Regulatory Bodies

Regulatory Bodies

OFCOM 

TV & Radio

- Receive complaints from viewers about inappropriate TV e.g Love island gained 4,000 + complaints throughout the series.

BBFC 

Film

- The BFFC grant age ratings to films

IPSO 

Press and newspapers

- Make sure that journalists aren't writing libel and are in line with the Editors Code, They take complaints about magazine info.

W3C

Web use 

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ASA

Advertising 

PRS

Music

Legal Issues research task LO1

Digital photographic product -Legal Issues research task LO1 

Tv Production
Making A Murderer

The documentary found on the popular streaming website Netflix was a sensation when released in 2015, The documentary follows a convicted man named Simon Avery on his path to try and prove his innocence that was taken from him for 18 years, The laws that would need to be considered whilst making and distributing a documentary like this would be the Freedom of Information acts 2000, This act would be relevant due to the government of the state of Wisconsin would be forced to release all court documents,evdience and information requested by the documentary team due to the acts regulations, This also forces the documentary to use all factual information and even thought the documentary can be biased they can't over exaggerate and have to document the information as factual as possible.
Due to this documentary being very controversial the legal act which would also have to be considered would be Slander, This legal act would be very relevant due to the controversial nature therefore the narrator could appear to harm the reputation of the Manitowoc County police department due to the documentary being bias on the side of Steven Avery. In preproduction the producers would have to check the script in depth to make sure no statements or phrases could be seen as defamatory.
Due to the television programme being shown on the popular streaming service Netflix it isn't regulated by one of the 7 regulators because of its streaming quality, The TV show did have age ratings though and Netflix do have similar codes of practice to OFCOM, this is to ensure that the contents of the programme are suitable to the suggested viewer however streaming services are harder to regulate due to there being no watershed or viewers lying about their age when asked if they are over 16.
The legal issues that could be applied to this TV programme could be the accessibility to different audiences, on Netflix you can easily change the language and add subtitles in many popular languages this feature ensures that many more people now have accessibility to this product increasing the profit made.

Social Media Campaign
Cadbury's Marvellous Creations Bar
 The cadburys social media campaign to reveal their new chocolate bar happened in 2013, The bar was revealed in an online post however as you can see the adverts house style is the cadburys iconic purple, The colour purple,Cadbury's logo and font used would have to be under the Copyrights,Designs and Patents Act 1988, This being due to if another chocolate company started producing chocolate linking it to the same shade of purple wouldn't be able to take legal action.
This advert would be regulated by ASA, this advertising regulator check adverts on all platforms however the advert I have chosen is made to target a mass audience meaning that it wouldn't contain any inappropriate images or text which would involve ASA.
The ethical issues relevant to this advert would be ensuring that in any other Cadbury's adverts the characters that are seen are of different races, ages, disabilities and sexualities to ensure a mass target audience but also to avoid their reputation form being tainted in the publics eye.

Digital Animation 
Mulan

The animated film 'Mulan' which was brought out in 1988 by Disney and brought in 304.3 million US dollars, The legal acts that would be needed for an animation film would be Copyrights,Designs and Patents Act 1988, the major conglomerate brand Disney needs to ensure the copyright on their films and their music created to claim all profits for the product they made, due to the film being such an iconic film the copyright ensures that no other companies can gain off selling products with any off the content created by Disney on to the huge audiences that love the Disney film.
The film Mulan would be regulated by BBFC, even though the film is created in America therefore MPAA would review the film originally when distributed in the UK however BBFC would be in charge of giving age ratings appropriate for UK citizens to use, In this case due to it being an animation aimed at a child audience the age rating is U for universal in both locations.
For the Disney's production of Mulan, ethical issues that need to be considered would be no offensive or disturbing content especially if targeted towards young children, the film can't contain any swearing,sexual content or show the effects or use of alcohol and drugs.

