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Author Topic: Piracy David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 05-28-2006 08:05 PM                        Regal instituted a "No backpacks or other large packages" policy right after 9/11, though I'm not sure they really enforce that policy here in Eugene.  |  IP: Logged Michael Gonzalez Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 790 From: Grand Island , NE USA Registered: Sep 2000 posted 05-28-2006 11:51 PM                     I work at a mall location so it is pretty much impossible to enforce a similar policy cause a lot of customer carry their shopping bags into the theater with them. I do try to get them to take their leftover food back to their cars if they are coming back from having dinner at a restruant in the mall.  |  IP: Logged Carl Martin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1424 From: Oakland, CA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 05-29-2006 03:49 AM                        quote: Paul J. Neuhaus Piracy is a major problem in the middle east. When I was in Afghanistan and Iraq within 24-48 hours after a release you would see bootlegs go on sale in the Haji shops. are there even movie theaters in afghanistan and iraq? aside from iran, i'm not aware of any film culture to speak of in or from the hardcore islamic countries.  |  IP: Logged William Collins Film Handler Posts: 18 From: Porirua, Wellington, New Zealand Registered: May 2006 posted 05-29-2006 04:03 AM                     I think there are alot of rogue projectionists out there now. Its all to easy to take a camera into a booth and just plug it into the sound. Where I worked in the UK it would have been a piece of cake. No one ever bothered checking bags there, any member of staff could have walked upstairs and just plonked a camera on the ledge of the porthole, then all it would of taken is a line cable from the sound rack. I did a bit of research into how else pirated films are made and I discovered than there are some projectionists who build a form of telesync equipment to pysically record the film and sound from the 35mm, and that it could be down while a film was playing, Though im not sure of the mechanics of this.  |  IP: Logged Paul J. Neuhaus Expert Film Handler Posts: 126 From: Iraq.. Again! Registered: Jun 2005 posted 05-29-2006 03:17 PM                     Carl, Perhaps you misunderstood. You could buy a movie on DVD with a digital track mere hours after it was released in theatres in the states. To answer your question I don't think there are any theatres in to speak of. The big question which I think has come up several times in this thread is where is a copy of such high quality coming from. There has to be some problems at the studio/distributor level It's rather scary to think of how fast these pirates move. Here we are thousands of miles away from home and we didn't have to worry about missing a new release because in a day or two it would be for sale at the local Haji shop!!  |  IP: Logged Robert John Jeromson Master Film Handler Posts: 264 From: Auckland, New Zealand Registered: Jul 2004 posted 05-29-2006 04:11 PM                     quote: William Collins I think there are alot of rogue projectionists out there now That seems to be the case as far as distributors are concerned, but I doubt very much that most of the people using this sight would have any time for such a practice. The assumption that as soon as the print arrives on the door step that the projectionist is going to want to copy it has made life incredibly difficult for most of us, with split deliveries and false names. I don't dispute the importance of security its the attitude that we are all secret pirates that winds me up. This job demands a high level of integrity, that means doing the right thing even when no-one is watching. The actions of a small few, who have no business showing films, have pigeon-holed the rest of us.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 05-29-2006 06:01 PM                     quote: Paul J. Neuhaus You could buy a movie on DVD with a digital track mere hours after it was released in theatres in the states. Actually, a great deal of pirated DVDs are becoming available BEFORE the movie is actually released. Pirated DVDs of The DaVinci Code and Mission: Impossible III were appearing on the streets of New York, store shelves in China and even combat zones in Iraq before the movies hit theaters. China does a great deal of business with middle eastern nations. It's no trick at all for them to ship many thousands of pirated DVDs over into combat zones to sell to anyone with a little cash. Really, the whole idea of just videotaping the screen to bootleg a movie is quite laughable. Remember, that Seinfeld episode that lampoons the practice is more than a decade old now. Such acts of piracy were plausible and worth fighting when everyone was using VHS tape players. Piracy is extremely different now with DVD. Most piracy comes from something else besides a 35mm film print. The fact that Hollywood keeps throwing CRAP CODE onto release prints just shows they continue to not understand the nature of the problem. I saw that chicken pox garbage all over M:i:III and thought to myself, "I'll bet the Chinese pirated DVD versions don't have that stuff at all." Basically anyone who wants to waste two hours of their life watching a low rez VCD dub of someone's camcorder footage of a movie screen deserves to get laughed at pretty hard. If they're into watching movies illegally it is quite a bit easier to obtain much better quality versions elsewhere. Many can be downloaded off the Internet in DVD format for little if anything at all. One can try as hard as he can to make a pirated version of a movie from a 35mm release print and they'll end up with product that doesn't approach the level seen on mass produced pirated DVDs. Trying to fight film piracy at the movie theater level is like trying to treat someone's cancer after they've already died of the disease. Get with it, MPAA! The piracy is happening elsewhere!  |  IP: Logged Paul J. Neuhaus Expert Film Handler Posts: 126 From: Iraq.. Again! Registered: Jun 2005 posted 05-29-2006 06:43 PM                     You tell em Bobby!!! Amen To anybody who has not seen that Seinfeld episode that Bobby was talking about it is a must see. Truly Hilarious! Paul  |  IP: Logged William Collins Film Handler Posts: 18 From: Porirua, Wellington, New Zealand Registered: May 2006 posted 05-30-2006 01:13 AM                     When I was working in the UK I found out that most other cinemas used a company called the projectionist union, to hire projectionist, and I realise that this may have something to do with piracy now, my cinema just hire any one, and if they wanted to work upstairs they were just trained by the tech when ever possible and told to work whenever. So the idea of having a 'Projectionists Union' seemed like a good one to weed out the people that were likely to be pirating films using the cam method. DVD screener copies are out there, but they are far a few between from what I gather, and it appears to me that its mainly the ones with alot of CG in them aswell. Which would suggest that its coming from some one inside the companies that deal with the CG.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 05-30-2006 08:58 AM                     I don't know about the UK, maybe film pirates haven't "modernized" there yet. Nearly all the cases of film piracy happening just about everywhere else is coming from digital-based elements, NOT bootlegged videotape footage of a movie screen. Sure, you can find some Nigerian guys on certain parts of Broadway (in Manhattan) selling camcorder footage movies -but even many of them have moved to selling the DVDs since many are appearing before the movie is even released, thus increasing their potential value. I just have to strongly disagree with the notion most film piracy occurs via camcorders smuggled into theaters. That is just flat out wrong.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 06-01-2006 03:17 PM                        'Projectionists' Union' ?! Never heard of it. All the projectionists I've ever come across who were members of a trade union belonged to BECTU. Anyhow, if surreptitiously camcordering films at your local fleapit seems too boring, here's how to pirate an LP.  |  IP: Logged Ben Wales Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 602 From: Southampton. England Registered: Jul 99 posted 06-01-2006 04:05 PM                     It would be interesting to see how 2K Digital Cinema will combat this and stay ahead before someone cracks the security code of the Digial content?.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-01-2006 05:48 PM                        quote: Ben Wales someone cracks the security code of the Digial content? What's the need? The pirates are already making their DVDs by stealing originals directly from the film companies before theatres even show a film, so it's a moot point.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 06-03-2006 10:33 AM                        I went to Juniors in Brooklyn last night (famous for its incredible cheese cake). Outside the resturaunt a guy had about 80 DVD titles displayed on the sidewalk, proclaiming "Original DVD quality here....original DVD quality here -- first run movies." I asked what he meant by DVD quality. He said these were not off the screen copies but "original" DVDs. Obviously this guy knew the difference. I looked at the titles -- every top grossing film that was in current release was there. I said, "Even MI3 is original?", and he apolgized profusely saying, no, those were sold out; the one he was selling was a "screen copy," which he insisted was very good. He said he had run out of "original" MI3 DVDs but he would get a new supply tomorrow. Then get this. He said if I bought two of any of the original DVD titles he'd give me the MI3 screen copy. I asked if he would be there the next night. He didn't hesitate to tell his working hours -- 9pm to midnight. I asked if any police ever gave him any trouble. He said THE COPS ARE HIS BEST CUSTOMERS. I love Bobby's analogy -- the MPAA is treating piracy like the doctor who treats a patient for cancer after he's already died. As much as the studios have misguided their anti-piracy efforts, you can see how this delemma has really become one huge, semingly insermountable problem. Unfortunately, the studios seem to understand that if they can't plug the leeks at the post-production stage, then the throw up their hands and the only alternative they see is to get the commercial DVDs out to the public before they loose too much $$$ to the street vendors with their pirated high quality bootlegs....and THAT is very bad for exhibitors indeed. Only solution is to plug the leaks in the post production stage where these bootlegs seem to eminate.  |  IP: Logged Justin Gorka Expert Film Handler Posts: 174 From: High Wycombe, England Registered: Apr 2006 posted 06-06-2006 07:51 PM                     Seems someone has a bug up their arse about UK projectionists. We are just as professional as the rest of you. I would never dream of copying a print. I was offered £500 to film King Kong last year, afraid I like my job too much to be so irresponsible.BECTU is the UK's Union and there is no central hiring area for projectionists, we all start from scratch and learn from the ground up. Maybe the New Zealander didn't have a very good time in the UK, beer too warm (or, more likely, too strong)?  |  IP: Logged

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