Sita Sings the Blues

[Sunday]

Ok, everyone here knows this already but JUST IN CASE......




http://sitasingstheblues.com/

The work of a single animator, Nina Paley. The story of her hellish year-long fight to release her film against the minions of copyright has been ongoing news in the animation world. This fight ultimately prevented her from capitalizing on her own film -- thus, she is making it freely available to anyone and everyone.

The film has received much credit, many citing it as among the best animated films produced in recent years (it also gained a hefty spotlight once media front-runner Ebert finally championed it at his film festival).

DOWNLOAD LOCATIONS

[James]

I almost posted this story last Friday. It's been getting some buzz lately.

[eddievalient]

I've heard of neither the film nor its struggles. Could someone please enlighten me?

EDIT: Never mind. I read the FAQ at the website. Stupid copyright nazis. They ruin everything.

[Sunday]

Certainly worth the buzz, too. It's a well articulated story that flows so, so, so well and is very clever to boot -- and not in the way that says "Look at my cleverness," but rather "There's a melodious way of telling this story and I sincerely hope you enjoy it." Well worth anyone's time to check it out. I think I may have already bought the t-shirt

[Sunday]

I've heard of neither the film nor its struggles. Could someone please enlighten me?

From the onset the film was built around the songs of 1920's jazz vocalist Annette Hanshaw. In some ways it's a tribute to the somewhat forgotten singer, but the Hanshaw estate stuck fast to the still maintained copyright and lawfully demanded the proper licensing/royalties/etc. associated with the music's use in a commercial work. Paley wasn't operating at even a fraction of the budget of a studio release and only barely assembled donor funds to purchase 35mm stock. Ultimately, she had to abandon any kind of commercial/theatrical release, taking the creative commons bypass and distributing the film directly and freely, running purely on donations and any profit from merchandise surrounding her designs (which according to Paley is working quite well for her now).

The film would've made a much bigger splash if the original plan had worked out, but as it stands now it is perhaps involved in a much more interesting experiment in free public distribution as a viable economic model (you know, a Nine Inch Nails/Radiohead kind of thing, only without the previous marketability and stature those two parties hold).

EDIT: Pardon me, correction -> the song compositions are not owned by the Hanshaw estate but are rather corporately controlled. Well, you read the FAQ, but hey~

[eddievalient]

Thanks Sunday.

[GeorgeC]

It'd be lovely if she could even begin to make back the money she sunk into this film...! Paley is well into six-figure debt.

I wonder how most independent animators that make their own features ever recover their production costs.

Bill Plympton seems to make enough off his shorts and caricatures to support his feature film production -- even though his feature films rarely seem to make that much money --, but what happens with another creator who isn't as prolific or as well-known?

Speaking more of Plympton, I've only ever heard of "Hair High" playing at festivals. It's never been available on DVD except for a limited French DVD release. Most of his films are still on DVD but have to be special-ordered. His shorts compilations go in and out-of-print and change with each new re-release.

[Sunday]

http://blog.ninapaley.com/2009/08/18/si ... rchiveorg/

Nina Paley, creator of the wonderful and copyright-fraught animation Sita Sings the Blues writes, "All the Flash authoring (.fla) files I used to make Sita Sings the Blues have just been posted on archive.org, under a Creative Commons Share Alike license. Want to know how I got a certain animated effect in Sita Sings the Blues? Open up the .fla files and find out. Want to put flying eyeballs and demons in your next music video? Now you can. Want to make a 'Sita Sings the Blues' video game using all the assets? Go for it. (But I strongly suggest you negotiate my endorsement if you want to actually market the end product.)"

[GeorgeC]

That's wonderful but I hope for her sake she can figure out how to get herself out of the financial hole she's in.

The lesson here is don't assume that because you think something's public domain that it means it's public domain.

Recordings can be copyrighted and belong to somebody even if the song/composition in the recording is public domain.

That's a distinction many don't understand. That's the mistake Nina Paley unfortunately made and it's cost her dearly.

She can show her film freely but she can't begin to make a dime off of it...

[Sunday]

Yes, all true. *sigh* Copyright law is one system that could use a good revolution sooner rather than later.