Uploading to YouTube safely?

[Saruta]

Hello,

Hi No Tori 2772 is already on YouTube in two versions - Japanese cut and English uncut.

I would like to get the Russian dub up too. 13 years ago I led the team that made it.

But, how do I make sure I'm not prosecuted for copyright issues? The video and the background sound is on there already so I'm not making anything new available (except the dub voices which are our group's). But, how do I ensure I'm not held to blame anyhow?

[F-Man]

In all likelihood the ones already there are also breaking copyright and all it would take for YouTube to remove them is one person to send a report.

[Saruta]

Thanks.

[Bigdog]

[Saruta]

I am not in Russia at the moment, but contacts report such a DVD already exists. I have no idea if it was released legally or is a bootleg. It has some Siberian phone number on it.

We did not do it. Our work was done back in 1998. We gave the VHS to pirates, and, out of principle, refused money.

Perhaps we should have tried another route. Perhaps we should have tried to get through to Tezuka Productions. Perhaps... but, we were not producers or entrepreneurs. We imagined Tezuka Productions would have asked for a bucketload of money and we had none to speak of. No investor would give any for a movie lacking a mass audience. (I guess the terms might have not been that bad, really. It was a 18 year old movie, after all. But, what good is guessing now?)

We were young fans, we did the best we could, and we just wanted it to become widespread. Fair dues to the pirates, they did their job. From Haifa to Vladivostok, the version was spotted, watched, and I read some lovely forum posts through the years that it impacted people's lives. We changed the world just a small bit; in a way, we became a part of the tale; but we stayed anonymous.

It was not a perfect version, either. It was made from the English - no Japanese DVD was available; thus many of the English translation errors stayed (some were fixed by a lady who understands Japanese and attended a screening). It was mixed over the English, with the English being downmixed, but in places still audible. I don't think I have the unmixed voice clips anymore; I admit I did not manage backups properly.

After the Japanese DVD release, that same lady has produced a subtitle file with a better translation. She also created the most comprehensive site for the movie on the Net - http://www.2772.otaku.ru .

This translation is, at this time, largely a matter of history (also a good way to show the movie to children, who can't read subtitles). But, now that so many years have passed and the statute of limitations is obviously gone for non-commercial "piracy" (we took no money, remember), I want to "open our faces" - and showcase the good, if technically illegal, work. That's the only reason I was thinking of youtube.

I'll probably just upload some highlights. All Russians who are online know where to find the full stuff, and the copying has nothing to do with me, or any of the old team, anymore. Even my copy is not the original "final master" (that was a VHS!), but the work of somebody else who put that sound onto DVD quality video, alongside the Japanese soundtrack.

[Bigdog]

You should have went to Tezuka Pro. and did some negotiations , but I can understand why . IT would've been a ton of money but the flip side is that there was a lost opportunity of having Tezuka properties breaking into Russia officially where more of the series could have broken through. If you did the fandub , who's to say you cannot help bring some of the anime there too?

IE, Kudos to bringing more fans into the fold.

[Saruta]

I just found that we had followers, and some years later Unico was fandubbed.