So now we wanna talk about students and film. Increasingly, students at all levels are being asked to create films as part of class projects, and many also do it just for recreation. For these films, as with all other media, we have to apply the same basic rules of copyright. But it's worthwhile to look at some common scenarios, dilemmas, and conflicts that can arise for student-made films. For one thing, who owns the student's work if they're a student at a college, a university, an elementary school, whatever? As a general rule, the students are going to own the copyright in their own works. Remember that copyright is automatic, and unless it's a work made for hire, the default is that it will be owned by the creator. So students own their copyrights unless they're employed by the school or university in a job where making the film is part of the job. Most of the time that's not going to be the case. However, many institutions, at least colleges and universities, assert a license to use the works in certain kinds of ways, such as for publicity or as examples for other students. Often that's made explicit at the time. And even in those cases where it's a general policy, the best practice is really to ask permission of the individual student or of the student's parent or guardian if the student is a minor. In addition, educational privacy laws, such as such as FERPA, at least in the US, may make it imperative, required, to get that written permission. >> So often the audiovisual works that students make are group projects, and in those cases, the usual copyright rules of joint authorship apply. Each creator is a co-owner of the work if they intended that their contributions be merged in inseparable or interdependent parts of a unitary whole. >> That sounds like a quote from the law. >> I believe it is. [LAUGH] And so each creator has control of the work regardless of the amount contributed. The copyright law doesn't try to figure out that one student in the group did most of the project and the other two slacked off, for example. >> Which is usually the case. >> [LAUGH] Yeah, I am speaking from bitter experience, yeah. [LAUGH] And only one creator's permission is needed in order to use a film, although it may be best practice to try to get permission from the other creators as well. >> So each of the group have an equal share in the copyright, and each can exercise the copyright without permission of the others. >> Without permission of the others. >> So it's important to know who you're working with and agree with them. >> And choose those people carefully, if possible. >> That's right, that's right. >> Lawful incorporation of copyrighted elements into a new film works the same way as it does for any other medium. In many cases, one would need to look at the four factors of fair use in order to decide when and how and what to incorporate. >> And there's likely to be a transformative argument for a lot of those films. >> And in addition, there is often a fairly low bar, relatively speaking, to finding fair use because of the educational nature of the work they're doing. And oftentimes, student work is distributed into a fairly small group too. >> And then put on YouTube. >> But then, [LAUGH] put on YouTube. The platform's requirements are relevant just as they are for any other work. Choosing appropriate clips and thinking about why and how they are used and attributing them properly is a good example of how literacy about copyright, or I guess you'd say facility around copyright, can dovetail nicely with information literacy in the classroom. >> Yeah, I think that's a great point. With more and more assignments like this, copyright becomes a more important thing for students to understand. >> Right. So thank you for listening.