Thought Thieves = Thoughtcrime

MSN in the UK have launched a short film competition, closing on the 1st July, entitled 'Thought Thieves'

One comment from athome on the story at Beta News was:

They're now aiming to catch kids younger & brainwash them into adopting capitalist principles ... In effect, they're attempting to brainwash them against equality & charity. That money & wealth are what matters, the needy are the evil, the rich are the righteous.

The competition is open to anyone 14 or over, with both a 14-17 and 18+ category. Of course, with the competition being about "how intellectual property theft affects both individuals and society" you'll need to make sure it works with proprietary software - the rules are simple:

* Your short film should be between 30 and 45 seconds long and sent to us digitally on either DVD or CD-ROM in a format compatible with Windows Media Player.

* Films should be your own original work and should not include any third-party materials (such as music in which you do not own the copyright).

* Films can be of any genre – live action or animated, silent or talking, colour or black and white.

So, anyway, I was thinking of entering and putting together a 30 second clip exclusively made up from Creative Commons licenced image and music material, illustrating something like how gravity wouldn't exist unless Sir Isaac Newton had been able to patent it and protect his intellectual property...

Actually that started as a joke, but I've put together a storyboard. I've got no film-making experience or software - anyone want to run with the idea to help show how sharing ideas benefits society?

With thanks to the following people whose intellectual property I have used:

• Delicate by Vivian
• knobby by milewalker
• PICT0009 by indi.ca
• IMG_3989 by GODOLPHIN
• Cascada invertida con niños by El Tecnorrante
• Lookin' up by capturedbythelight

Posted by Martin Belam, June 19, 2005
Read more posts on currybetdotnet about: Media
     
The views expressed on currybetdotnet are my own, and do not reflect the views of my current or former employers.