This is topic Bootleggers.....what can you do? in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Nate Lehrke (Member # 1460) on 09-09-2003, 05:25 PM:
 
If you catch someone in your auditorium video-taping the screen, what are you options for handling the situation? Can you take the camera from them? Can the police do anything? Has this happened to anyone here??
 

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Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 09-09-2003, 05:34 PM:
 
You would first call the police on this matter. And tell them the problem, That there is a person taping the movie in your theatre. Cause you need someone to back you up on this matter. Because in the the theatre the person would just laugh at you. And say who the fxxk are you.

I do a lot of pre-release screenings for the studios we have ex-police that can handle this problem. All I have to say is can you take a look at this person.
 

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Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 09-09-2003, 06:14 PM:
 
Check the MPAA's website on this one. www.mpaa.org.

The reality of it is- is that no one really cares. I have a serious problem with people bringing video cameras into my theatre (tourists). We simply lock the cameras up until their movie is over. I have caught only one person attempting to video tape a movie (and that was a long time ago), and I simply confiscated their tape and sent it to the FBI. I also got their ID info and everything. All that the police can do - is the same thing. They usually never arrest the person. It is the same when someone passes a counterfeit bill, the police just take the evidence and record all the info.......
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 09-09-2003, 06:53 PM:
 
Videotape the videotapers . Or sneak in and grab a flash photo of them in the act. Then show the evidence to the police or FBI. Videotaping the bootleggers would be tough without something like a hidden infrared camera or at least something hidden away on a tripod. Lighting levels in the theater are too low during a film to get a good shot of the bad guys. You certainly wouldn't want to walk into an audiotorium with a camcorder light disrupting the show for everyone else.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 09-09-2003, 06:56 PM:
 
Have your projectionist on standby at the projector. Walk into the auditorium and get near the evildoer from behind, then signal for the projector to be stopped, sound muted and lights up to full (cleaning lights too if you have flourescents). Then walk up to the bootlegger and as obviously as you can tell him to hand over the videocamera that he is breaking the law and that it will be returned to him after the show. (Of course before you give it back to him insist on obtaining ALL of his identification.) Basically, embarass the guy publicly and make an example of him. It may not stop him from videotaping movies in the future, but it will surely stop him from returning to your location. With the CAP code and other anti-piracy techniques in use today, it's not worth dealing with the MPAA if your print turns up in a bootleg. At that point I would imagine you would have to somehow prove that you or your staff did not make the copy. You know, guilty until proven innocent.

Another good thing to do if he is using an ALD and no one else checked out a pair of headsets is to turn off the power to the ALD broadcaster. Let the moron capture some picture without sound.
 

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Posted by Ron Keillor (Member # 1790) on 09-09-2003, 08:36 PM:
 
When speaking to the offender, have a second person handy with a flashlight with the light aimed at the camera lens, thereby destroying the integrity of the tape (also to be a witness if necessary)
 

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Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 09-09-2003, 08:37 PM:
 
I agree with Brad to make a public show of confiscating the camera and getting ID. But have the police on the way too, or better yet, there to make the arrest. Don't forget to have signs posted prominently warning that cameras are not allowed:

http://www.infocusmag.com/02December/builtby.htm
 

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Posted by Dave Macaulay (Member # 813) on 09-09-2003, 09:49 PM:
 
Has anyone here been approached about a print in their control being bootlegged? Or even heard of any such action? We see the print ID codes on screen, are they ever actually used in tracking down copying?
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 09-09-2003, 11:02 PM:
 

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When speaking to the offender, have a second person handy with a flashlight with the light aimed at the camera lens, thereby destroying the integrity of the tape (also to be a witness if necessary)

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I like this idea, but would clarify it a bit. When the second person uses a flashlight, make sure it is a big, industrial grade Mag-lite type unit --y'know, like those heavy metal things you see mechanics or electricians carry. Such a flashlight will be handy if the bootlegger wants to get physical. Even the biggest of guys will be subdued if they receive a few pop-knots on the head from a Mag-lite. If a scuffle breaks out, make sure your break his camera in the process of cracking his head. If he complains to the cops about you breaking his camera, just say "he dropped it, officer." I mean, who's the cop gonna believe? A film pirate or a person working an honest job?
 

