attackfish

Disclaimer: The music for this vid is "Get Out Alive" by the band Three Days Grace, and belongs to them and their authorized distributors. The footage in this vid comes from Avatar: the Last Airbender, which belongs to Nickelodeon, as well as to Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

Summary: There comes a point for both of them in which they can no longer stay.

Creator Commentary: There are some rapid scene changes that may trigger seizures or migraines in viewers with certain medical issues.  Also, this vid highlights the abusive dynamic between Azula and her victims, Mai and Ty Lee.  And aside from one more vid I plan to make about Ozai and his children, I plan to stay far away from the Fire Royals and their massive issues in vids for a while.

Mai and Zuko Get Out Alive

Disclaimer: The music for this vid is Pat Benatar's "We Belong". The footage in this vid comes from Avatar: the Last Airbender, which belongs to Nickelodeon, as well as to Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

Summary: Happy, fluffy Water Tribe siblings.

Creator Commentary:  In celebration of getting my new Critical Commons account, I finished up the vid I was working on for the holidays.  So, Happy Holidays, and enjoy the beautiful, happy, healthy sibling-ness of Katara and Sokka.


Katara and Sokka Belong

All of my vids were taken down from Vimeo for being a violation of copyright, with the stated reason as "Vimeo does not allow TV shows, movie trailers, or stuff you found on the web."  As such, until further notice, my vids are down, and people who host their vids on Vimeo might want to watch out.  I responded, as the email notice of take down stated I was allowed to, with the following:


My vids were not full episodes, trailers (fanmade or otherwise), or any other form of illegal piracy. They were vids, and as such are considered to be fair use transformative works. They are a critical engagement with the source material, in this case, Avatar: the Last Airbender and Legend of Korra. I use them to point out and highlight things about the source material that I like, that I consider problematic, or that I don't think other fans have noticed. For example, in "Azula's Jar of Hearts", I argue that one character, Ty Lee was in an abusive relationship with another character, Azula, and what some fans see as Ty Lee betraying Azula is in fact Ty Lee standing up to her abuser. In "Learn to be Still Korra", I argue that Korra did not learn the lessons in the first season of Legend of Korra that I thought she should have, and that I found her character arc unsatisfying.

Vidding as a form of fair use has been recognized in the United States in a statement by the Librarian of Congress, James H. Billington, on July 26, 2010, ( http://www.copyright.gov/1201/2010/Librarian-of-Congress-1201-Statement.html )in which he said that there were certain classes of works in which it was legal to break DVD description to create, one of which was:

"Motion pictures on DVDs that are lawfully made and acquired and that are protected by the Content Scrambling System when circumvention is accomplished solely in order to accomplish the incorporation of short portions of motion pictures into new works for the purpose of criticism or comment, and where the person engaging in circumvention believes and has reasonable grounds for believing that circumvention is necessary to fulfill the purpose of the use in the following instances:

"(i) Educational uses by college and university professors and by college and university film and media studies students;
"(ii) Documentary filmmaking;
"(iii) Noncommercial videos"

Vidding falls specifically under the third example, and I have already explained how I use the short clips "for the purpose of criticism or comment".

Having read your guidelines, since my works are vids, and not a straight up rip of a TV show, and the clips within them are rearranged, edited, and cut to tell a new story with a new narrative, they do not violate your guidelines, US copyright law, or current international copyright law. Also, your site has already carved out an exception for "Machinima videos with a story" as long as they are labeled as such. Vids are equally a creative fannish endeavor, that use images from a source material in a similar way, and in my view, should be afforded a similar exception.

Please consider returning my vids to your site, or amending your guidelines to make it clear that vids and transformative works like them are not allowed.

Thank you,

Attackfish.

Disclaimer: The music for this vid is Christina Perri's "Jar of Hearts". The footage in this vid comes from Avatar: the Last Airbender, which belongs to Nickelodeon, as well as to Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

Summary: This is what Ty Lee wishes she could say

Creator Commentary:  This vid is about the relationship of Ty Lee and Azula, but it does not celebrate that relationship.  I have previously talked about my own experiences with abuse within a supposed friendship, much like Ty Lee and Azula's and as such, I will always portray Azula's relationship with Mai, Ty Lee, and Zuko as the abuse it absolutely is.  Mai and Ty Lee's actions at the Boiling Rock were tremendously brave, and a true triumph.

Azula's Jar of Hearts

Disclaimer: "Bring Him Home" from Les Misérables was written by Claude-Michel Schönberg, with original French lyrics by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, and English lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer. This recording is from the 25th anniversary concert at the O2 in London, sung by Alfie Boe and produced by Cameron Mackintosh. The footage in this vid comes from Avatar: the Last Airbender, which belongs to Nickelodeon, as well as Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

Summary: Iroh just wants his nephew safe and whole.

Creator Commentary: I made this the same day as Mai/Zuko Something Good, right after downloading Sony Vegas, and I only made it because I couldn't find any other vids wih the same idea, which I just couldn't figure out, because really, Iroh is Jean Valjean (I have seen the idea show up in fanmixes, however, so I can't be the only one thinking this.) Originally created and posted for the avatarbigbang.


Bring Zuko Home

Disclaimer: "Playing with the Big Boys Now" from Prince of Egypt belongs to Dreamworks animation. The footage in this vid comes from Avatar: the Last Airbender, which belongs to Nickelodeon, as well as Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

Warning: There are some rapid scene changes. They didn't aggravate my seizures, but I have a bigger problem with shaky cam (which this vid does not have).

Creator Commentary: This is my first and probably only vid (I made it for atlaland, and decided it really wasn't for me, but I'm proud of the results). While this is a villain song in the original movie, and there is some underlying commentary in here about how all of the Order of the White Lotus members are male (did they leave the recruiting up to Pakku?) this mostly it's just a celebration of how awesome the old guys of Avatar: the Last Airbender are in a genre where adults are usually useless.

Who knocks at the garden gate?