Moonscape selected for online film festival

Moonscape has been selected for an online film festival, held on July 18-24 as a non-profit event organized on behalf of TransformingTheChurch.org by Bill Anderton, former colleague of Max Faget, famous designer of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo spacecraft as well as of the world’s first spaceplane, the X-15.

The festival has organized group viewings for the 47th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission that put Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the Moon.

By the way, if you’re wondering how things are going with Moonscape, I’ve spent quite some time fighting bogus copyright claims on Youtube, as I noted in previous posts, and I’m very slowly preparing a completely new edit, starting from new and improved versions of the original material and with some new additions.

For example, I’m negotiating with NVIDIA for permission to use their excellent 3D reconstruction of the Apollo 11 landing site so that I can add “drone views” to Moonscape.

Money is not a problem: the donations I’ve received so far cover the costs of the new material and hardware. What I need is help in the form of work (especially 3D graphics for the panorama shots).

Work is slow because I also have to migrate the entire project from the old Final Cut Pro software, which is no longer supported, to a multiplatform and up-to-date video editing suite (Adobe Premiere). Unfortunately I don’t have much time to spend on the project right now, but I’m not quitting: I’d like to offer you a special treat for the 50th anniversary. Stay tuned!

Moonscape scelto per un festival online del cinema

Moonscape è stato scelto per un festival del cinema che si svolge online dal 18 luglio e si concluderà domani (24 luglio) ed è organizzato senza scopo di lucro per TransformingTheChurch.org da Bill Anderton, ex collega di Max Faget, celeberrimo progettista delle capsule Mercury, Gemini e Apollo oltre che del primo aereo-razzo spaziale, l’X-15.

Il festival ha organizzato visioni collettive in corrispondenza del quarantesettesimo anniversario della missione Apollo 11 che portò sulla Luna Neil Armstrong e Buzz Aldrin.

Fra l’altro, se vi state chiedendo come sta progredendo il lavoro a Moonscape, ho tribolato non poco con le false accuse di violazione di copyright su Youtube, come raccontato nei post precedenti, e sto lentissimamente preparando un rimontaggio totale del documentario per includere nuove versioni del materiale e dei contenuti supplementari.

Per esempio, sto trattando con NVIDIA per avere il permesso di usare la loro ottima ricostruzione 3D del sito di allunaggio di Apollo 11 in modo da poter aggiungere “viste da drone” a Moonscape.

I soldi non sono un problema: le donazioni che ho ricevuto fin qui coprono i costi del nuovo materiale e dell’hardware. Quello che mi serve è un aiuto lavorativo (specialmente la grafica 3D per le panoramiche).

Il lavoro procede lentamente anche perché devo per migrare dal vecchio Final Cut Pro, non più supportato, a un software multipiattaforma (Adobe Premiere). Purtroppo il tempo che posso dedicare al progetto in questo periodo è molto limitato. Ma non mollo: per il cinquantenario della missione vorrei regalarvi qualcosa di speciale.

Bogus copyright claim against Moonscape / Contestazione fasulla di copyright su Moonscape

ITALIANO: Ho ricevuto da Youtube una contestazione di presunta violazione del diritto d’autore in una parte di Moonscape, che sarebbe di proprietà del brano musicale Moon Landing di The Orchard Music. Mi sono opposto rispondendo che il materiale NASA non è sotto copyright, come specificato qui: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/guidelines/index.html. Dopo qualche giorno la contestazione è stata annullata. Non è la prima di questo genere. Mi sono stufato di perdere tempo.


ENGLISH: On April 30, 2016 I received this notification from Youtube, stating that “The Orchard Music” was claiming copyright over part of Moonscape. Youtube said that some material in Part 3 of Moonscape (the One Small Step chapter version 1.1, which I posted on Youtube here) was from the copyrighted song Moon Landing.

On May 3, 2016 I examined the allegedly infringing material, which is said to be at 0:50-1:47 in the video: it’s Buzz and Neil talking on the Moon. The claim is therefore totally bogus.

I replied to the dispute as follows, stating that the material is in the public domain or unsuitable for copyright protection.

In the claim dispute form I added this note:

The disputed material is a NASA recording of the Apollo 11 Moon landing and as such is NOT copyrighted, as stated in NASA's copyright rules at http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/guidelines/index.html. The Orchard Music appears to be claiming copyright on US government property.

Actually, I was so angry at having to waste time on this patently frivolous copyright claim that I forgot the word material, but never mind.

That NASA Media Usage Guidelines page makes it quite clear that the voices of Neil and Buzz during Apollo 11 are not copyrighted:

NASA content - images, audio, video, and computer files used in the rendition of 3-dimensional models, such as texture maps and polygon data in any format - generally are not copyrighted. You may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages. This general permission extends to personal Web pages.

Youtube now says that my dispute is being examined by “the copyright owner” (wrong: The Orchard Music is not the owner, it’s a claimant for the time being) and adds that I will receive a reply within 30 days. In the meantime, the video is still available for viewing.

I’ll add here any updates to the dispute.


2016/05/24: The copyright claim has been released. Anyway, I’m tired of wasting time chasing these bogus copyright claims (other parts of Moonscape have also received the same claim from the same company), so I'm going to just delete any Youtube copies against which I receive a claim notification.