the video displayed above.
At 18 Megapixels you'e able to take high quality film and photos, and because it's a handheld camera it's light and easy to carry around.

Another piece of technology which is to be used in a corporate video could be a video mic (for example a rode mic). These are mics that clip onto the camera and produce quality sound at the same time. They're cheap and reliable when filming a corporate video.