LoTR Fan Film — The Hunt For Gollum

stevedcc writes "This weekend sees the release of The Hunt for Gollum, a Lord of the Rings fan-film. It'll be available on the web for free. The BBC are running an article about the making of the film, with a budget of £3,000 (spent mostly on costumes and make-up). There were 160 contributors involved, many over the internet." I hope it lives up to the trailer (linked from the BBC story); the finished film is approximately 40 minutes. memoryhole supplies links to YouTube for both the full trailer and a second trailer. Reader jowifi adds a link to NPR's story on the film, writing, "NPR discussed the legality of this type of creation with EFF lawyer Fred Von Lohman, who said it's not clear if such a production violates the copyright for Tolkien's work."

Re:Skeptical

[stonedcat]

The cool thing about fan films and fan series is that you don't have to like them or even watch them if you don't wish.

Seems like Tolkien is playing nice.

[FlyingBishop]

We got in touch with Tolkien Enterprises and reached an understanding with them that as long as we are completely non-profit then we're okay. We have to be careful not to disrespect their ownership of the intellectual property. They are supportive of the way fans wish to express their enthusiasm.

Looks like tim is trolling just a bit.

Though, in general, LotR should be public domain. It's a definite part of our cultural heritage, and these sort of copyright issues are about as insulting as someone claiming copyright on the Shakespeare Canon.

Say what?

[westlake]

"NPR discussed the legality of this type of creation with EFF lawyer Fred Von Lohman, who said it's not clear if such a production violates the copyright for Tolkien's work."

It's as clear as a pane of glass.

The character is recognizably Tolkien's creation.

The universe he inhabits. The voices. The dialog. The languages.

The maps. The character designs.

The story.

The film can't honestly be described as anything other than a derivative work.

Re:Skeptical

[Anonymous Coward]

The cool thing about fan films and fan series is that you don't have to like them or even watch them if you don't wish.

As opposed to big budget Hollywood films where you better watch 'em, and you better like 'em, or else some guy comes for your knee caps?

It is clear

[MojoRilla]

That the technology revolution has almost overtaken feature films. The trailer looks almost as good as the real thing. Pretty soon it will be hard to tell fan fiction from the real thing. Hell, some of the fan fiction might end up being better than the real thing.

Than won't Hollywood and the RIAA be in a bind.

Not so clear.

[pavon]

The character is recognizably Tolkien's creation.
The universe he inhabits. The voices. The languages.
...The character designs.

The film can't honestly be described as anything other than a derivative work.

None of those things are covered by copyright, and thus cannot be a derivative work. Some of them could be covered by trademark, but that is an entirely different matter.

The dialog. The maps. The story.

These are covered by copyright, but they are not being used (maybe the maps are I don't know). It is a fan-flick: a new story with new dialog based on the characters and word created by Tolkien.

Re:Seems like Tolkien is playing nice.

[westlake]

Though, in general, LotR should be public domain. It's a definite part of our cultural heritage

It is a part of our cultural heritage only because Tolkien chose to create it and to publish it --- on his own terms.

Re:Skeptical

[timothy]

I would like point out that I am reading the entirety of this thread in the so-called "Comic Book Guy"'s voice. Including this post!

timothy

Re:It is clear

[biovoid]

And if "Dude, Where's My Car?" is any indication, Hollywood is screwed.

Re:Skeptical

[stephenhawking]

The reason the differences from the Jackson films vs the books don't bother me, is that these are tales from a legendarium as Tolkien called it. To be told and retold, as legends are. He retold many of the stories in various formats, and with variations in the stories. So for me the movies are just a variation on the war of the ring legend, and for the most part damn good.

Re:Not so clear.

[Nazlfrag]

Well that shouldn't be too hard. According to New Line Cinema, none of the original movies made a profit either.

Re:downloading "stuff"

[geordie_loz]

Yeah but they also use the fact that no-one is consuming their crappy drivel as a means of proving that their low sales are about piracy.

Re:Seems like Tolkien is playing nice.

[ScentCone]

So, you can bank money over time, and call it an investment, but you can't bank hours at the keyboard writing something, and call it an investment? And what if an author spends ten years writing a work that he knows is going to take a while to be picked up and appreciated by a wide audience, but which indeed has lots of commercial potential to reward him for his hard work. And he and his wife have been arranging their finances around that deferring of income while he finishes the project. It gets published! Yay! Things are looking great. And then he gets hit by a bus that week. Too bad, family that supported the author for ten years. You lose! The writer's desire and actions to have the proceeds from that work support you are history, because Anonymouse Coward thinks that his getting hit by a bus the day his book gets published means all of his work is now public domain. Why shouldn't all of your parents' cash investments have become public domain the moment they died, if a writer's TIME investments should be? Oh, I know. Because by holding that position, it makes it easier to feel less guilty about ripping off music and videos using P2P.

Re:Skeptical

[triceice]

They do this anyway whether or not you do watch the movies they make. Even when downloading the film actually help box office sales.

Re:Seems like Tolkien is playing nice.

[Kagura]

Same here... with the southern dark lands being Africa.

Re:Seems like Tolkien is playing nice.

[DinDaddy]

Why exactly should he be able to keep it from being used as the name of a hydrofoil?

"I was going to buy a copy of Lord of the Rings to read, but I got this cool hydrofoil called Shadowfax, so now I don't need to."