Photo Gallery Mimi McGhee is interviewed about copyright law. Jade Elledge is filmed by Hampshire House Productions crew.

To a generation born in the digital age the lines of ownership are blurry but as the animation students at the Career and Technical Education Center begin developing their own characters, music, and storylines they admit they are seeing the need to protect their work.

The students in Stacy Walker’s animation class spent their last regular class day finishing their projects and being interviewed and filmed for a national education film to educate high school students about the importance of honoring copyright law.

The students were interviewed and had some of their personal creative work filmed recently by Hampshire House Productions. Lisa Hampshire is a Frisco resident and friend of Mimi McGhee developing training for FISD educators concerning copyright law.

Both McGhee and Walker spend quite a bit of their time explaining to students and teachers that just because music or art is available, it may not be legal to use it, they said. “People will tell me they follow the 30-second rule, but they don’t really know what the copyright rules are,” McGhee said.

Students all agreed that they would be annoyed or hurt if someone else took credit for their work. Jade Elledge, a Liberty High School student who takes animation at CTE, explained that she made a comic book that she sold to a few friends to cover her costs of production. “My friend told me she had seen another comic that seemed like mine,” she said. She tracked down the comic and it all worked out in the end but for a moment she was very upset at the idea of her character concept being stolen.

Other students who are musicians also played portions of their compositions for the film and discussed their concerns about protecting their work in the future.

The educational film is being paid for by the Copyright Society of the United States, a non-profit agency dedicated to promoting education and interest in copyright law. The society plans to distribute the films to high schools across the country.