%20 Honors C&D l33t Week with an interview with RotS l33t Trailer creator m4r(.
Since this weeks chapter is the Intermission for 'Thee Backslacpkping With Media', we're taking this opportunity to interview one of the inspirations for this project.
One of the ephemeral internet creations which could be attributed with compounding the viral video craze which would spawn free video sites like youtube or dailymotion is the l33t subtitled version of the Star Wars Revenge of the Sith trailer. Created by m4r( (Marc Nuar) an avid gamer. As the internet culture expanded, it left a confusing adjustment period for all involved. Lucasfilm in the depths of the Prequel Trilogy releases felt it necessary to cease and desist m4r('s l33t'd trailer. That letter can be read on m4r('s site along with the translation into l33t sp33k. (http://nuar.lunarpages.com/) The Cease and Desist (C&D) is a tool in the belt of everyone with litigative aspirations or when you find something you don't or can't appreciate and want that action to halt all propagation. %20 interviewed m4r( on his experiences:
%20 : What made you create the trailer?
m4r( : As a Star Wars fan I was very excited when the trailer was released. After watching it several times with friends, all gamers of various sorts, we began making goofy comments about it. Those 'peanut gallery' comments inspired me to create the 133t subtitles for the trailer.
Seems like you had a full month before getting the letter?
Yes, the 133t trailer was up for just over a month before gathering enough attention for Lucasfilm to send the C&D.
How bad was the initial bandwidth hit? How did the setting of mirrors happen?
The first two days were not bad, as I just sent the page to a handful of friends. On the third day bandwidth started jumping upwards with over 1000 downloads, so a few friends volunteered to help by posting mirrors.
How many of them fell to the demand?
Suddenly, about a week after it was posted, it apparently went viral and the views exploded. All of a sudden I was getting hits from dozens of blogs, and even found that I was being linked from the front pages of huge sites like BoingBoing and Digg. In less than a 24 hours period it was downloaded over 10,000 times. My bandwidth (and the bandwidths of my first mirrors) crumpled. As the mirrors began failing, the internet community stepped in, with dozens of people offering to help by mirroring. The demand was too much for most mirrors, bringing down most within just a few days.
Any clue how many views it might have gotten in that first week, month, etc?
The first 5 days totaled about 10,000 downloads.
The first 7 days totaled about 30,000 downloads.
The first 14 days totaled about 120,000 downloads.
The first 25 days totaled about 200,000 downloads
By the time I took it down, after just over a month, it was downloaded an estimated 350,000 times across all mirrors. These number of course, only reflect downloads. I have no estimate for how many times it was torrented or viewed on sites lilke iFilm. All in all, it was quite amazing, considering YouTube didn't even exist yet, and online video was new to many people.
It sounds like there was just the one C&D contact, but how did that contact affect how you've worked afterwards?
Yes, I just got one C&D from Lucasfilm. I just made the whole thing for kicks and it had already gone WAY farther than I had expected, so I was fine with taking it down to avoid any possible legal complications.
Was the supposed violation ever explained further?
No. I even sent two emails to Lucasfilm, but they responded to neither.
Did any of the mirrors get the same C&D?
Not to my knowledge.
What's your opinion of the Cease & Desist process?
The current C&D process set in place by the DMCA may work for corporations, but it can, in essence, bully the individual or small developer by pitting them directly up against the faceless legal department of a behemoth. Lucasfilm was not required to respond to my inquiries and, since I have no legal weight to throw around, did not have to defend their stance.
Do you think you got contacted because of your paypal donation link?
I don't think so, as it wasn't mentioned in the C&D, and many of the mirrors were on business sites and sites with paid advertising. I ended up getting donations that were enough to cover my initial bandwidth overage charges plus another two months of my standard hosting plan
Or was the explosion of mirrors/hits causing a disruption to the official trailer, in your opinion? When you started offering merchandise?
At its peak, my 133t trailer page was showing up as the 3rd Google result when searching for Star Wars trailer. I think that this is probably what triggered the C&D. Even today a the page shows up on the first page of results when Googling for star wars revenge of the sith trailer. lol
Did you track the expansion of your piece as it migrated through the internet/bloggosphere?
I did look at my web stats quite often, especially the referring pages. Google, BoingBoing, and Digg were the top referring sites by volume. There were probably hundreds of forum threads and blogs linking to it.
Any odd places in your opinion where it ended up?
There were links and discussions on it from the official Lucas forums and theForce.net. Many posters there were upset when Lucasfilm sent the takedown notice.
Were you able to discuss the issue with a lawyer? What were their suggestions?
No. I wasn't interested in getting a lawyer, as I had nothing to gain from it. Lucasfilm's lawyers did not respond to my emails. I had just done the whole project as a laugh and I went much, much, much beyond what I had expected. I was pleasantly surprised by how many people had enjoyed it.
How was that process? Did you reply or just follow through with their request?
I just complied with their request. My work was already done. :)
With the 5 year anniversary of the trailer coming up, any plans?
lol. Not really. I've given thought to putting the trailer back up, but there isn't much point to it.
Your initial iFilm.com mirror is now owned by Spike.com which has an exclusive deal with Lucasfilm to air the movies, odd, weird neeto?