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Posted by Jim Leko (Member # 1287) on 09-10-2003, 02:33 AM:
 
Don't forget to blow over his camera mic for the whole show. Then he doesn't even get the soundtrack
 

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Posted by Paul Trimboli (Member # 1509) on 09-10-2003, 07:52 AM:
 
While I was working at an IMAX cinema we had this problem quiet a few times, people we always trying to record 3D movies, I used to go in with another person with the torch idea and shine it in the lens and tell them to stop and then after the show point out their stupidity and explain how the 3D system worked and how they were wasting their time, so other customers could hear of course! In Australia if you tryed to call the police on such a matter they would probably say you are wasting their time, although there is a hotline to call, but I can't remeber what it called. At the first showings of film in Australia all customer have to go through metal detector and phones with camera as well as video camera are taken away, yes even camera mobiles!!!
 

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Posted by Martin Brooks (Member # 1269) on 09-10-2003, 07:12 PM:
 
While I'm completely opposed to bootlegging of films, I think I would have a problem if a theater stopped a show to stop a bootlegger. I would probably ask for my money back.

I think a better plan is to call the police and stop the guy on his way out of the screen. And just like many retail establishments have signs that state that shoplifters will be prosecuted, post signs that state that anyone caught taping a movie will also be prosecuted. And maybe giant magnets could be mounted by the theater entrances, similar to security tag devices. <g>

Frankly, I can understand the industry going after people who "borrow" a film print to make a high quality video copy for bootlegging purposes, but no one really wants to purchase a copy of a film shot with a video camera. Those that do buy those do so not realizing what a poor copy they've purchased. I doubt it stops anyone from paying to see the film once they see what they've gotten.

And we've all seen the Seinfeld episode about this, right?
 

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Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 09-11-2003, 12:32 AM:
 
I'm in agreement with Martin. As you run more shows, you can get blase' about the audience's experience. Giving out passes always seems to be a cure for everything to the folks who work at the theater, & they think it should be no big deal if somebody gets to come back & watch a movie again.

But each member of the audience has selected that particular movie, & has an emotional investment in its uninterrupted presentation. You only get to watch a movie the first time just once, & when you've screwed that up, you've got discontent, animosity, & a ruined movie.
 

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Posted by Paul Trimboli (Member # 1509) on 09-11-2003, 07:37 AM:
 
That is one of the best Seinfeild episods! I love the great camera job Kramer does moving the camera around while he looks at his food and the guy next to him!
 

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Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 09-12-2003, 12:46 PM:
 

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You only get to watch a movie the first time just once, & when you've screwed that up, you've got discontent, animosity, & a ruined movie.

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Exactly. Why the hell should you stop the projector and bring the lights up just to "embarrass" the bootlegger? Oh haha, look everybody, this guy was quietly taping the movie until we STOPPED THE PRESENTATION to point him out for your amusement!! Now try to ease your way back into the story and figure out what was going on while we clear up this mess.

I mean if you're going to bitch about CAP codes being a form of anti-piracy which interferes with the presentation, how could you suggest disrupting the show for the entire audience just to stop one crappy tape from hitting the streets?

Honestly... this is like the "Red Scare" of the theater industry.
If you're afraid of the MPAA, get a restraining order against Jack Valenti.
=TMP=
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 09-12-2003, 03:56 PM:
 
The idea was to make a public spectacle of the bootlegger so others in the auditorium would see the cause of the movie being stopped. Legally we have a responsibility to the studios to ensure that this does not happen. I definitely see a valid point here about not stopping the show, but think about all the people around the bootlegger who suddenly have their attention turned to you getting that camera while they miss part of the movie. At least if the movie was stopped, no one misses anything, people now have gossip to talk about (that could hit papers) and word will spread. Complainers can always be given free refills on popcorn and soda or a pass. NO ONE turns down a pass. If all of the good that comes from it is that people start gossiping, then that may very well have been a successful pause in the show.
 

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Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 09-12-2003, 04:00 PM:
 
The other option is to make a public example of the criminal as they leave the auditorium, or perhaps during the credits as the house lights come up. (although many pirated videos I've seen chop off the closing credits).
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 09-12-2003, 06:33 PM:
 
Film pirates have to sneak out with the crowd since next to no one stays to watch all the credits. The only reason why a videotaper would still be in the seat by the time the "1-800-PHONE-THX" thing crawled up the screen would be from falling asleep. It would be funny for the staffers cleaning the auditorium to wake him up, tell him to turn off the camera and introduce him to the police.
 

