i've been thinking of loosely basing a film on a sophocles play, and all of his writings are in public domain, but does that mean i can base it on his play but change the dialogue if i want to modernize it? then will i be able to copyright it? because if i just do it using basically his words i wouldn't able able to copyright it because it's actually sopochles work, or am i completely off base here? i'm just really confused as to what i can say is my work and if i still need to credit/get permission from someone to use one of his plays. thanks guys.

Sophocles's work is DEFINITELY in the public domain, yeah.

Ok, let's see. You could not copyright the writing, as far as I know, unless you updated and significantly changed it, or did your own translation. Using someone else's translation would probably require permission, unless the translation itself is in the public domain.

The final film CAN be copyrighted, and is in fact copyrighted from the moment you begin making it.

Just put 'written by Sophocles' and 'adapted by [your name]' or something like that. They always credit William Shakespeare... why not credit Sophocles?

what about music that's in the public domain?

are the recordings of Robert Johnson public?

are traditional songs such as Bob Dylan's Girl of the North Country in the public domain? (with this i assume the actual recording isnt, but if I had someone perform it and recorded it myself would that be free to use? is that allowed?)

What about Mozart? is that copyrighted byt he person who performed it? or like you mentioned about the writings not being able to be copyrighted if you were reworking sophecles, does that translate to recordigns of Mozart performed recently?

I guess i mean if i bought a mozart cd could i use the music freely, or would i need permission fromt he performer (or agent or whatever)?

thanks.

In terms of Mozart, the content is public domain (meaning the actual musical score written by Mozart) but any recording done of it is still copyrighted by whoever recorded it. Any recordings of Mozart would still be illegal to use without a license. The only way public domain benefits you, the filmmaker, is if you were able to perform it and record it yourself.

Adding to what titaniumdoughnut said:

You can use Sophocles' work completely freely.

However, I'm sure you're not reading that stuff in it's original language, and you probably can not use someone else's translation freely.

Anything original you add to the representation of Sophocles (new translation, completely new speech, or visuals) you can owe the copyright to.

Spot on Ben!