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Author
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Topic: MPAA, you suck!
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Jason Black
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1723
From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 09-21-2003 10:49 PM
John,
I can tell you now, before this goes back and forth much further, that, you are, in your reasoning and or beliefs (whichever you prefer to call them/it), in the minority.
Is there a problem with piracy? You'd better believe it. Does it originate at the theatre level as Jack Valenti would have you believe? Doubtful. I've spelled out *my* reasoning in my prior post. I'll give you credit, in that it does only take one person 'videoing' the movie with a camcorder to turn out thousands of pirated copies of a film. However, if there was never a sneak to the public prior to the initial release, what does that tell you? It damn sure wasn't John J. Public who sat sat there with his trusty JVC helping the pirating empire.
The Hulk, for example. Found on the web, what, two weeks prior to initial release? You didn't explain to me how such high quality (pirated) copies are available prior to theatrical release, whether limited or wide. Allow me to spell it out a little more *clearly* I-n-s-i-d-e-r-s in the creation/distribution side of this industry. Until there are ramped up efforts to weed out those deepest inside the industry we will continue to suffer from lost revenues, across the board. My single biggest complaint in simply that the MPAA is placing far more blame on the theatre level than they are in their own backyard! On top on our 'Babysitting - Quality assurance - Complete Customer Satisfaction - Mediator - Security Control - Quality Presentation - Income security' duties we now are 'Anti-Piracy-Eliminators'. Phffttt... ![[Mad]](mad.gif)
What I, as a local level theatre manager, want to concentrate on is ensuring that my patrons see the best presentation our theatre can offer. EVERY TIME THEY COME. It has gotten to the point that, quite honestly, I can't accomplish even this one fundemental task due to the placing of hideous CRAP CODE sporadically thoughout the prints. Like I said earlier, can one really wonder why John J. Public desires to sit at home and watch a flick on DVD, often with superior sound and overall comfort?
Someone needs to, somehow, shake the shoulders of the MPAA, as well as the distributors, producers, directors and actors/actress' so that they may, for once, see the effect that this new CRAP CODE will ultimately have on their own personal livelyhood...
Do you disagree? Does anyone disagree?
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John Hawkinson
Film God
Posts: 2273
From: Cambridge, MA, USA
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 09-22-2003 01:54 AM
I think you guys should look at my position as that of devil's advocate. If you're trying to make a case, you need to make it based on solid arguments and not shaky ones. The arguments presented are not sufficiently solid, in my view.
Joe suggests I'm giving the MPAA the benefit of the doubt, and that's exactly right. Especially in a public forum like this (Hi, Jack!), I think it would be silly to pretend to know what is going on inside the MPAA's head. Let's not fool ourselves; there are smart people at the studios who worry about these things. They cannot always talk about them, and oftentimes they are forced to cater to strong personalities and political expedients. But they are still intelligent nonetheless.
Joe quotes me saying (emphasis his) "The MPAA (studios, etc.) clearly acknowledge there are multiple sources for piracy, including both taping in theatres as well as leaks within the studios and screener tapes." and goes on to ask, "Why is it clear? Do you have data to support your conclusions?"
Well, yes I do. The MPAA web site, http://www.mpaa.org/anti-piracy/ says:
quote:
Types of Piracy
...
VIDEOCASETTE PIRACY
Camcording
Screeners
Back-to-back Copying
...
THEATRICAL PRINT THEFT
I think that just about covers it.
Jason, you're quite right that piracy prior to the release of the movie either involves screener tapes or piracy at trade screenings or similar. As above, I'm sure the MPAA is well aware of this.
You go on to ask, "Someone needs to, somehow, shake the shoulders of the MPAA, as well as the distributors, producers, directors and actors/actress' so that they may, for once, see the effect that this new CRAP CODE will ultimately have on their own personal livelyhood...¶Do you disagree? Does anyone disagree?"
