Creating comic out of a movie

[kataleen]

Hi guys,

I recently discovered this forum and I can say that I found lots of intresting things on comics here. It surely awoke my attraction to reading comics but mostly, writing them.
However, I still have an old thing that's been bugging me for a while. Is it legal to take, for example, a movie, and transform it into a comic? I mean, taking screenshots, maybe alter them in a way, add captions and publish. I know this is not generally the way to go, but I had this dispute with one of my friends.
Do the studio still have rights over screenshots from a movie, maybe altered?

Thanks!

[Jason Arthur]

I'm not 100% sure of the legality behind using still images from a film, but why risk it?

You and your friend(s) can use a digital camera and shoot "on location" anywhere you like. Script out your book and figure out your locations. Take your camera and get all the shots you need. Assemble it all in Photoshop and letter it up in Illustrator.

Voilà. A comic.

-- J

[JAQ]

What you're describing is considered a "derivative work" based on the movie, and the producers' copyright definitely applies to it. That's because you're not writing your own story, creating your own visuals, etc. you're using someone else's. The only exception is something called "fair use", which allows you to take someone else's work and really distort it, for the purpose of commentary (such as making fun of it). You might be able to do a parody of a movie, but not a straight adaptation of it.

[Jason Arthur]

Originally Posted by JAQ

What you're describing is considered a "derivative work" based on the movie, and the producers' copyright definitely applies to it. That's because you're not writing your own story, creating your own visuals, etc. you're using someone else's. The only exception is something called "fair use", which allows you to take someone else's work and really distort it, for the purpose of commentary (such as making fun of it). You might be able to do a parody of a movie, but not a straight adaptation of it.

And even that carries a great risk (see Kieron Dwyers battle with Starbucks for proof).

-- J

[kataleen]

That's pretty much what I expected. It makes sense.

Thanks!