Fanfilm question.

[NotAShrimp]

Sorry if this is not the correct place to ask this, but I was wondering can people make fanfilms with Batman's characters and the story from the comics without getting sued? Like if someone made fanfilm, that would be free for everyone to watch (He wouldn't sell it or anything).
Thanks for the help.

 

[Yurka]

As far as I know you wont, I've known a few people who made Batman fan films and put them on youtube, and nothing happened.

 

[RobC]

Yeah I think it's ok, not entirely sure on the legal side, but it's a publicly recognized character. However you need to take certain precautions, try to actually refer to him as Batman as little as possible, oh, and you can't use the logo, that's copyright.

Otherwise I think you probably can, however one thing to do, is just email/write to DC and ask, explain your concept, tell them you in no way want a job from it, you just want to make it for yourself.

You'd be surprised.

 

[OctaviusINC]

You can do what ever you want with the character. Just as long as you don't make a profit off the film.

 

[RobC]

Really? Is that the ruling? That's pretty cool.

 

[dr.strange]

theres more than a few batman and other superheroe films on youtube.

 

[Nighthawk1963]

No. As long as you aren't making a profit, they won't care. The director of Batman: Dead End (who worked for Stan Winston)used costumes and music for his film and it was seen by EVERYONE. He made it as a director resume and showed it around. He even said that he would sell copies to avoid copyright issues.

 

[RobC]

Oh right, awsome, I know for sure that you can't use the yellow elipse logo though, that's heavily copyrighted. Pretty cool though, that DC will let people do their own thing with the character...

 

[-Crusher-]

batman: dead end was amazing. so are the batman fan films made by bat in the sun productions, very well done. i enjoyed them alot.

 

[RobC]

Dead End was really good, I didn't particuarly care for the Predator involvement but you're right Bat In The Sun stuff is really good, they seem to have a lot of money and actually do it right...

 

[-Crusher-]

i liked dead ends joker more so then bat in the suns.

 

[NotAShrimp]

Thanks alot for the help.
I have little project (That I hope I will finish), and I needed to know this because I don't want any problems with DC.

 

[-Crusher-]

just give them a praise at the like: all characters created by bob kane and dc comics.


and make sure you post it on here when its done for all of us to see.

 

[CFE]

Aaron Schoenke had sit-down meetings with Warners execs when he did his film "Batman Beyond: Year One."

From what I remember it's all a balancing act. Warners and DC Comics appreciates the enthusiasm of fans to come up with their own adventures for the characters but they WILL take legal action if you promote a fan film.

So as long as you're not going around shouting 'I'M MAKING A BATMAN MOVIE, COME SEE THE PREMEIRE. TICKETS ARE $& AND DVDS ARE $25!" then you'll be okay.

Give proper citation to Bob Kane, DC Comics and Warner Bros. and put a disclaimer somewhere before/after the film that basically states "we don't own these characters/this was made for fun/this wasn't made for monetary gain/etc."

----

CFE

 

[-Crusher-]

anyone who would actually try to sell a fan film is an idiot to begin with.

 

[RobC]

True, everyone knows that any big company DOES NOT accept submissions, it leads to way too many legal difficulties. However making a fan-film for your portfolio is great, and I say go for it, can't wait to see the results!

 

[-Crusher-]

any chance in giving us an idea as to what its about?

 

[NotAShrimp]

any chance in giving us an idea as to what its about?

Im trying to make "cartoon like" series that has over 10 chapters (episodes), and I will try to imitate the drawing style from the comic book Im using. Also the story will be from that comic book. I hope that I have the nerves to finish this one, and I will post some pics/videos about it when I have done enough.

 

[-Crusher-]

sounds good,

 

[RobC]

Sounds very interesting, so as I understand it you're basically doing an animated series?

Sounds like hard work, but if you pull it out the bag it sounds interesting!

 

[-Crusher-]

are you doing it freehand, or flash?

 

[NotAShrimp]

are you doing it freehand, or flash?

Im making it with flash.
I used one program before that, and I was thinking to make it whole different style but that would have been too much work and it was way too difficult.
Right now Im making some scenes with my tablet, but these might take some time since Im little bit perfectionist and new to flash (But I am making great progress).
I will post the first episode here when/if its done.

 

[-Crusher-]

post some pics if you can.

 

[RobC]

Awsome, sounds like some good work going on right there, can't wait to see the results!