Hi Danielle; whilst (being in NZ) my own understanding of your copyright laws is perfunctory at best, I can certainly help with software. The first question is - are you a MAC or PC user? Life is certainly easier for MAC users - Handbrake is an excellent programme that allows one to pull DVD chapters off as MPEGs which can then be edited in Quicktime or, if you prefer iMovie (so you can assemble, add titles and fades, should you desire). Handbrake is available here: http://handbrake.fr/ There is a PC version available, but it only seems to work on DVDs that are not copy-protected. Continuing the MAC theme: A programme called 'Mac the Ripper' is excellent for converting copy-protected DVDS to 'clean' Video TS files (effectively, is creates a disc image on your hard drive when you can then either burn to DVD or use Handbrake to pull material from). Mac the Ripper is available here: http://www.mactheripper.org/. For PCs, there are a range of 'ripping' programs available to permit you to bypass copy-protection. I use DVD Decrypter which, whilst no longer in production, is available free from a number of places. The Wikipedia entry has a list of hosting sites at the bottom of the page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_Decrypter Once you've decrypted the DVD, your PC version of Handbrake should permit you to then lift chapters as AVI files. I hope that helps. Good luck - and please feel free to contact me if there's any further help I can provide. Best, Scott Dr. Scott Wilson Department of Performing and Screen Arts Faculty of Creative Industries and Business Unitec New Zealand Te Whare Wananga o Wairaka Private Bag 92025 Auckland, New Zealand Extension 7846 >>> "Glassmeyer, Danielle" <[log in to unmask]> 2/28/2009 10:50 AM >>> My school's AV/IT support department has just told me that they can't legally make clips from any film source for any reason due to copyright issues. Before I say "pish posh", I thought I might ask here... I need clips from feature films that would fall well under 10 % of total running time. I would be using them in classroom and conference presentation only. And they are not Disney. And it's okay with me if the clips are housed on a password-restricted streaming server. Three requests -- can you all point me toward the current law so I can review what it says? -- can you all make suggestions about workarounds if you have had a similar problem? --can you all help me to figure out what kind of equipment and programs I would need to do this on my own? Thanks in advance for advice and help! Danielle Glassmeyer English Department Bradley University ---- Learn to speak like a film/TV professor! Listen to the ScreenLex podcast: http://www.screenlex.org ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.ScreenSite.org