Using Foley sounds from existing films

iamWZA

iamWZA

Active member
I want to use Foley sounds from two films (The Hunt (2012) and A Prophet (2009)) in my own short film, but I'm pretty sure it's not strictly legal.
Has anyone done it before? The sounds are of a phone vibrating, and footsteps. It would be almost impossible for anyone to recognise where those sounds came form originally.
What are your thoughts?
 
Yeah, probably not legal but I don't think you'd be busted. It's not necessary to pinch sounds, you can buy libraries that are varied and legal. I picked up a bunch of stuff at hollywoodedge.com. On the site, if you go to their CDs find the more detail link for lists of sounds. John there is a great guy and will often work to put together custom downloads for you. They have a Foley Footsteps CD for $60. It's clean, dry and well recorded so you can customize them. No affiliation just a satisfied customer ;) My thinking is that a for a few hundred bucks I can go to work with hundreds of great sounds ready to go. I tried doing my own foley and still record ambient sounds myself but foley takes a lot of effort and time.

oops Foley
 
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Honesty shouldn't depend on the probability of getting caught. The ethical person does the right thing even when no one is looking.
 
Steve House said:
Honesty shouldn't depend on the probability of getting caught. The ethical person does the right thing even when no one is looking.
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I agree. This is a no-no, even if you don't get caught. How would you feel if someone ripped off work you did? I don't even rip off my own stuff. I make a strong effort to use different sounds as much as possible.
 
iamWZA said:
I want to use Foley sounds from two films (The Hunt (2012) and A Prophet (2009)) in my own short film, but I'm pretty sure it's not strictly legal.
Has anyone done it before? The sounds are of a phone vibrating, and footsteps. It would be almost impossible for anyone to recognise where those sounds came form originally.
What are your thoughts?
Click to expand...

I'm sure the purists would criticize you on the use of the term 'Foley' for sounds that you are clipping out of someone else's work...

You are wanting Sound Effects...

For the couple of items that you mention, it would be easier and perfectly legal... and what's more you own the sounds... to record them your self...

Clipping sounds out of someone else's work... is as much an infringement as cutting chunks of visuals, or passages of music off a CD...

Unless the work is known and acknowledged to be Public Domain... you can assume it is copyrighted material and rights holders require license for use.

If you want it different... lobby Congress to change idiocy laws that have been enacted in regard to copyrights.

Here's another round of idiocy...

Old music records distributed to the masses before 1978. Here's what I understand to be the current situation...

Records produced and distributed before 1978 were not considered to be 'published'. What this means is that they are still held by the original copyright holder as 'Unpublished works'. That means no copy of a disk prior to 1978 can be used willy nilly without first checking the actual Public Domain status. How copyright was gained before that time, was to 'publish' a music sheet, printed notes, and lyrics, then copyright the sheet music.

For many blues and folk singers only a recording was made of their songs and music, and hence no 'printed' version ever appeared, until someone decided to produce a record in the post 1978 era...
 
Steve House said:
Honesty shouldn't depend on the probability of getting caught. The ethical person does the right thing even when no one is looking.
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This. 1000 times this.

If you don't own the work, and you don't have permission to use it, don't use it. It is illegal. I don't understand why we keep getting questions trying to stretch out a grey area on this.

And it's been mentioned, but I'll reiterate: it is SO much easier, not to mention that it's both legal and lots more fun, to create the sounds yourself than to take any risk of getting caught for copyright infringement. You're talking about some of the easiest sounds to recreate, anyway. I was working on a video for my boss last night and had footage I'd shot of candles being lit. It was not a quiet environment when I shot the footage. So, last night, I turned off the heat, the fan, the fridge, the TV... and I sat down with a handheld recorder and a box of matches and recorded strike after strike. Not only did I get exactly what I needed, I got what I wanted, AND I now have a series of match strikes in my library that I can use whenever I want.
 
There is not the slightest shadow of legality here. Those sounds are copyright along with the rest of the movie.

It would have been simpler (and likely faster) to record your own than to post a dubious question here and wait for the inevitable responses.

I don't even understand why the question was asked.
 
As others have said not legal at all. In fact it's multiple issues since the "sound" is copyrighted by the recordist (unless it's specifically stated otherwise in their contract) and the sound as used in the film is copyrighted as part of that work.

I'm not sure I would use any strong disparaging titles your not trying to ride on someone else's artistic achievement, just grab some sounds. Recordists are constantly "grabbing" ambiences in places they technically should be getting releases from, so it's a little glass house to be calling names.

But it isn't legal and it is also not very practical. Your not going to get the sound you want clean, it's a mix after all, or at a decent quality level, DVD's use essentially MP3 for the sound. And it's going to have been cut to match a different movie so it's not really going to fit well.