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Posted by Martin Brooks (Member # 1269) on 09-13-2003, 04:48 PM:
 
I still refuse to believe that a copy made via camera and microphone actually results in any lost revenue for the industry. It's like making an audio copy by sticking a microphone in front of a loudspeaker.

I think the industry should concentrate on pirated copies and copies made from stolen or borrowed prints. Let's get real.
 

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Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 09-13-2003, 07:37 PM:
 
I thought they shot bootleggers,,,opps that was during prohibiton
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 09-13-2003, 07:57 PM:
 
One of the most common sources for pirated DVDs (the ones that are out while the movie is in cinemas) is from film reviewers and press people letting them slip into the wrong hands, such as Chinese mass-pirating operations.
 

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Posted by Peter Hall (Member # 695) on 09-14-2003, 08:40 AM:
 
Eastern Europe and increasingly Western Europe markets are flooded with "screenies", i.e just this, films shot with camcorders off the cinema screen and sold at car boot sales etc on VHS and DVD. You can sometimes see exit boxes, hear the popcorn muncher in front and see the camera moving. I can't help but think that this must hurt the industry - somebody buys these tapes and it's not likely that they'll later go to the cinema to see the film or buy the DVD.
 

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Posted by Steve Anderson (Member # 364) on 09-14-2003, 09:07 AM:
 
My neighbor while on vacation in NYC saw dozens of street vendors selling copies of movies currently playing. He picked up a copy of Bad Boys II and it was a copy straight off a screener copy. Where is the crack down on this?
 

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Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 09-15-2003, 01:26 AM:
 
Let 'em roll, then bring the lights up at the credits & do it. The audience will love the added drama of the big finish.

I do think an audience finds it VERY gratifying & enjoyable when someone in the audience is ejected during the movie if they're being a nuisance (cell phone, loud talking, etc.)
 

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Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 09-15-2003, 02:41 PM:
 

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I still refuse to believe that a copy made via camera and microphone actually results in any lost revenue for the industry. It's like making an audio copy by sticking a microphone in front of a loudspeaker.

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ccording to a new study published by AT&T Labs, the prime source of unauthorized copies of new movies on file-sharing networks appears to be movie industry insiders, not consumers. The study is "the first publicly available assessment of the source of leaks of popular movies," according to its authors.

Nearly 80 percent of some 300 copies of popular movies found by the researchers on online file sharing networks "appeared to have been leaked by industry insiders," and nearly all showed up online before their official consumer DVD release date, suggesting that consumer DVD copying represents a relatively minor factor compared with insider leaks.

"Our conclusion is that the distributors really need to take a hard look at their own internal processes and look at how they can stop the insider leaks of their movies" before taking measures that might hamstring consumers' technologies and rights, said Lorrie Cranor, a researcher at AT&T Labs and lead author of the study.

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Here's the URL (free registration required): NY Times: Movie Piracy
 

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Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 09-17-2003, 01:36 PM:
 
If the theater is not a member of the MPAA (is there stll an option for this?) then do they still have a legal responsibility to catch bootleggers?

Sounds to me like the MPAA should be paying me an extra $20 an hour to "police" the theater and protect their investment/property. Or they can hire a rent-a-cop for $45 an hour. But I sure as hell am not going to play Projectionist AND Cop for my measly slave-wage. In fact, maybe that's where some of the cleaner and better-sounding cammed bootlegs come from -- underpaid projectionists "stealing back" their pay from the film companies.

=TMP=
 

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Posted by Chris Trainor (Member # 9) on 09-17-2003, 05:26 PM:
 
The theater doesn't have to be a member of the MPAA, typicially stuff like preventing piracy is written into the contracts with the distributers. Nothing major in them tho, just along the lines of "don't let people videotape or photograph the film being shown" etc.

--Chris
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 09-17-2003, 05:37 PM:
 

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Nearly 80 percent of some 300 copies of popular movies found by the researchers on online file sharing networks "appeared to have been leaked by industry insiders," and nearly all showed up online before their official consumer DVD release date, suggesting that consumer DVD copying represents a relatively minor factor compared with insider leaks.

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That backs up my rant about all the anti piracy politicking going on about DVDs. Why would someone buy a counterfeit DVD when the legit one is available? Pirated movies are only good when the movie is in theatrical release.

I have a couple friends from China and Korea. They often come back with pirated DVDs in hand. All of them have "for review purposes only, property of etc." showing up on screen.

