[stasis]

Hi. I am close to finishing making a puppy training film on DVD. We originally did not set out to make this film, it just sort of grew. The film is really quite good and professional looking. Looks good on 42 inch plasma. My wife is a well regarded dog trainer, so the content is good and the performance is very natural.
We know local vets will sell the film and dog taining clubs, we may also be able to sell it on Ebay. We have not seen any films like this on sale.
What I need is advice on registering copyright on the film. Also is it feasable to have it professionally manufactured and packaged. ie what are the costs and who does it?
All help and advice would be much appreciated.

There is no official process of registering copyright - no forms to fill in etc. - if you made the film and the material on it is your property you own the copyright.

It is advisable to declare the copyright on your video - this is either done with a notice to the effect that you retain copyright and do not give permission for it to be copied or distributed. or by including the copyright logo (© ) and the year and possibly your company name on a title page . You can maybe even overlay the whole video with the copyright logo and date - so that no one can even copy a single frame.

As to professional duplication and packaging there are dozens of companies who will do that for you - just go to www.google.co.uk and enter 'Video Duplication Services' in the search box - restrict the search to UK and click 'Google Search' - you should then have around 500,000 results to read.

[MarkE19]

Good advice I have given in the past for Copyright is to send a copy of the DVD to yourself in a sealed envelope by recorded delivery. When it arrives put it away somewhere safe without opening the package. Then should any dispute arrise you have proof of the date the DVD was created - should somebody else use your ideas, rather than a direct copy of the disc.

I was recently asked by my brother to find a DVD duplication company and did as suggested by Beejaycee and used good old Google to find them. It is well worth looking into several companies as I found the costs varied by a fair bit, as did the actual services offered - ie printed cover & disc, on a spindle or in cases etc etc.

Mark.

[stasis]

Hi, Thanks for the replies, I have used the © symbol as you suggested and have also copied the wording used in 2 hollywood movies, specifically stated as applying to UK law. Hollywood cant protect their copyright so what chance have I. Still it would be silly not to try and record copyright of your own movie.
I will also do as you suggested Mark.
As you mentioned with google you get hundreds of replies, can you recall who you eventually used ?
I am not sure whether to do this as a cottage industry or do it with professional help. I think the main advantage of the professional route is that the disc will be punched rather than burned. I have read posts on here about time related failures of DVD-R etc. Also the discs will be universal from a manufacturer.
It is really a question of how many units are required to make it cost effective. How much of a gamble am I prepared to make by ordering copies that may not sell.
I should also find out if it is of sufficient quality for to be sold through pet shop chains and vets etc. I believe it is.
regards stasis.

[MarkE19]

I've not used anybody to copy DVD's as yet. The video is till to be recorded, and then I have the joy of doing all the editing and once agreed master to DVD. I don't expect to be getting the disc duplicated until May/June time.
I wouldn't like to guarentee that all duplication services use pressed discs, and would assume that burnt discs would be likely from at least some companies due to it being cheaper for short runs. I wouldn't worry too much about failure of burnt discs as this is far less of a problem with good quality branded media and more modern media. This was also a problem with professionally produced discs in the early days of DVD.
The obvious advantage of a DIY approch is that you only produce the discs as they are required, with no large qualtities sitting in a spare room collecting dust. With direct to disc printing now cheaply available it may well be a good option to consider and still be able to offer a proffessional looking product, rather than the (IMO) tatty looking stick on labels.

Mark.

[stasis]

I obviously have a lot to learn about this sort of thing. I did not realise how easy it is to do professional looking disc production.
regards stasis.

[MarkE19]

Not that I've ever done this you understand but with a scan of a DVD disc you can then print onto a printable blank disc and the surface at least can look almost as good as the origional. However these printable discs do not absorb the ink that well and any water will make the ink run, therefore I also coat the surface with a waterproof spray. I've even had one of these coated discs in the washing up water and the ink has stayed put
There are a few different ink jet printers that can now print direct to a disc from Epson & Canon and perhaps other makes as well. They are supplied with the software to create the disc prints and IMO it is basic but easy to use. Printable discs are now fairly easy to get hold of from the internet and computer fairs etc, just not that common in the supermarket or PC World etc.
Printing a good DVD cover is a simple job with the correct software and at least some basic creativity . I use a blank rectangle template in MS Publisher and just put the required writing & pictures within the rectangle and print it out and cut to size - easy! I have made up similar templates for CD front and back covers.

Mark.

[felix2]

Hi Stasis, sounds interesting!

I’ve recently been looking into this too, for a local broadband TV service where we’ve just about finished making a 100% local, “amateur” (i.e. not funded) feature film.

When it comes to producing DVDs, look at a few companies’ websites and phone a few people – there’s a wide range of services available, and you might be surprised just how helpful some of the big professional companies are (as well as the small one-man bands)! Personally, I couldn’t face burning more than about 30 discs of any one project at home, and copying services are cheap enough that I think it’s worth letting the specialists do it! For up to 500 discs, I’ve seen prices of 90p-£2.50 each, depending on quantities ordered (someone I found on Google quoted over £3.50!), and 500+ at 70p-£1.50. These generally include black printing on the disc (more for colour or label), and then you have to add 10-20p per DVD case, something for the sleeves (20-50p), delivery (£5-12?), and VAT on all of that. Although as Mark says, I’d probably still do the sleeves at home!

Up to 500 units, DVDs are generally burned (“duplicated”) – using DVD-R discs with optical dye, just like the ones we make at home, with claimed compatibility with about 95-99% of domestic DVD players. (Check they use good quality i.e. professional branded discs.) If you’re producing over 500, they are generally pressed (“replicated”), like commercial films, with compatibility virtually 100%.

I’m guessing if you’ve played your video on a 42” plasma, you’re happy with your encoding to DVD and authoring / menus (prices charged for that vary temendously from one place to another)?

For copyright, there’s also the option of adding copy protection, which might deter some (but not all) potential pirates! But that usually only comes with more expensive DVD authoring software (or if the replication company author it for a run of 500+). By the way, you haven’t got any copyright music on the video, have you?!

Good luck, let us know how you get on!

Giles.

[stasis]

Hi,
I have followed the advice from Mark and Beejaycee and looked at some sites on the web, £1.50 to £2.00 seems a reasonable price to be able to achieve for a finished copy. Once I am finished the filming I will look more closely at duplication and packaging.
I have used pinnacle studio 9.4 to edit and master the DVD. I have done a mark 1 prototype of the film. Everything worked fine. I used some music from the pinnacle software for the film intro and credits. It sounded ok and I dont think there is any copyright problems with using this music.
regards stasis.

[felix2]

No, I guess that will be totally royalty-free music on there, so nothing to worry about!