Byron Plumridge

Understand the ethical and legal constraints with in the

media sector
Copy right law
The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, is the current UK
copyright law. It gives the creators of literary, dramatic, musical
and artistic works the right to control the ways in which their
material may be used. The rights cover: Broadcast and public
performance, copying, adapting, issuing, renting and lending
copies to the public. In many cases, the creator will also have
the right to be identified as the author and to object to
distortions of his work.
Copyright arises when an individual or organization creates a
work, and applies to a work if it is regarded as original, and
exhibits a degree of labor, skill or judgment.
Why is it so important to your industry?
Copy right law is important in the film industry because if this
law wasnt in place companies would steal each others content
and get away with it.
What is its purpose?
The purpose is to keep the writer/director e.c.t work safe so it
cant be ripped off by other people
What does it protect?
Copy right law protects companies and peoples idea from being
stolen once used so that they stay original ideas.
What happens if its broken?
If its broken the company who performed copy right will be
sued and can have their product banned and removed If you
infringe on someones copyrighted work, you could receive a
polite letter or email from the author asking you to remove the
material from your website or otherwise stop use of the work.

Byron Plumridge

You could get a notice demanding you cease and desist using
and distributing the copyrighted work, or you might discover
that your Internet service provider has already removed
infringing content. You could face penalties of more than
$100,000 for each infringed work. You could go to jail. It all
depends on the extent of the infringement
Find examples of when it has been broken and outcome?
Russian films are being made available through Apple's iTunes
service without the consent of the copyright holders, the BBC
has learned.
The popular films, dating from the Soviet era, are being made
available to download as smartphone apps. But the original
film-makers have not given their permission for the films to go
on sale. Apple said it took copyright complaints seriously and
took action as soon as it received a complaint.
Films available via iTunes include old favourites such as
Gentlemen of Fortune, Assa, The Diamond Arm, Kin-dza-dza
and Cheburashka.
What is the Films Act?
The Films Act 1985 dissolved the British Film Fund Agency,
ending the Eady levy system established in 1951.
The Act also abolished the Cinematograph Film Council and
dissolved the National Film Finance Corporation, transferring
its assets to British Screen Finance Limited.
The Act repealed the Films Acts 1960-1980 and also repealed
certain provisions of the Finance Acts 1982 and 1984 and
substituted new provisions for determining whether or not a
film was 'British' film eligible for capital allowances. The act
states what you can and cant do in the film industry It is
perhaps a tribute (though a backhanded one) to the power of
the moving image that it should be subject to far greater
censorship than any other artistic medium. Current technology
makes it effectively impossible to censor the written word,
theatre censorship was abolished in 1968, and there has never
been any systematic regulation of other art forms - anyone

Byron Plumridge

seeking to clamp down on such events must mount a private

prosecution, a lengthy and expensive process.
Why is it relevant to the film industry?
It is important to the film industry as companies need to know
what is acceptable and what isnt in order for their films and
productions to pass through the British board of Film
Classification.
Does it help or hinder the industry?
It helps and hinders the film industry it helps by ensuring
companies and directors etc. by stopping them from breaking
laws and makes them produce and present their work correctly.
It also hinders the industry as it creates hassle for developers
as they have to work around these rules and laws which can
take a lot of time and effort to do so.

Importance of ethical issues

Use of language
The use of language in the film industry relates to the language
used in certain age rating films, the use of language can
change the rating the film gets its one of the points they base
their decision around, for e.g. if a film is a PG theyre not going
to allow people to violently swear or swear at all for the matter,
whereas if its an 18 rated film then swearing would be allowed
and violent body language would also be expected.

Equal opportunities
Equal opportunities is an act where people should be treated as
an equal and not be looked down upon because of their age,
disability, sex, religion or ethnic origin. The Equal Opportunities
act took effect in August 2011. This new act replaced the 1995
equal opportunity act, with some changes to discrimination
laws and changed key definitions.
Encouraging diversity

Byron Plumridge

The importance of encouraging diversity is important in order

for different minorities and people from other backgrounds to
step forth into the film industry to add valuable assets to the
industry. When Steve McQueen picked up an Academy Award
for 12 Years a Slave in 2013, he became the first black director
to win the Oscar for Best Picture. This was a seminal moment
for black film makers However, the statistics across the industry
tell a different story just 5.3% of the film production
workforce, 3.4% of the film distribution workforce and 4.5% of
the film exhibition workforce were from Black, Asian and
minority ethnic backgrounds in 2012. This shows how low a
percentage in the industry are from different backgrounds.
The diversity in this case is people and the film industry needs
a more diverse workforce therefore encouraging diversity is
important.
Representation of gender
The representation of gender is how a certain industry
represents both men and women and whether they see them
as equals or strong and weak etc.
This chart shows that
women are being unfairly
treated in the film
industry and gender
inequality is still
happening today, from
this chart we can see that
there is nearly 3 male
actors to every 1 female
actor showing that
theyre preferred to
females this also
persuades females to not
go into the acting this is
backed u by another
statistic on the chart
which shows that 26.2 %

Byron Plumridge

of women actors get partially naked and 32.5% of teenage

females depicted with some nudity has increased from 2007 to
2012.

In the film industry the representation of religious beliefs and

different cultures is difficult to please everyone as some film
may portray a certain religion as the bad side when in real life it
isn't it due to the films idea it is and the film industry are
always being questioned and people attempt to sue companies
for racism the film industry tries its hardest to not create racism
in films or discriminate other religions and their beliefs.
Men and women should be represented as equals in the film
industry there should not be gender equality, a female can be
just a good actor as a male if not better also female directors
and producers shouldnt be looked down upon without being
given the chance to present their ideas to the industry, the
representation of gender in the film industry should be seen as
equals and women shouldnt be used just for sexual scenes
which a third of them are according from stats in 2012.
My chosen industry does and does not represent people fairly
there is gender equality and women are used for nudity and
only 30% get characters who actually speak and are part of the
story.

Byron Plumridge