DVDs are priced at an aggressive sell through rate. When Pixar releases a 2-disc set like "Monsters Inc." and most retailers offer it for under $15 I cannot pass it up. At that rate, the title is a bargain. If I wanted to use some app like DVD X-Copy to try to dub off the discs, I would put in more time and work than it was worth just to go out and buy the legit version at the store.

OT: The RIAA needs to come up with a similar formula for music only CDs. How much time does it take the average user to download an album's worth of music? And at what quality? If they adjust the prices accordingly, and add other value-added stuff to the package more people will buy the legit CDs.
 

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Posted by Jim Leko (Member # 1287) on 09-17-2003, 07:23 PM:
 
The only thing DVD X-Copy would be good for, is copying a series on DVD. The Complete First Season of Star Trek The Next Generation for example, costs about $150. If you can rent it, and put it on disc for $50 (estimate, based on rental cost, and number of discs x2, because DVD X-Copy needs twice as many discs as the original), you save a LOT of money.

Most DVD's however, it is worth it to just buy it in the stores. If you get them the first week they are out, they are usually on sale. You can pre-order the extended edition of The Two Towers for $25.99 on Amazon.com. That is an amazing price for a 4-disc set. It would cost MORE than that, to rent it and DVD X-Copy it.
 

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Posted by Chris Trainor (Member # 9) on 09-17-2003, 09:42 PM:
 
The RIAA needs to come up with a better price model. Like you said, for $15 you can get a new DVD. It's the same price for a CD. If CD's were $5/ea the kids could afford to buy more of them and wouldn't be downloading as much.

--Chris
 

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Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 09-20-2003, 10:07 AM:
 
If CDs were $5 each, I would seriously expand my music collection!! I think having a bunch of sharipe-covered CD-R's in a flipper case looks too "disposable."

Heck, if they were that cheap, I would even consider re-purchasing all of the stuff I own on vinyl instead of wasting time downoading all of the tracks I need. That's over 300 records! Come on, RIAA, don't you want my money??

Getting back to movie piracy, if it's true that it states in the contract that you must aid in preventing piracy, I would add that in to the house nut. $5,000 Piracy Protection Fee. And while we're at it, $1,000 Piracy Protection Fee Administration Fee.

=TMP=
 

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Posted by Martin Brooks (Member # 1269) on 09-22-2003, 08:15 PM:
 
I think it's unrealistic to expect CDs to be the same price albums were in 1965, almost 40 years ago!

Having said that, there are tons of midline CDs that sell at discounters for $7. Check this out: $6.99 Jazz CDs and this out: $7.99 CDs

Also, Universal, which is the biggest label, just announced that they're lowering the wholesale price of most pop CDs (but not Classical) by $3. This should get the street price of most product below $10. The other labels are probably ready to kill themselves over this, but they are expected to follow suit.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 09-23-2003, 12:06 AM:
 
Profit margins as seen by record companies from CDs is in the near windfall category. They cost very little to produce, package and distribute. A major label will blow more money creating a music video for a single than what it cost for the music of most albums to be produced, mastered and replicated.

Record companies will still be making a handsome profit by pricing their discs so retailers can charge under $10 for new releases.

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I think it's unrealistic to expect CDs to be the same price albums were in 1965, almost 40 years ago!

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The music industry has to make their product attractive again. Bland re-tread music and high prices just keep driving me to other things. If they cannot add more value to their discs to justify a $15 price tag, then they need to aggressively slash prices.

Also, I'm not even going to sympathize or even empathize for a record company's costs in pampering some stuck up prima donna "diva" princess star on their roster. If they're stupid enough to put some teen bubblegum music icon in a Lear-jet where ever she travels they need to swallow that cost on their own (especially since the labels screw over nearly all the rest of their signed talent). Don't pass that cost down to the customers. With more sensible bookkeeping and ethical management they would probably be able to hit a $5 to $7 price point for CDs and still make a good profit.

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Universal, Tower and Virgin could well go under. Only a fraction of what is going on behind the scenes is reported in Billboard. 2004 should be an interesting year.

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I know that I have not heard anything in some time that I want to go out and buy.

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Not only has selection gone downhill over the past 5 or so years, but recording quality has gone to CRAP as well. "They" are recording CDs hotter and hotter to the point that I cannot even stand to listen to the last CD I bought, it is so clipped and distorted. CDs have a 90db dynamic range, so why do "they" only use the top 1db?

