DIY virtual film contest

“Chrysler in the Movies: Virtual Film Competition, a contest set to be launched Jan. 20. Entrants will create their own short film using capabilities built into Activision and Lionhead Studios’ “The Movies,” – [via] Link. They also report that 35,000 people have uploaded their films to Activision’s site since their launch. This is great: tons of user created content flowing out there with cool 3Ds. I’m tempted to try this out, but there seems to be a snag – any movie you make that has anything other 100% user-created content (which appears to be impossible according to the site Clickable Culture) is all owned by Activision and Lionhead films…Here’s what Clickable Culture had to say.

Contrary to what The Movies seems to have been made for, it appears that Activision (the game’s publisher) maintains ownership over pretty much all user-created films. The EULA states that while users retain ownership of movies they create, Activision exclusively owns “any and all content within [users’] Game Movies that was either supplied with the Program or otherwise made available to [users] by Activision or its licensors…” This means that any movie containing anything less than 100% user-created content (an impossible feat as far as I can tell) is under Activision’s control. Even Lionhead Studios, the creator of the game, gets grabby with movies users submit to its web site.

More here.

Since the only way to get the full EULA is to install the game, I’m going to have try and get a copy and cut and paste the text – here’s what I found on their site.

Do you own my movie when I upload it to your website?
No. You have created your movie by combining the various assets/content supplied with the game (and perhaps adding your own content) and as such you are the ‘author’ of your movie and own it as a ‘work’. However, you do not own the assets/content supplied with the game, which belong to Lionhead.

Can I sell my movies either on eBay or anywhere else?
No. The assets/content supplied with the game and which are used in each movie created using the game belong to Lionhead and commercial use of these assets/content or use for any form of financial gain is strictly prohibited. Lionhead does not permit use of the game, and any assets / content supplied with it, other than in accordance with (i) the End User Licence Agreement which you agreed to when installing the game and (ii) the TOUs.

I understand what they’re doing, they have props, boxes, characters, etc. that you can use to make your movies, but they don’t want you using those to make a movie that you’d actually own / sell / do whatever. I’m OK with that, as long as it’s possible to actually own a film I make.

Does anyone use this? Can you make a movie that you 100% own?