Radio Production

Classic FM

The Radio production called Classic FM is aimed at an older audience 40+ due to the niche classical music they play they contrast the major radio productions such as Capital or Hallam however all stations have in common are the competitors they run where they ask audience members to ring in and usually answer questions, In doing so they are involving the Data Protection Act, This act is used to protect personal data this including phone numbers that are gained by the radio production when an audience member rings in, to protect this number from fraud attempts the radio production  encrypts the information when received  this allowing the data to be kept safe from hacks and leaks.
This radio station is regulated by OFCOM, simiar to Making a Murderer the regulator would give the radio station codes of practice to ensure all content created is suitable for listeners.
The radio production must follow ethical procedures such as including presenters of all races and sexualities, to expand the mass audience having people of different accents and opinions for example not just having a caucasians speaking presenter on repeatedly.

Graphic Novel

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns 

The famous franchise Batman was originally created in graphic novels before the films and Tv series were created, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns is a graphic novel that was released in 1986 by Frank Miller, The comic books creators and publishers would be concerned with the legal act, The Intellectual Property Rights, The creators would want this comic to be Ip'd to ensure that they could trade mark the name and characters in the novel as in 30 years the Batman franchise would be around 4 billion US dollars, The company would have to give rightful compensation and stop creating Batman material if someone else copyrighted the name and idea of Batman before they did, this outlining how important the act is.
Due to the media product novel genre not having a regulatory body to ensure the appropriateness of the magazine another regulator that would be seen related to the magazine is BBFC as later on in the development of the character and franchise films were created which lead to a mix of age ratings.
The ethical procedures of the graphic magazine could be not to include any graphic or discriminatory content, this would include having a reoccurring evil antagonist of a certain culture, this could be seen as racist if one ethnicity was constantly used in a negative light and the antagonist is seen in cultural dress especially.


Photographic Product 

Eric Ryan Anderson
For Eric Ryan Andersons photography portfolio he may need to consider the legal act of Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act of 1988, Due to Eric creating content he would want to get his images copyrighted as if not they may be spread online however no profit would go to Eric for creating these images as he wouldn't be able to take legal action if someone else claimed them as their own, On top of copyright Eric may also need to consider the Data Protection Act as if he is a photojournalist and hasn't asked his models for their permission for him to take his photo he could be taken to court for sharing images of people without their consent.

For the photographers portfolio the appropriate regulator would be W3C, due to the portfolio being distributed online it would be the W3C's duty to ensure that it was appropriate for viewers who may find the content e.g making sure their wasn't any images of sexual nature.
For ethical procedures the photographer must ensure that none of their models can be seen in a sexual nature if they are underage children this is very important due to the sexualising of children would be very morally wrong and this could taint his reputation and even mean a court case if serious enough.

Legal Issues PRESENTATION

Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

Mia, Mady, Bailey

MEANING 

• The copyright designs and patents act 1988 is a legal requirement that gives creators the right to control the ways their material may be used 

IMPORTANCE

The importance of the act would be :

• Rightful profit and recognition goes to the creator of the content instead of the plagiarist.
• Registered copyrighted material cant be liable to infringement.
• Copyrights encourage people and organizations to create new things by guaranteeing protection for proprietary ideas.

LO1 : Legal Issues

LEGAL ISSUES

Legal issues are a requirement by the law,  it has to be adhered to as its a legal requirement, Some consequences which you may face if you do not follow the legal requirements could be a fine, production of your product stopped, negative effects to the reputation of your company 

Examples 

• Copyrighted images/branding/Trademarks 
• Permits
• Signed contracts 
• Employer liament 
• Health and Safety 
• Release and consent forms 
• Location permission consent form
• Location recce form 
• Privacy and confidentiality/ Data Protection Act  
• Discrimination and disfamintry 
• Ethical issues

• Freedom of information acts 2000
• Intellectual Property rights
• Data Protection 
• Copyrights,Designs and patents act 1988
• Libel
• Slander

1. Definition of what it means 
2. Three reasons why it is important 
3. What are the consequences of not adhering to the law 
4. Find an example of where this legal issue was breached 
5. How does this law effect pre-production of media product?

Data Protection Act 

Definition of what it means - An act which protects personal data e.g name address 

Three reasons why it is important - allows only certain amount of people to access ur data, these people are called data commissioner, preventing fraud and leaks 

What are the consequences of not adhering to the law - criminal prosecution, fines or aduit

Find an example of where this legal issue was breached - Craphone Warehouse leaked data by accident and got fined £400,000 and because of this the GDPR was introduced

How does this law effect pre-production of media product? - making sure your staff and clients information is safe and secure, and the data needs to be encrypted to be stored safely.