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BTW, one of the expenses in making vinyl records, was that vergin vinyl was expensive; CDs are just cheep plastic. Just look in your Sunday paper sales fliers, and see how many stores are GIVING AWAY CD-Rs.

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Yeah, but the major labels never used good vinyl. In fact, they frequently recycled it. That was one of the big complaints about US labels in the last 10 years of vinyl's life. That's why you had companies like Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs or consumers seeking out British pressings. Besides, the manufacturing cost of product is almost irrelevant. The major cost is in marketing and royalty advances to the band.
 

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Posted by Jim Bedford (Member # 4) on 09-20-2004, 10:55 AM:
 
Story in yesterday's Sunday LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-camcorder19sep19,1,4213948.story. You need to register to read so I've added it below:

Turning the Camera on Movie Pirates

Companies are heeding the film industry's call for help, devising high-tech ways to detect camcorders in theaters
By Jon Healey
Times Staff Writer

September 19, 2004

Hollywood's billion-dollar question landed in Howard Gladstone's e-mail one night: "Can you find a camcorder operating inside a movie theater?"

His company, Trakstar of Weston, Fla., responded by whipping up a camera detector out of technology that soldiers use to spot snipers. That's the answer, Gladstone says — but he may be only half-right.

Portable digital video cameras, or camcorders, lie at the root of Hollywood's global piracy problem. Armed with ever-smaller and more powerful cameras, bootleggers in theaters manage to copy every major film within days of its release. These underground versions soon pop up on pirated disks sold in Los Angeles, London, Berlin and Shanghai — offering people around the world a crude copy of a big-time release for less than the price of a movie ticket.

Trakstar is one of a small but growing number of companies trying to sell Tinseltown a high-tech defense against those pesky cams. But even as these firms answer Hollywood's call, studio executives question whether a single silicon-powered bullet can kill this type of piracy.

Once a digital camera is spotted, who can be relied upon to confront and hold the suspect until the police arrive? A 17-year-old usher making $7 an hour? Beyond that, who will be paying for the detection equipment, which is likely to cost thousands of dollars per movie screen? And how long can any anti-camcorder technology work before the bootleggers find a way around it?

Despite all that, Gladstone is confident that Trakstar has an effective solution: a tamper-resistant device that uses brief bursts of energy to detect camera lenses and digital sensors.

At least one other company — Sentek Consulting, a San Diego start-up run by two former Navy SEALs — is offering a competing camcorder detector. Meanwhile, two companies are modifying movie projectors, trying to interfere with camcorders without damaging the picture on the screen.

To stamp out illegal recording, the technologies would have to be installed in a significant number of the 100,000 movie screens around the world, and that wouldn't be cheap.

On the other hand, the stakes for Hollywood are much higher than the equipment's price tag.

The Motion Picture Assn. of America estimates that studios lost $3.5 billion in potential sales last year to bootleggers.

Although pirates have been leeching profit off the movie industry since the advent of the videocassette recorder in the 1970s, digital video recording and high-speed Internet connections have magnified the problem exponentially. Pirates these days can duplicate their bootlegs in minutes, make unlimited numbers of perfect copies and send their wares electronically around the globe.

Typically, a movie is recorded in theaters only a handful of times, creating enough raw material to feed thousands of bootlegging operations worldwide.

For example, the same version of "Hidalgo" popped up on street corners, in malls and at flea markets on four continents shortly after the film's U.S. release in March. And all the early bootlegs of "Seabiscuit" last year appear to have come from a single illegal copy.

That's why studios see defeating camcorders in the theaters as crucial to choking off the entire supply line of pirated movies.

The main element of Trakstar's Pirate Eye system is a shoebox-size device mounted next to the movie screen, facing the audience. An emitter inside the box bounces energy waves off the seats one small group at a time, and a sensor records the reflections. The reflections are analyzed using software from Apogen Technologies Inc. of McLean, Va., a government contractor best known for image-processing gear. The software was designed to pick out a camcorder in a sea of bodies, seats, popcorn tubs and soda cups.

Typically, pirates don't rely solely on the darkness in a theater to camouflage their mischief. They also will cover their camcorders or stick them in obscure places they hope ushers and other moviegoers won't see.

But to record a movie, they have to expose the camcorder's lens and point it steadily at the screen. And that's what Trakstar's system looks for — the reflected image of a camera lens.

