The ASC’s Position

The American Society of Cinematographers wishes to comment on Don Shannon’s Oct. 25 article, “Panel Weighs Moral Rights of Film Alteration.” The report of our position on moral-rights issues in copyright protection could easily be misread, leaving one with the impression that our members have no objections to coloring black-and-white films or altering motion pictures in any way for television exhibition.

We do not favor alterations made to accommodate the limitations of television formats and videocassette markets. On the other hand, we do not oppose alterations that have been supervised by the principal contributors of the original film.

As stated by our representative before a Senate subcommittee Oct. 24, we are opposed to coloring productions that were intended to be seen in black-and-white, to the panning and scanning of pictures that were shot for wide-screen presentations and to changing the pace of a motion picture in order to meet the schedules of networks, independent stations or advertisers.

We are especially against arbitrary decisions made by strangers to the collaborative effort.

When the American Society of Cinematographers discussed the ownership of a motion picture vis-a-vis the artistic endeavors that films contain, the ASC concluded that the owner has copyright protection. If Congress should declare that the contributing artists of a motion picture do deserve to have their work protected, then all principal contributors should be protected equally. In the meantime, the ASC feels that any materially altered film should be labeled accordingly to protect the integrity of all of the creators.

LEONARD J. SOUTH

President, American

Society of Cinematographers