Amusing! I find it funny that I have to watch a commercial on their site before it plays the 133t trailer.
Did anyone ask you to l33t speak other trailers or projects?
A few people made suggestions, but I think it was best left as a one-time work.
What would you have changed, now looking back?
I would have changed a few of the translations. lol. A few of them I never really liked, but I didn't think it would matter, as I didn't expect it to become widespread at all. Other than that, it was a fun experience.
What's your opinion of video hosting sites which continue to play the l33t trailer?
Good for them. lol It wasn't my trailer to begin with, so I claim no ownership. The only ones that do irk me are the ones who have watermarked their website name on the bottom of the video or the ones who have replaced the closing credits with their own, claiming to be the creators. But the world is full of uncreative people whose only hope is to try to steal credit for themselves, so I don't pay those much mind.
Why do you continue to keep the take down page alive?
I left it up Because it still gets lots of hits. lol Even now, over 4 years later, it still gets several hundred hits a day (mostly from various google searches now) and I still get an email every few months from someone who enjoyed it or wants to find it.
Well, that was an entertaining trip down memory lane.
mARC
Many thanks to m4r( for his time. And if you seek it out, one of the mirrors is still active spreading the subtitled L33t trailer luv.
To continue the re-appropriation spirit of this work, the Intermission of 'Thee Backslacpkping With Media' takes the RotS Trailer l33t subtitles and composes them over a live performance of the Revenge of the Sith trailer performed at the 2005 Star Wars Celebration.Play Online:
http://www.noneinc.com/tBSWM/tBSWM-Video-ArchiveOrg/Thee_Backslacpkping_With_Media-Chap_26-Play.html
Download Mp4:
http://www.noneinc.com/tBSWM/tBSWM-Video-ArchiveOrg/Thee_Backslacpkping_With_Media-Chap_26_512kb.mp4
Download Ogv:
http://www.noneinc.com/tBSWM/tBSWM-Video-ArchiveOrg/Thee_Backslacpkping_With_Media-Chap_26.ogv
The Cease and Desist is a tool for anyone. To deny it exists or believe you don't use it is teh suxx.
According to Lucasfilm Representative Steve Sansweet Quote: "Other studios filing cease and desist orders, going after the fans, this isn't what Lucasfilm was about." (quote via: http://www.digitalcity.com/2009/07/28/comic-con-steve-sansweet-on-star-wars-fandom/)
Here is a random selection from teh Lucasfilm Cease and Desists archives.
http://nuar.lunarpages.com/
Quote: "Notice: As of 4/25/05 Lucasfilm Ltd. has requested that all potentially copyrighted materials and links be removed from this site."
http://www.seattlepi.com/theater/192350_lucasfilm.html
Quote: "Jet City, which is part of Wing-It Productions, has been screening old movies and redubbing them live for about seven years. The cease-and-desist letter they received from Lucasfilm Ltd. on Sept. 15 was their first."
http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/missed_it_lucasfilm_ltd_sends_cease_and_desist_to_diesel_sweeties_creator/
Quote: "It looks like the issue that drew LucasFilm Ltd's attention to Diesel Sweeties creator Rich Stevens is a selection of t-shirts by Stevens that LucasFilm believes reference trademarked Star Wars material, albeit in a slightly obtuse way in some cases."
http://news.cnet.com/Lucasfilm-fights-for-the-rights-to-Tatooine.com/2100-1023_3-235678.html
Quote: "Lucasfilm today confirmed it is trying to gain ownership of the domain name from Mount. "This is not at all unusual We send many cease-and-desist letters to people using domain names that are our registered trademark properties," company spokeswoman Jeanne Cole said. "We vigorously protect our trademarks.""
http://www.echostation.com/features/lfl_wookiee.htm
Quote: "The stories abound across the net, and fear strikes all of us -- another webmaster receives a Cease and Desist (C&D) letter from LucasFilm's (or an affiliated company's) corporate attorneys to pull graphics or a storyline featured on his site."
http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/newsreleases/articles/starwars052505.htm
Quote: "This morning, agents of the FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) executed 10 search warrants across the United States against leading members of a technologically sophisticated P2P network - the final entry in the Star Wars series, "Episode III -Revenge of the Sith," was available for downloading"
http://fancinematoday.com/2008/10/01/who-killed-star-wars-the-dark-redemption/
Quote: "The fall-out of Lucasfilm's C&D on the fan film would play out for a few years, although now the company sponsors the annual fan film competition beloved by many fan film fans. Still, it's fair to wonder how popular TDR could have become had it not been stalled by Lucas' lawyers. Would it have reached Troops-level icon status?"
But there are also examples of Lucasfilm attempting to key into internet alternatives, like this Obama/Star Wars Luke 'A New Hope' t-shirt design:
http://tcritic.com/archives/a-new-hope-obamastar-wars-spoof-now-available-as-a-t-shirt/
General Cease & Desist Information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cease_and_desist
http://www.chillingeffects.org/
A joint project between the Electronic Frontier Foundation and several universities to monitor uses and abuses of intellectual property rights on the internet. Contains a database of cease-and-desist letters to which either senders or recipients can contribute.