One advantage to Trakstar's approach, Gladstone said, is the involvement of defense contractors such as Apogen.

"They never design a system without understanding what the obvious countermeasures would be," he said. "The war against piracy is an ongoing battle of measures and countermeasures."

Gladstone successfully demonstrated the detector in February to industry executives at the Digital Cinema Laboratory, a project of the Entertainment Technology Center at USC. But several studio executives told Gladstone that they wanted one more feature: the ability to spot "pinhole" cameras with lenses a fraction of an inch wide.

Trakstar went back to Apogen, which added a feature to the detector. Using a different wavelength of energy, it found a way to detect the electronic sensors, called charge-coupled devices, inside digital cameras no matter how small the lens.

With the modifications complete, Gladstone asked the Motion Picture Assn. of America this month to conduct a feasibility study of his technology. The studios are still reviewing the proposal.

Rival Sentek was initially in the business of selling sniper detectors to U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. Then Mike Massa, Sentek's vice president for government services, read this year about studios using night-vision goggles at screenings. He wondered: "Why don't we use our technology to help these guys?"

Sentek President and Chief Executive Eric Basu wouldn't comment on how the company's technology worked, other than to say it generated a distinct signal when encountering camcorders, including pinhole cameras. The underlying technology, he said, was powerful enough to detect lenses almost a mile away.

"Anybody that's trying to film the movie is going to have to point their [camcorder] at the screen," Basu said. "When they point their device at the screen, they're going to give off a hit."

Although there may be some takers for Trakstar's or Sentek's devices, there are plenty of skeptics as well, who see a host of potential problems with any type of camcorder detector.

For example, one Hollywood executive who asked not to be named said theater owners would insist on having control over any detectors that were in their buildings. And if you give theater personnel control, bootleggers would almost certainly pay for undetected, unauthorized screenings.

"Whoever has access to the projection booth and the film … is certainly going to have access to this" camcorder detection equipment, the executive said.

Trakstar's system tries to guard against tampering by connecting the detectors to a network that would be monitored remotely. If someone unplugged a detector, the monitors would know immediately, Gladstone said.

Even if everything worked as designed, there would be at least one other problem: Only the District of Columbia, California and 17 other states have specifically outlawed using camcorders to record movies in theaters. In recent months in other states, police have released several suspected recorders because they didn't know what charges to file against them.

"We're certainly interested in any solution that could be relatively easily installed across the exhibitor base, that would require minimal maintenance, was difficult to circumvent and reasonably priced," said Darcy Antonellis, senior vice president for worldwide anti-piracy operations at Time Inc.'s Warner Bros. Entertainment. "What we've seen to date … [starts] to get into higher levels of complexity that may or may not work on a large scale."

An anti-camcorder strategy doesn't have to start with a huge deployment. Most camcorder use for bootleggers has been done in and around New York and Los Angeles, so the first detectors could be concentrated in those cities. The detectors also could be shifted from screen to screen within a multiplex to deter bootleggers at less cost.

In the long run, though, the strategy will be effective only if every screen can be protected, said Brad Hunt, chief technology officer for the Motion Picture Assn. of America.

"The pirates are smart enough to figure out and find the one theater where you're not deployed," he said. "As soon as they know there's one theater that's not using it, it's on the bulletin board [online]; everyone's talking about it."

Rather than trying to catch pirates in the act, Cinea Inc. of Reston, Va., and Princeton, N.J.-based Sarnoff Corp. are working on technology that would quietly sabotage their recordings.

The companies' research, which is supported by a $2-million federal grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, focuses on a crucial difference between human vision and camcorder recording: Humans see the world in continuous scenes, but a camcorder captures the action in front of its lens as a rapid series of frozen images. The goal is to project a digital version of a movie studded with extraneous marks that moviegoers wouldn't notice but that camcorders would capture and unwittingly transform into annoying patterns, pulses or other distortions.

It may take another year of work, however, before the companies know whether they can pull it off.

"There's a trade-off there," said Christos A. Polyzois, senior director of commercial systems for Sarnoff. "The easier I make the marks on the eye, the less distraction they cause on the camcorder. And the more distraction they cause on the camcorder, the more likely … they may be viewed by the human eye."

If Cinea and Sarnoff succeed, their technology could be incorporated into the digital projection systems that the movie industry is expected to deploy in the next decade as replacements for film projectors. Although several other companies have been exploring ways to alter film projectors to defeat those using camcorders, digital projection seems to be the most promising route, said Charles S. Swartz, executive director of the Entertainment Technology Center.

