Demo Material

[dellis]

Hey guys,

I posted this in the discreet forum as well. Just wanted to get some of your thoughts on protocol or basically how it works for everyone else out there. How do i word this...is the work that you do for a company yours to advertise, say, if you leave the company and go out on your own. Given that you did all the work....can you use this in say a freelance demo reel if you specify it was done while employed by so and so. I can see it from both sides...just want to get a general feel for what happens out there...and i don't want to end up with nothing when and if i ever decide to leave my current employment.

Thanks in advance.

[suurland]

Ask the company you did the work for. And if they say no then it's a no. Atleast that's how I see it.

/Thomas

[travistlo]

I would say yes, your allowed to market the work that you performed, as long as you make it know you did this while working at another company. But you should spend an hour, and serch around the net, Look for canadian copyright laws. Im sure it might be a little different in each country.

Travis

[losbellos]

Of course yes!! If u make, for example a webpage for some company it should be in your portoflio! No doutbt about it! I mean if u've done it fully.
Whatever name you were running under...
If partially better to talk about it with them.

[dellis]

The problem is that i still work for them and have no intention of leaving but i would like to know that when and if i chose to leave i would have all the work that i have done (not maxfiles)...and not leave empty handed. I haven't signed any kind of NDA at all and i would never take work i have done here and pass it off as my own (freelance/my own company startup). I'll have to look a little more deeply.

[suurland]

Of course yes!! If u make, for example a webpage for some company it should be in your portoflio! No doutbt about it! I mean if u've done it fully.

Just because you have done the work, doesn't mean you have the copyright, the client/company owns the copyrights, afterall they are the ones paying you.

/Thomas

[dellis]

Just to clarify....i have done all of the animation work...entirely. The nature of the animations makes it more of an issue because its forensic animation. So the projects that i have done are obviously better smaples of my work then just whipping something up.

[Dynedain]

Its a simple question really.

Ask your boss if you can include the work you've done for them in your personal portfolio. Thats what I did. They don't expect that you will work for them your entire career.

When I asked, they agreed and said I just needed to indicate that the imagery, movies, websites, whatever were done for the company.

[Da_elf]

heck. when i left the last place i worked at i walked out with my DVD portfolio full of all the good work i had done while i was there as well as other stuff i had done on my own. Seeing as how i did the work without assistance i basically figured that putting it in my DVD portfolio was only natural since a portfolio is a representation of "MY" works. reguardless of who i work for. Unless naturally the work is under an NDA

[losbellos]

well, nobody talked about copyright, if that would be the cese thats different, naturaly then u need permission.

In this case that u dont want to leave them, maybe better to talk about it.
U popped with the question means u are not sure what would be the result.., I think better go and ask.

[Da_elf]

i would think the work being copyrighted wouldnt affect anything since a demo reel isnt a commercial project. its just a representation of your work. as long as your not selling your portfolio

[losbellos]

if u are displaying,using copyrighted material, and/or promoting yourself with the material, (even u have done it) which copyright belong to a company, u work for or not, doenst matter, its against the copyright.

[travistlo]

Just because you have done the work, doesn't mean you have the copyright, the client/company owns the copyrights, afterall they are the ones paying you.

This isnt true. If an architect designs a building, he is always allowed to say that he worked on that project. And use photos for his portfolio. This is the same in vizualization. You are creating a something, and you are allowed to show what you have created.

I think renderings are just like photography, even if you take a photo for a company, you are still allowed to use it for your PERSONAL portfolio.

Travis

[jujubee]

you should technically always ask. i've signed intellectual property agreements from my employers at the time of hire which covers anything you do as their property. from my experience most employers are cool about it if you just ask them. make sure to keep a copy of their reply.

[Syclone1]

well as for Canada, I saw this happen to another local company about a year ago now. If you are an employee for a company, ANYTHING and EVERYTHING you create for that company is the legal property of that company unless you have a contract that states otherwise. And if they want they CAN sue you in Canada for copyright infringements. Most places wont mind as long as you ask first and put some sort of footnote that the work was done by you working for what ever company.

-dave