Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Can I Use Any Song with a CC License on It?
(This text is found on the Creative Commons website (creativecommons.org) and is used by
permission of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.)
You need to make sure that what you want to do with the music is okay under the terms of
the particular Creative Commons license it's under. CC-licensed music isn't free for all uses,
only some—so make sure to check out the terms (you can fi nd these by clicking on each song's
license icon).
Most importantly, you need to use music that is not licensed under a No Derivative Works license.
This means that the musician doesn't want you to change, transform, or make a derivative work
using their music. Under CC licenses, syncing the music to images amounts to transforming the
music, so you can't legally use a song under a CC No Derivative Works license in your video.
Also, make sure to properly credit the musician and the track, as well as express the CC license
the track is under. For example, you might include text like this at the end of your video:
This video features the song “Desaprendere (Treatment)” by fourstones, available under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.
The fi nal option for adding music to your animation is to get someone to perform a composition specifi cally
made for your work. If you are a musician, just ask yourself nicely. All is not lost, though, if you are not. You
may have a friend (or friends, though this far into such an involved project, the plural form of the word is
unlikely) who is in a band or does some recording. They may be interested in getting some wider distribu-
tion for their work, or in putting something such as a soundtrack on their musical resume. Calling back to
the prior suggestions when looking for voice actors, the craigslist.org Gigs section can also provide a useful
resource of musicians looking for work.
If you can fi nd someone with enough skill and who will work within your budget (free!), you can come out
with a superior musical product. Have the musicians watch the animation a couple of times. If necessary, and
if they're interested, explain a bit about the themes of the story. There may be specifi c musical hits you would
like them to work in.
For
The Beast
, I found several musicians who were looking to polish their craft of composing for videos and ani-
mations. Beyond a general musical style (upbeat jazz), the only direction I provided to them was that in the last
few shots, when the Beast shoots the mother with the sprayer, the music should crescendo to some weird, nasty
jazz chords, like the Beast shouting “Oh no!” in his head. Then, silence, with only a little bit of rhythm to keep
things going as the mother yells at him. Finally, the original theme kicks back in when the mother picks him up. If
you've already watched
The Beast
(and really, you should have by this point), you know that the composer, Leeran
Z. Raphaely (
http://lzr.cc
), did a fantastic job. The best compliment you can give a composer on your
project is that he or she did exactly what you wanted, but had never imagined, and that is certainly what he did.
When you have music that you are both allowed to use and that suits the tone of the animation, add it as an
additional strip that spans the entire Sequence. Figure 16.17 shows the Sequence from The Beast with the music
strip added.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search