Switching to digital projectors also would eliminate some of the current sources of piracy — for example, there would be no canisters of film for bootleggers to grab and copy. But there are many technical details and financial arrangements that must be worked out by studios and theater owners before the industry can shift to digital on a broad scale.

"We're not going to have a 10,000-projector rollout tomorrow," said John Fithian, president of the National Assn. of Theatre Owners. "It's going to take us a little longer to get there."

Several of the major studios are trying to attack the camcorder problem on multiple fronts, rather than relying on a technological fix.

The MPAA started a reward program in June that promised theater employees as much as $500 for detecting, stopping and turning in camcorders. Duly motivated, multiplex workers have caught at least 23 people with camcorders, cameras or tape recorders since the program went into effect. Their actions have led to nine arrests so far — including that of a 16-year-old in Chatsworth who was accused of trying to capture "Spider-Man 2" on opening night in June. At least nine employees have collected rewards.

"Offering employees at theaters a $500 reward if they catch somebody camcording may ultimately be the best tool," the Hollywood executive said.

Studios also are beefing up their ability to trace the sources of bootlegged movies so they can try to plug those leaks directly. In addition, they are pushing for more enforcement of existing laws, lobbying for new federal and state laws against recording in theaters and trying to convince the moviegoing public that piracy is a bad thing.

"I'm not going to put all my eggs in one basket," a studio executive said. "Pirates are really creative."
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 09-20-2004, 12:39 PM:
 
Check out yesterday's The Boondocks strip for the plight of today's bootleggers :

http://www.ucomics.com/boondocks/2004/09/19/
 

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Posted by David Buckley (Member # 2600) on 09-21-2004, 01:50 AM:
 
The recorded music industry that exists today grew out of the need to distribute recorded music, which once upon a time was a hard job. All that vinyl, weight, distribution. Urgh. Sounds awfully familiar to 35mm vs , but unlike , the digital alternative has sufficient customer satisfaction today.

Today and tomorrow, music can be distributed down wires, requiring no physical distribution. The need for CD distribution is receeding.

What normally when this kind of revolution takes place is that the old guard dies, and a new champion rises to take its place. However, the RIAA although stupid are not that stupid, and to defend their position they are (cleverly and fairly sucessfully) using congress to protect them.

But heres the rub. Record companies think that pirates and P2P downloaders are their enemy. How wrong they are. The real enemy of the record music industry is Digital Rights Management. Once DRM works and is "out there", established artists will sell their material from their own web sites, bypassing the recorded music industry altogether. Exactly when Tower Records will close its doors is uncertain, but it will happen. Dont invest in the recorded music industry, one day your shirt will be lost.

UK readers can draw a parallel in this from the UK coal industry. In the late 60s, the UK had a coal industry employing over 100k people. The sight of the coalman delivering coal for the fireplace was common throughout the land. Most power stations were coal fired. Coal miners strikes meant big trouble for the whole country. The coal miners union leader, Arthur Scargill, was a big man with a big job, with much influence.

And then came natural gas from the north sea.

Less than thirty years later the coal industry had gone. Entire towns in Wales where most of the menfolk worked down the mines were (and generally still are) decimated.

But the UK still has heat, and power.

Imagine if Arthur Scargill had managed to pull off the same trick the record companies are doing. The Government would not allow piped gas for house heating or power generation. There would still be a coal indsutry. The UK landscape would be very different from that of today...
 

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Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 09-21-2004, 06:47 PM:
 
I was visiting the monastery of Monserat near Barcelona Spain a few years ago and encountered a bizare video killer. At the chapel there are signs warning that video taping is forbidden inside. A friend who had been taping the exterior forgot to turn off his video camera as we walked into the chapel. Upon later viewing the tape we discovered that the video was perfect up until we entered that chapel. Then it abruptly flickered off until we exited, and it abruptly came back on. However, all the while we had sound. I have no idea how they did it, but it appeared they somehow interfered with the video recording. Now if someone could do that in a theatre, piracy problem solved.
 

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Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 09-21-2004, 09:55 PM:
 

quote: Rick Raskin

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I have no idea how they did it, but it appeared they somehow interfered with the video recording. Now if someone could do that in a theatre, piracy problem solved.

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Simple. Very high levels of gamma radiation can wreak havoc with CCD sensors. Have you seen a doctor yet? Is your friend still alive?
 