Intellectual Property Rights 

Definition of what it means - the protections granted to the creators of IP including trademarks, copyright and design rights 

Three reasons why it is important - Prevent competitors or thieves from stealing your idea, you may have to stop trading if your name is already copyrighted,  

What are the consequences of not adhering to the law - its called infringement if its breached, criminal penalties, lawsuits and fines.

Find an example of where this legal issue was breached - The associated Press vs Fairey, Fairey copyrighted the associated press' picture of Obama and therefore The associated press sued Fairey. 

How does this law effect pre-production of media product? - Cant have copyrighted music, Cant have copyrighted images.

Freedom of information acts 2000

Definition of what it means - Gives a general right of access by the public of the local authorities 

Three reasons why it is important - it gives a greater understanding of what the government is doing and how it affects the country, its a way for the public to trust the government 

What are the consequences of not adhering to the law - fined, imprisonment , loss of the staff , loss of future staff and loss of productivity 

Find an example of where this legal issue was breached - A council in Wales breached the act as didn't release information, they were given 30 days to release the information or face the high court 

How does this law effect pre-production of media product? - before the act people would set out false stories and create false news from it.

Any media product that uses information in documentaries, magazines etc on authorities, the information used has to be factual and correct.

Libel & Slander

• Definition of what it means - When you communicate false information about a company or people, Slander means any information that can harm damage to a person or people.
• Three reasons why it is important - Libel is important because it can ruin a company/reputation and if you are the company who committed the slander against another company this can also lead to a ruined reputation, Slander is important so you can gain justice or gain money to make up for your misfortune in compensation
• What are the consequences of not adhering to the law - legal actions, court cases/fines, It can affect companies also because suppliers, investors could not want to be associated with the company after the incident has happened, Consequences of slander is a civil matter so not as severe however may be taken to the court or a public apology given.
• Find an example of where this legal issue was breached - Kevin Peterson took action against Specsavers advert as Kevin was suggested by their advertising that he had tampered by his bat.
• For slander Joe Franics didn't pay his casino debut which led to Steve Wyn suggesting that Wyn ran his casinos deceitfully.
• How does this law effect pre-production of media product? - Companies will have to take full precautions so that no false accusations are made in the making of the product, With slander it will be effect full if someone  mentions something during  the preproduction process and something needs to be done to solve the case, it will put a stop on the products creation and having a bigger issue to solve.

LO1 crowdfunding case study

OCULUS RIFT

Oculus Rift are a well known VR company who have just sold their visual reality headset company to Facebook for $2million pounds but how did they reach their massive global empire from a simple crowdfunding.

Oculus began to build a name for itself on Kickstarter,this being a well known page notorious for hit success' but also a sea of business' eager for money to start their products and kickstart their business, Oculus started out on the website in 2012 asking for $250,000 to help them turn an early developer kit of a VR headset into a consumer ready VR product, Oculus received 100% of their request in under 4 hours, and then later went onto make a staggering $2.5million on the website alone this major boost allowed the company to develop their headset and also build the companies reputation and gain publicity.

When the appeal for crowdfunding closed Oculus Rift has surpassed their original goal by %875 and 9,522 people had put in a total of $2,437,429 however the company found itself in controversial situations, especially in 2014 when the company sold their loved brand built by the support of the public to a social media giant, Facebook. This action by Oculus sparked outrage in the community that had once felt so strong about the company's future that they donated their own money to help support the once humble company.
The company spoke out after the controversy saying that 'The selling of Oculus was for the best possible outcome for the future of VR', They backed this statement by saying the headset will be much cheaper once available for retail now partner shipped with the major corporate company, however even after this statement many members of Kickstarter have revealed that after this action by Oculus the reputation of the website is ruined and they feel betrayed by the actions of the company.

Even if the company faced trouble later on, the original page was still a huge success so how did they manage to stand out from the sea of up and coming business'?
Many people believe it was due to many factors including ; targeting an audience who will eventually want to purchase the product, Ask for the right amount of money and create a company that make people care.