fandom q+a Silly Filly Studios Q&A

[Bojo 1,172]

You people are amazing! How do you guys avoid legal problems with Hasbro? As you may know, lots of artists who make MLP animations got in legal trouble at some point, but you haven't (which is awesome!).

Edited November 22, 2015 by Bojo

[SoundRez 46]

Random question time.

 

Do you like pie?

 

...

 

you dang well know the answer to that question...

 

French apple cream cheese from Baker's Square

 

Apologies for once again interrupting the Q&A, but I just wanted to take a moment to thank everybody while we're at the halfway mark and let everybody know that we just passed the $1,000 mark in our Making Christmas Merrier charity drive!    

 

Keep the questions and donations coming!

 

Congrats!  Keep giving to help out everyone!

I kinda wanna play along with this, but I prefer random critical thinking so: Do you believe technological advancement is negatively impacting biological evolution?

yes

Edited November 22, 2015 by SoundRez

[MEMJ0123 33]

I thought of a question for you memj. Which do you enjoy more, singing or voice acting?

I've been doing both since I was a little kid, but I was a singer before I was an actor. I really identify as both equally now, though! I love them both, I've developed both skills in similar ways, so when I engage in one it feels like I'm engaging in the other, too.

[Meresims 48]

I kinda wanna play along with this, but I prefer random critical thinking so: Do you believe technological advancement is negatively impacting biological evolution?

I personally believe that technological advancement has its place but is being corrupted by selfish and material gain, therefore is moving too quickly and in the wrong direction to have safeguards up to protect our biological needs.. (in short we gotta be more careful bout this stuff yo.)

 

Let's see... any fan art of your own properties that have ever particularly struck you as moving or just plain cool?  And that includes music, art, fics, whatever.  :grin2:

Any time I see a really cool plush of Snowdrop or original art piece (like Paper Pony's shadowbox of our stuff) I squeal a bit.

[greencm 1]

SoundRez

 

Would you rather have pumpkin pie with chicken stuffed inside with ice-cream inside the turkey (Pumpkin Flavored) with potato on the inside of the ice cream, or have a giant potato with ice-cream in it (Pumpkin Flavored) with chicken inside the creamily with pumpkin pie inside the ice-cream?

[Simon 4,557]

 

 

I personally believe that technological advancement has its place but is being corrupted by selfish and material gain, therefore is moving too quickly and in the wrong direction to have safeguards up to protect our biological needs.. (in short we gotta be more careful bout this stuff yo.)

 

How are you preparing for the inevitable Sweetiebot robot takeover? 

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

Thank you for taking the time to participate in the Q&A.

 

Question: Are you all Sombra fans? Reason I ask is that before the IDW comics really tackled him in FIENDship and the Siege of the Crystal Empire arc there wasn't much to go on and I believe only one animation existed of him (Tale of One Shadow by StasiaSolitude). What is it that motivated you to take on this rather ambitious project considering the amount of time and effort it would take to animate the battle & such?

 

Bonus Question: Any chance of deer in your animations?

[FlutterGuy999 2,228]

This is a question for any of you who are writers.  As a writer myself, I typically have a special routine I go through before writing where I get hopped up on soda or Monster and listen to an epic Spotify playlist I put together to get me in the proper mood to start writing.  Do any of you guys have a special routine for when you're getting ready to write?

[SoundRez 46]

SoundRez

 

Would you rather have pumpkin pie with chicken stuffed inside with ice-cream inside the turkey (Pumpkin Flavored) with potato on the inside of the ice cream, or have a giant potato with ice-cream in it (Pumpkin Flavored) with chicken inside the creamily with pumpkin pie inside the ice-cream?

 

Doesn't matter, it's all gonna be the same when I inevitably vomit it up.

[Meresims 48]

How are you preparing for the inevitable Sweetiebot robot takeover? 

Have you seen the thing where the intelligent robot said that he would take care of all the humans in human zoos? I laughed when I saw that because I work at a zoo. It's not a bad gig being in a zoo. They eat better food than I get at the store.

[Randimaxis 8,652]

Uhm... hiya.

 

I was wondering if there were any PARTICULAR cartoons or animated movies from your childhoods that spoke volumes to you?  Not exactly influences on your work, as much as brought that magical feeling of childlike wonder?

 

... I'll just go over here now.  Thank you for your time.

 

*hides in the corner*

[Simon 4,557]

 

 

Have you seen the thing where the intelligent robot said that he would take care of all the humans in human zoos? I laughed when I saw that because I work at a zoo. It's not a bad gig being in a zoo. They eat better food than I get at the store.

 

I already only like to leave my room for food, so that plan sounds like a step up... they'll bring the food to me : 3  As long as human zoos have wi-fi I'm good.

[Charlemane 29]

This is a question for any of you who are writers.  As a writer myself, I typically have a special routine I go through before writing where I get hopped up on soda or Monster and listen to an epic Spotify playlist I put together to get me in the proper mood to start writing.  Do any of you guys have a special routine for when you're getting ready to write?

I usually write before I go to bed. Some call this a bad habit, but it is what I do. I remember seeing a psychology article on the subject of motivation. One interesting take away from it was that more often than not, you find the motivation to do something, after you start doing it.

[CheeryFox 23,821]

Why doesn't the universe implode when you mix chocolate and peanut butter together? ... 

[Zedrin 38]

Let's see... any fan art of your own properties that have ever particularly struck you as moving or just plain cool?  And that includes music, art, fics, whatever.  :grin2:

 

My personal favorite, two cosplayers made some awesome cosplays of Luna and Celestia based on Fall of the Crystal Empire, weapons and armor and all.

 

You people are amazing! How do you guys avoid legal problems with Hasbro? As you may know, lots of artists who make MLP animations got in legal trouble at some point, but you haven't (which is awesome!).