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Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 09-22-2004, 05:09 PM:
 

Funny you should ask. That's me on the left. Actually, I thought they used a lighting temperature that was not detectable by a camcorder, if there is such a thing. Cheers.
 

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Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 09-22-2004, 07:49 PM:
 
Did he put the lens cap on, but leave the camera running by chance? Some models have a sliding lens cap that is easily "clicked" into the closed position with a flick of the finger.

=TMP=
 

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Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 09-23-2004, 05:41 PM:
 
I don't think he had the lens cap on. When the video quits, there is a roll, kind of like when you loose vertical sync. After that the picture simply blacked out. Maybe it was just to dark for his camera. After all, sometimes the simplest answer is the correct one.
 

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Posted by Ron Yost (Member # 1850) on 09-23-2004, 06:24 PM:
 
Speaking of piracy. How did that 'experiment' in England work out? The one where some distributor passed out night-vision goggles to theatres to catch pirates? Did they catch anyone??

Ron Yost
 

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Posted by David Buckley (Member # 2600) on 09-25-2004, 06:29 PM:
 
Night vision glasses? What a joke, that'll never happen here.

Or so I thought....

Theatres hunt pirates and audience bounty

Piracy is not the only problem for New Zealand's plump and profitable cinema industry. Add cannibalism to the list of woes.

Holiday moviegoers engrossed in the latest box-office hit Shark Tale this weekend may miss the strange eye-pieces worn by theatre staff watching the audience watching the screen.

Village Sky City has issued theatre staff with night goggles to spy for patrons using camcorders to illegally record the film.

Village chief Joe Moodabe said the company Kiwi audiences at Shark Tale were getting a two-week jump on US viewers.

"We're always vigilant for piracy, but we're taking extra precautions this time," he said.

I note in the USA the distris are quite fanatical about hanging on to their prints. It works differently in NZ. As far as I can tell, the distributor is a girl in an office with a PC. SOmehow, prints arrive in NZ and make it to the first run houses. After that, prints live in cinemas. We're an end of the world part time community cinema, so we get prints kind of late. But once we get them, they stay with us forever. We have a room full of boxed prints, and they just stay there 'till someone wants some movie yonks after release, and then we dig it out and ship it on. So if you want a print to telecine at your leisure, of a well released film, come to us. Of course, if Hoyts have had it, it'll be rogered, but thats life I guess.
 

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Posted by David Favel (Member # 1125) on 09-25-2004, 06:53 PM:
 
Actually the distribs are beginning to get quite anal about their prints. Also there is considerably more than a girl with a PC.

Take UIP for example.
Apart from 3 people in the best film marketing dept in N.Z. they have 2 bookers, various (maybe 2) account people, and a boss. They also contract out some art duties.
They were partially responsible (Along with Mark Christenson sp.) for battling the DVD parallel importing and are very active in attemting to educate about piracy (thats who sent the "download" trailer that you screened with Shark Tale.

Fox and to a certain extent Columbia prints can lay around for ages but BVI & UIP are becoming quite anal about prints going back to the vault ASAP.
 

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Posted by David Buckley (Member # 2600) on 09-25-2004, 11:13 PM:
 
I bow to your superior local knowledge - all I know is I have a room with about two dozen prints in it. They arrive, we show them, just once (ok - LOTR was an exeption, we showed it twice), we keep them, until instructed to ship them somewhere, which doesnt happen all that often.

And that LOTR - here it (still) is, waiting for the LOTR revival, I guess...


 

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Posted by Ron Yost (Member # 1850) on 09-26-2004, 01:01 PM:
 
Also, I wonder if the night-vision goggles will be units collected from the English 'experiment' and then shipped down to you folks? Assuming they were taken back afterward, of course. Given the cost I'd assume they would have been. I don't know, and I'm sure we'll never hear a word of the experiment's success .. or lack thereof.

Ron Yost
 

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Posted by David Buckley (Member # 2600) on 09-26-2004, 03:22 PM:
 
Given the noise that the industry makes about piracy, I'm sure if there was evena single sucess there would be fanfares at dawn.

Now, whatever happened to CrAPcode sucesses.....
 

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Posted by David Buckley (Member # 2600) on 09-27-2004, 01:11 AM:
 

quote: David Favel

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and are very active in attemting to educate about piracy (thats who sent the "download" trailer that you screened with Shark Tale.

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