Not really, but I recognize it is a lot more complicated. The people who make the decisions about whether to apply CAP code or not are probably not the most technical folks, and the pressure on them is really high to make sure that they are producing results.
I doubt the MPAA is really the place to fight the battle. As I understand it, the problem in this case is that Deluxe has developed a CAP code which is much more intrusive, and their studio clients request they apply it. Properly getting to the bottom of this probably involves careful and polite communication with people at Deluxe to find out what's going on and why, and any effort to change it probably involves a request through one of their studio clients. I suspect it is a careful political battle and one that is hard to have in public view on a web site like this, hence the lack of response from John P.
With respect to screeners, I am under the impression that non-Oscar screeners are under pretty tight distribution, and may be individually coded. Piracy due to Oscar screeners is detectable because Oscar screeners tend to only come out within a relatively narrow range of dates.
Back on page 3, Joe says "There aren't any codes on screener tapes and DVDs, except to say "please don't copy"." How sure of this are you? Even if screeners don't have a unique code, there's value in them having a distinctive way to differentiate a screener-derived pirate copy from some other origin. I'd be surprised if there was not a way to tell beyond the blatant text at the bottom.
--jhawk
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Brad Miller
Administrator
Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99
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posted 09-22-2003 02:46 AM
I've sat quiet long enough here. Rant mode on...
Jhawk, before you continue sucking all of the juices out of Jack Valenti's ass, can you tell us what precisely the MPAA is doing for the theaters and our presentation? Please be specific.
I've got to tell you, if the MPAA did only one thing to make people happy, they should get rid of Jack Valenti. I have yet to meet anyone who likes him past the point of tolerating him. I can safely say most people I've spoken to when the subject of the MPAA came up flat out detests the man. I don't know about you, but I can do without his screaming rants about how evil everyone is in the world and how many bazillions of dollars is lost on each movie that is pirated (yeah, never mind if the movie SUCKED and that's why it didn't do any business!) He puts strong emphasis toward the theaters as if it is WE who are the main cause of all this bootlegging. As has been noted many times here, most of the dupes are from studio screeners and very often these dupes appear before the movie hits theaters!
So then it's got to the the fault of the trade screening theaters, huh? Well the trade screenings have really gotten out of hand, no doubt thanks to the MPAA and Valenti's constant ranting. Did you know they are now using the metallic "wand" sensors on people before they enter the auditorium for these screenings? Yup! The airport isn't bad enough, we now have to treat everyone (even movie critics who we want to be in a good mood when they view the product) as if they are criminals...and it's not even effective!
Just last week there was a local screening where they were wand-probing people entering a screening auditorium, and even though the metal detector kept going off, they let the people go through anyway without further investigation. WHAT'S THE DAMN POINT???
Besides, these security people they send into the booths to "protect" the film have no friggin' clue as to what they are supposed to be looking for. Think I'm kidding? Try this one (I like to see just how intelligent the security is)...place a blank VHS tape in the slide port window the day before the show, such that it is hidden in front of the projector. When the movie is over and the guy is semi-paying attention to you but not standing right behind you, walk over to the window, pull the tape (sliding it on the port to make some noise) and then walk right by him over to a table where you then put a label on it and write the movie title that just screened in large enough letters that they can read it and leave it on the table. Will they even do anything? NOPE! Fucking useless! Those security checkers are nothing more than a false sense of security for the MPAA and the studios. Try the tape test. Try putting some metal in your pant pockets. I'm not kidding. They are that dumb.