The "douche" move is more using sounds that are not going to work, than where you got them.

So sound dogs, is a good place to get sounds, recording is a better option if you can, FreeSound.org has sounds that you can use at no cost and you can ask on sites like here and the Digi Users Conference, and I'm sure others, for help getting the sound you need. Most sound folks are pretty generous with help.

And as posted, even if it was Foley originally if you are reusing it it is now an FX, technically. There are however "Foley" recordings for sale. Even though it makes me cringe a bit, when Foley is used in the broader sense it only correctly refers to sounds that would have been Foley normally. You may also come across WIFO (WIld FOley), also technically not correct. It refers to sounds recorded in the field that would normally be done in Foley. Typically things like footsteps in snow or something else that sounds very specific in a location that you sent a recordist out to record with the idea of using it instead of Foley.

Of the two sounds you mention, Footsteps would be Foley and the vibrating phone would be FX, normally. The phone isn't a "sync" sound usually so it would be done by FX. Doing Foley costs more than an FX editors time so anything that FX can do they do. Things like footsteps take a LOT of time to cut from generic FS so it's faster and cheaper to do it in Foley.
 
As a reminder, DVXUser does not advocate piracy (theft of intellectual property) in any way, and will not tolerate discussion that encourages it. Posts have been deleted, and this will be the only warning.
 
Any STAR WARS fans here ?

Ya'all know the distinctive sound of the Millenium Falcon trying to start its engines ??

If I had a dollar for every time I've heard that sample in another film (especially pixar films) ....
 
J Davis said:
Any STAR WARS fans here ?

Ya'all know the distinctive sound of the Millenium Falcon trying to start its engines ??

If I had a dollar for every time I've heard that sample in another film (especially pixar films) ....
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We are not able to determine what your purpose of posting this was:

1) Are you trying to suggest that producers of other commercial films are stealing SFX?
I estimate the chances of that at zero for all practical purposes.

2) Is this an example of proper re-use of SFX with legal licencing and royalties, etc?
There is SFX lore where people track popular SFX clips to be heard in dozens or scores of movies over many decades.
I recall reading about a particular scream which people claim to have heard in over 20 different films.

It seems particularly unwise to announce in a public forum that one intents to break the law, and especially when the victims are identified.
I would bet that copyright owners (or more likely their agents) are not strangers to browsing forums like this one.
 
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Richard Crowley said:
We are not able to determine what your purpose of posting this was:

1) Are you trying to suggest that producers of other commercial films are stealing SFX?
I estimate the chances of that at zero for all practical purposes.
2) Is this an example of proper re-use of SFX with legal licencing and royalties, etc?
There is SFX lore where people track popular SFX clips to be heard in dozens or scores of movies over many decades.
I recall reading about a particular scream which people claim to have heard in over 20 different films.
Click to expand...

I believe there is often mention that this or that SFX was used in film x and y...

However, I'm also pretty sure that the sounds were either from the same library, or the library passed from one sound FX person to an other...

I'm pretty sure, people did not take recorders in to the theater (pre 1980's and Beta/VHS tapes...) to record SFX from movies.

There are similar sorts of stories for sets used in one picture and used elsewhere if they still were standing... of course in that case just to get onto the studio lot would require permission...

There's also the business of 'remixes'... which I believe to be a swamp of alligators worth of legal hassle...
 
iamWZA said:
I appear to have rustled everyone's jimmies. Thanks for your input anyway
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It's not just a matter of soiled jimmies...

In another forum a poster made a animated film using sounds and music from the "moviestorm" site, with a package that was provided by Moviestorm.

The person put the clip up on youtube... years pass... they received a 'notice' that the 'fine print' on the Moviestorm use rights (perhaps so fine as to be non-existant...) was for 'personal' or 'fest' use, and not for 'commercial' use when using the youtube 'revenue' machinery...

The point being, more and more people are being 'bitten' by improper licensing of material that others believe they have claim to, and in many cases do have claims, which have been ignored till now.
 
Wow, I can't even believe this is a question.

RECORD IT YOURSELF! It's not like those are hard to duplicate sounds.
 
Not to hijack the hijack thread but what about these libraries you can buy? Do you guys use them? I bought a bunch of stuff, legally, from hollywoodedge.com for all the reasons defined here, but mostly because they sound great, way better than what I was able to do. I tried doing my own footsteps and it came out just OK. These sound great. I can add convoluted reverb or other effects that fit them in nicely. I got foley and backgrounds and all the foley is clean and dry and beautiful stereo. It's just a HUGE time saver for me and I like the results. How about you?
 
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