 

Ah, this is a good question, and I really want to try and help other people learn how to deal with issues like this, not just with Hasbro but with ALL companies.

 

Just a little background: Copyright pertains to visual media, audio, and writing. And I'm very specific with that: When I say visual media, I mean a specific piece of art or a specific clip from a show. Fanart and fan creations are NOT a violation of copyright. Ideas CANNOT be copywritten.

 

The lowest level of these issues on Youtube are the content ID claims, which can be done by interns or mismatched from auto identifications. These actually can be disputed usually with succcess if you point out that it's fair use, because while it may be based on something else, it's still original art, animation, etc. (Style variations further help this argument).

 

DMCAs also can fall under this category, even if they're more impacting.

 

Another aspect to this is whether or not your usage of an IP is conflicting or competing with the original work. This is less of an issue with animation, since it's usually original scripts, and they don't replace the original works at all. Some plushie makers and fanartists have ran into issues though for selling trademarked characters, because often those characters are already being sold by the company in question.

 

A higher level issue is trademark dilution. This is where people sometimes get into more trouble: If you're using a company's icon, and people think you created that icon, that can cause significant problems and poses a risk to the trademark holder. In animation, you can help avoid these issues by making sure it's clear what you do or don't own. Style deviations again help with this and are an added level of security, but ultimately when people see a licensed character, they should think of the actual owner, not just the person who is using it.

 

The most we've really had to deal with were a few false content IDs by Hasbro on some of our videos, and all of those were resolved when we pointed out that they were original animations and counted as transformative works.

 

Technically I'd argue that Fair Use isn't even an issue with fan works, cause again, the only thing similar are the ideas, not the actual media, but that'd be a bit of a stretch. Plus Canadian law includes ideas under copyright (but internationally that's no the case)

Edited November 22, 2015 by Zedrin

[greencm 1]

Doesn't matter, it's all gonna be the same when I inevitably vomit it up.

Not really, you would have more potato with one, and more pie with the other

[Meresims 48]

Thank you for taking the time to participate in the Q&A.

 

Question: Are you all Sombra fans? Reason I ask is that before the IDW comics really tackled him in FIENDship and the Siege of the Crystal Empire arc there wasn't much to go on and I believe only one animation existed of him (Tale of One Shadow by StasiaSolitude). What is it that motivated you to take on this rather ambitious project considering the amount of time and effort it would take to animate the battle & such?

 

Bonus Question: Any chance of deer in your animations?

I'm personally not a super Sombra fan but it's hard to be a fan of a character without much characterization. (I haven't read the IDW comics though, so I don't know how they handled him.)

 

Bonus answer: I love deer. I would look for an excuse to use a deer in an animation if the opportunity arose.

 

This is a question for any of you who are writers.  As a writer myself, I typically have a special routine I go through before writing where I get hopped up on soda or Monster and listen to an epic Spotify playlist I put together to get me in the proper mood to start writing.  Do any of you guys have a special routine for when you're getting ready to write?

I'll put on the music I need for the specific project I'm writing. I have a few different playlists that I'll use for various projects...the novel I'm working on has one, StarSign has one, and I have some playlists for general parodies or other content just to get me jazzed up. More importantly, i'll clear myself of any distractions. I won't write in my room...I'll write in the living room where there's less to occupy my time but work.

[MEMJ0123 33]

Uhm... hiya.

 

I was wondering if there were any PARTICULAR cartoons or animated movies from your childhoods that spoke volumes to you?  Not exactly influences on your work, as much as brought that magical feeling of childlike wonder?

 

... I'll just go over here now.  Thank you for your time.

 

*hides in the corner*

I've always been into music, so animated musicals (like Disney) always appealed to me. Music always added so much more to the story in my mind, they really engaged my interests.

[xenozfan3 189]

What do you guys like to do when you feel really lazy? Showers or baths? Boxers or briefs? Any weird habits? Just throwing out some random questions

[SoundRez 46]

I was wondering if there were any PARTICULAR cartoons or animated movies from your childhoods that spoke volumes to you?  Not exactly influences on your work, as much as brought that magical feeling of childlike wonder?

 

 

Ah that's a good one.  There're plenty of old cartoons from the 80s and 90s I grew up on and loved, but I've gotta say the one that I keep remembering and going back to is Swat Kats.  Always loved the art and designs in it.

[Floofie 799]

What are some of your favorite foods?

[Artimis Whooves 1,576]

What was the hardest video you guys worked on?

[Simon 4,557]

One thing I'm always curious about is how often you go back and watch animations you were involved with after they were released.  I know for me anything creative I've ever done like writing or anything of that nature, I tend to never go back and really look at it again after it's finished, so I'm curious if that's true of people in animation too.

[SoundRez 46]

What do you guys like to do when you feel really lazy? Showers or baths? Boxers or briefs? Any weird habits? Just throwing out some random questions

 

I spend too much time on youtube, watching random vids and let's plays, but also going out and doing random shenanigans with my friends.

Showers

Boxers

Prroooooooooobably

 

What are some of your favorite foods?

 

Chicken kiev and mashed potatoes.  That and anything from a brazillian steakhouse.

[Zedrin 38]

What do you guys like to do when you feel really lazy? Showers or baths? Boxers or briefs? Any weird habits? Just throwing out some random questions

I play vidya gaems mostly.

Showers

Boxers. (orpantiesifwe'retalkingaboutwhatweliketoseeinsteadofwearhurhurhurhur)

I'm such a shut-in I don't even know which of my habits count as 'weird'

 

What are some of your favorite foods?

Cheesy things. Chocolatey things.

 

I'm so healthy.

 

 

What was the hardest video you guys worked on?

Fall of the Crystal Empire.