Regarding screeners, I have spoken to several people regarding this and all of them have admitted there are no copy-specific markings on the DVD/tape. Hell, even if there was and the few people I've spoken to were unaware, if the MPAA wants to deter piracy then it needs to be blatantly obvious on the screen to anyone viewing it, duping it and buying it. As I recommended to them, just how hard would it be to burn in the person's name in the corner of the screen that it was to be delivered to? Not hard at all! In fact, Disney used to do this (and still may) on all of their workprint animated tapes. The funny thing about those Academy screeners are that they are EVERYWHERE! If the MPAA is going to do something about preventing bootlegging, then they should put their foot down and not allow ANY Academy screener tapes and DVDs from now on. The Academy members should HAVE to go to an actual 35mm presentation to screen the film, or they may not vote on it. Of course that would be smart, so that clearly won't happen. Beside, no Academy member would dare let their copy of a movie out of their hands where it could be copied, right? ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
So all we hear from Jack is bitch, bitch, bitch, whine, moan, yell, scream, insult, point the finger, etc, etc, etc and what do we end up with? A new super evil version of the CAP code! If this is completely Deluxe's fault, then I would like to know who is responsible. However I don't see our pal Jack putting forth any effort into walking over to Deluxe and pointing out to the higher-ups that the new incredibly obnoxious CAP code is destroying our presentations! (While he's at it he could point out their low quality printing in general too.) Instead all I see him doing is screaming at everyone during his speeches, not giving a damn about the presentation we all work so hard to put on to our patrons. (Remember, that is the point of this thread.)
I won't even begin to get into those super lame anti-piracy trailers the MPAA was just pressuring theaters to run. What a great idea. Let's pick on the people who just PAID to see the movie in a THEATER and shove it in their face. Ummmm, hey Jack, your audience that trailer is preaching to are the HONEST PEOPLE!
Jack, your approach to the problem is only angering people and the attempts thus far to help the situation are a joke. If you refuse to retire, at least put forth some of that anger-energy into getting the studios to use an anti-piracy marking system that isn't so distracting from our presentations. The original CAP code worked fine and was not so obtrusive to the "good folk" who paid to see the film.
Alright Jhawk, I just did my public bit to Jack Valenti in the only way I figure he can understand, direct, rude, and annoying. Now it's your turn to call up Deluxe and get them to stop their CRAP code and make sure when you are talking to them to get them to fix the registration issues with their printing. I'm sure you will succeed with your delicate touch, because they care. For the sake of everyone's presentations, prove me wrong.
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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today
Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99
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posted 09-22-2003 04:14 AM
Re: The MPAA Anti-Piracy trailer:
As has been mentioned before, this will not reduce piracy. If someone is determined to pirate a movie, no warning will deter them. You know those FBI warnings on videos? Think that stops any piracy? Nope. In order to understand the pirates, you must think like one. And trust me, they don't care about signs and onscreen warnings, etc. If the trailers become commonplace, then people will ignore them just like the FBI warnings on videos. Has anyone actually read one of those FBI warnings? People will just start their camcorders AFTER the trailer plays, if that's the way they want to pirate a movie.
If movie piracy is stopped to the point of being almost a non-issue, I expect to see movie profits SOAR. Seriously. If overall income does not go up by significant amounts, then that will be admitting that piracy is not as much of an issue as Jack would have us believe. Does anyone here think studio profits would jump significantly if piracy were stopped 100%? I'm talking an increase of at least 5 to 10 million per movie here. If you do believe this, please state your reasons why, with detail.
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Ron Yost
Master Film Handler
Posts: 344
From: Paso Robles, CA
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted 09-22-2003 02:08 PM
I wonder if DeLuxe could (or would) do anything to alter the method of producing CAP-coded prints if they weren't instructed to do so by those paying for the prints? How could they, by themselves, alter an existing CAP 'application' system (if that's what it's called), without approval (and compliance) of their customers??
Since this seems to have happened very recently, and if it's the case that they're the only lab doing it, I wonder what their reason was for changing the process so suddenly?? Also, is DeLuxe Toronto following along on prints headed to the U.S. (Gawd, I hope not, since I think their prints are vastly superior to D.H.)??
Possibly the studios don't care at all what the coding LOOKS like, as long as it's there???? Doesn't seem likely to me.
Ron Yost
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