I have seen people use movie clips/stils in their presentations. However, can a movie still or a still from a video game be safely used in a publication? Is there any example where people used movie stills in their publications.
Attach your video as a supplementary file with your submission, it will be available online with your accepted article.
@Abdallah Hussien Fathy, I meant a screenshot form a motion picture/film such as Interstellar (2014) or Gravity (2013), for which I do not have the copyright.
@Andrew Mtewa, is citing the source enough? Don't I need to obtain any permissions? In review articles, when we use a figure from someone elses paper, we generally need to obtain permission to reproduce it form the journal publisher. Some journals such as Science even charges for that.
Unless the screenshot/still is subject of the article I do not think using that image will constitute fair use. A permission might be required from the copyright holder.
https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/copyright/2011/07/07/using-film-stills/
@Tuhin It is a useful information. However, they wanted to use it on a public website to attract attention to their work which is a different scenario than using it in scholarly articles or books.
On further looking, I found that the requirements of different publishers vary widely. For example: University of Michigan library directly asks to obtain permission from respective studios (http://guides.lib.umich.edu/permissions/films). They also provide the links to the licensing websites of different studios. Georgetown University Library says it may be fair use (https://www.library.georgetown.edu/copyright/images-publications). They still provide the links to the licensing websites of movie studios in case someone wants to obtain permission. Whereas, The University of Chicago Press clearly states that it would be fair use (http://press.uchicago.edu/infoServices/permissions.html) and they cite the document: Report of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Society For Cinema Studies, "Fair Usage Publication of Film Stills" by Kristin Thompson. Published in 1993.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275735952_Report_of_the_Ad_Hoc_Committee_of_the_Society_for_Cinema_Studies_Fair_Usage_Publication_of_Film_Stills
It is a 24 pages deliberation on the use of film stills in scholarly articles. Kristin Thompson concluded that it would be fair use. You can reproduce without permission a few stills from a movie to discuss something for say camera angles. (@Tuhin Notice that the subject of the movie is irrelevant; you are discussing camera angles and reproduced the film stills as examples) However, it was before the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 1998), which made all means of copying that involves breaking a digital encryption code (DRM) illegal. Fortunately, some exemptions were recommended and authorized in 2006, which allowed quoting from audiovisual materials owned by educational institutions. One maynot extract a still from their personal copy of the DVD, albeit the feasibility.
In their recent blog post “Fair is still fair, and more so”, Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell strongly promotes use of movie stills without permission in scholarly articles so that it becomes a common practice (http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2008/04/23/fair-is-still-fair-and-more-so/). Publishers still hesitate, though.
Though I personally feel that movie still for educational purpose should be fair use, as you mentioned, publishers would like to play safe. Even if it does not fall into the fair use category the studio is unlikely to sue. (Some people are too guarded about their copyrights. How often do we see parody in India? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-H3BIJ2BFE)
In any case, you should ask permission directly to the studio to use that image. Citing them would not be enough considering the use you are planning for it.
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