Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Cameras roll in scramble for the festival CD market

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As the 49th School Kalotsavam draws to a close, the crowd at one pavilion at the main venue on Putharikandom Maidanam is only growing bigger.

Parents, teachers and art aficionados crowd this mini stall to buy video compact discs (VCDs) of the festival events. The agency awarded the work also has to give the original tapes of the performing arts events to the festival appeal committee, if required. The committee decides whether to grant or reject appeals after watching these visuals.

A team of 35 cameramen and seven technicians and 18 camera units cover the events and compile the VCDs, sold at Rs.250 apiece.

“Capturing the content from the video tapes to the computer is a time-consuming affair. Because of this, we are not able to give the CDs on the spot to the customers,” says Dileep, who supervises the stall. The CDs will be sent by post to buyers within 10 days. A copy of every videotaped event is handed over to the Directorate of Public Instruction, which holds the copyright of the festival. Mr. Dileep says that though his agency has the exclusive rights to sell the CDs, many others shoot the events and will sell the CDs.

“I think that the authorities need to bring more restrictions into the video coverage of youth festival events by the general public and non-media people. Since the start of the youth festival, we have seen many small-time cameramen and even amateurs shooting the events. Once the festival is over, their CDs will also be available for sale,” he says.

A.P.M. Mohammad Hanish, Director of Public Instruction, told The Hindu that restricting private video cameras was a challenging task. “It is very difficult for us to differentiate between genuine media persons and others. Many camerapersons claim to represent media houses which may not even exist. So, it is true that large-scale copyright infringement is taking place at the festival,” he said.

At times, he added, even accredited news channels violate copyright laws by full live coverage of events. No agency other than the one entrusted by the directorate has the right to sell the competition videos.

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Cameras roll in scramble for the festival CD market

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