From: Jeff Kreines (email suppressed)
Date: Sat Dec 19 2009 - 22:36:08 PST
On Dec 20, 2009, at 12:12 AM, Fred Camper wrote:
> Additionally, music videos have been ripping off avant-garde film iconography almost from their beginning.
And sometimes they have had to pay for it.
When Robert Frank was ripped off -- blatantly -- in a video for one of those Eagles guys, something like The End of... ok, i googled it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FPEBWZ1EOY'
I saw 10 "restagings" of shots from The Americans -- may have been more. Apparently Frank has a very good lawyer and got a significant settlement. Other still photographers whose work has been appropriated in TV spots have also sued.
Of course, back then ('89) it was a different world, there were record companies and music videos and serious budgets.
Do they still make music videos? MTV seems to be all reality shows.
When I saw that Walt Whitman (public domain) Levi's spot -- the B&W arty one -- I did see images that were, er, homages to iconic images. But mostly I was just staring at the screen with a WTF look on my face.
WTF indeed.
Jeff "doesn't get out enough" Kreines
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