LimeWire ordered to shut down!

LimeWire, one of the world’s most popular file-sharing websites has closed down and has been ordered to pay hundreds if not thousands of copyright infringement money by an American court.
The site which started up in 2000 allowed users to download music, videos, documents and other media for free. For years many famous artists and bands had argued that such peer-to-peer websites should be illegal as they saw it as copyright infringement, but the American laws were too complicated to just class the website as illegal.

When users opened up the LimeWire website on Tuesday October 26th 2010, they were unable to use the programme’s features but instead were greeting with this message:

‘This is an official notice that LimeWire is under a court-ordered injunction to stop distributing and supporting its file-sharing software. Downloading or sharing copyrighted content without authorization is illegal.’

The case follows the closure of the similar P2P website Napster in 2001 which many believe now recent file-sharing websites ideas originated from. Although since Napster, it is believed that the websites are far more complicated and therefore would require more effort to close down by courts.
The LimeWire court case has been going on for four years now and has been a breakthrough for the music industry especially. The Recording Industry Association of America filed for an investigation into the website and the company and have now won and the outcome meant that LimeWire had to disable ‘searching, downloading, uploading, file trading and/or file distribution functionality’. The company itself claims they will not shut down the website but will have to follow the rules now set by the court.

As well as a major breakthrough in the media industry, the case makes you wonder whether we are being limited as to what we can do on the internet. I mean when do you class something as being copyright? Not all files shared on LimeWire were the songs, many were recordings. Is recorded a song classed as copyright? And if not, is singing a song classed as copyright? I think the case is important to note as this is the only 2nd major P2P website closed since 2001, that’s a whole 9 years! There needs to be a real crackdown on the rules and regulations on the internet generally, instead of certain piracy websites because when one site gets shut down, people will only move onto a different website with the same purpose.

Related external links:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/oct/27/limewire-shut-down
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limewire
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-post/2010/10/limewire_shuts_down_another_fi.html

Encore Software

Today I used the Encore software for the first time. It is an interactive video software that allows a user to create DVD menus and DVD's. We used clips already on the L:Drive on the college computer to functions such as Introduction, Behind the Scenes and The Lyrics. This is a record of my work and some of the tasks I had to go through to achieve a brief DVD menu.

1. Boot up Encore and select New Project

2. Set appropriate properties

It is important to notice all the different features and functions that the Encore software has to offer, and try to identify any shortcuts, to save time when creating. Also note where the save button is, so you can regularly save and avoid any loss of work.

3. Import as a Timeline

File>Import As>Timeline

This is now my workspace.

After selecting import as timeline a browsing folder appeared. I selected a movie clip on the L:Drive and when I opened it, it appeared on my workspace.



Project                                      Monitor                                          Timeline

Note: Encore works best with the video formats .mov and .avi, choosing the formats .mpeg and .wmv is not advised.

The video symbol with a yellow play icon on the top left shows that the clip will be first played on the timeline.

4. Use 'pickwhip' tool to link buttons to menus and clips

Click appropriate sub-menu on menu and then look on right where a new menu will be displayed, and look out for link. Next to the link should be a swirl button, this is known as the 'pickwhip' tool. Click the button and whilst keeping your mouse button down drag to the appropriate video clip. It should create a line across the page so you know whats being linked (this will disappear once you release your hand off the mouse button).

Now you have set up a basic link on a DVD menu!

Film Poster Final Outcome

This is my final outcome of my film poster. I based it on a previous draft I created pre-production with a few added additions. This is the draft:

The main changes from the draft to the final were the text. The positive quotes used on the left were taken out as I thought this would clutter the poster and not have the great impact I wanted the poster to have.  Instead of the idea of a cellar as a background, I was looking at images on Google and then found a picture of a warehouse that I thought would go well with the figure. I wanted the background to remain dark to enhance the horror genre so I toned down the brightness and added more contrast.