Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: bribing projectionists?

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Posted by Daniel Boisson (Member # 1027) on 11-14-2002, 10:45 PM:

here

"The early, inferior copies often are soon replaced by better versions that pirates make by bribing a theater projectionist and mounting a camera on a tripod in a projection booth."

Does this really happen?

------------------
3% Body Fat. 1% Brain Activity.

...A projectionist without a theatre...

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 11-14-2002, 10:52 PM:

Probably. Though I can't imagine the camcorder version being considered "superior". Man, how bad did the first copy look?

I think the elimination of screener VHS tapes would help stamp out piracy to a noticable degree.

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 11-14-2002, 11:04 PM:

If someone tried to bribe me, I would do my very best to throw that person out of the theatre so he could land on the yard lights with the seagull prickles sitting on top of them in the local marina.

If you don't know what a seagull prickle is, (I call it that for a better lack of a name) they are devices used to keep seagulls from perching on the light standards. Too many people have been "whitewashed" by seagulls while walking under the lights.

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 11-14-2002, 11:06 PM:

I'd let them in... the Ontario Provincial Police station is right next door. I might have to go for a walk once they're setup.

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 11-15-2002, 01:23 AM:

I've said it before and I'll say it again...

Dave

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 11-15-2002, 01:28 AM:

What I meant to say was this...

Actually a very good image could be had from the booth.

First you prop a flat black surface in front of the lense at a 45 degree angle. FOCUS. Then you put a DV camcorder at a 90 degree angle to the lense, or 45 degree from the projection surface.

Now for the sound. Bring your own mixer and your own hookups and just hotwire them to the amp inputs on the back. Then mix to your hearts content from the digital sound and right into the camcorder. Really it would not be hard at all if you had the equipment, a good contact to let you do it, and the technical savvy to do it in no time at all. You can even run both feeds into a lap top computer if you want and record it right off to a hard drive. The newer camcorders can adjust to the flicker and remove it. Great quality picture. Hell you can even just get a high quality web cam and skip the camcorder all together now that I think about it. hell, you can adjust the frequency to 48 hz and do some fine tuning and BAMMO its perfect. With the right sound card, you can have 5.1 inputs and mix it onboard AFTER the fact.

Hey, I should do this! Imagine ME A PIRATE!!!

But why bother? A rather SUPERIOR version comes out on dvd within a year, why the hell would anyone want a NOT superior version? How desperate are these idiots?

Dave

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 11-15-2002, 11:58 AM:

On some of the bootlegs I have seen, the picture quality is appaling (although it was in the correct aspect ratio), but the sound is crystal clear. I often thought if this was a job done from the booth until I saw an ABC Nightline special which showed some theaters with HEADPHONE JACKS in the armrests of handicapped/hearing impared seats, much like airplanes and trains have.

The reporter showed how people just set up their tripod, plug into the headphone jack, and get a near-perfect copy:

But still, most are indeed screening tapes or DVDs from the studios themselves. There's a site that posts "info" on releases of anything from Movies, TV shows, Videogames and Computer Software available for download from various "groups" called "ISOnews" but it seems to have disappeared or is not working. Some websites post still images of the bootleg so you can check the quality before you commit to a 300+MB download. Most of these pictures are evidence that they are screeners or in some cases even WORKPRINTS of the movie. (Things such as counters on the screen, "Property of FOX", etc.)

Can't the MPAA just go to these websites, contact the ISP and find these people who are bragging about their warez?

=TMP=

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 11-15-2002, 12:44 PM:

If someone did what Dave describes, tapping into the sound that way, would there be a slight sync error with the picture? In a large auditorium, isn't the sound sync'd with the picture so that a seat in the center of the house is in "perfect" sync? Seems like a direct-connect would cause the sound to lead the picture slightly. Maybe not enough to be noticeable. ?

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 11-15-2002, 03:07 PM:

I think it would negligible. Sound travels fast enough to not make too much of a difference that would be too noticeable.

Dave

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 11-15-2002, 03:19 PM:

What if you zoomed in..?

(never mind)

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 11-15-2002, 09:16 PM:

I don't know... A bribe would have to be AWFULLY large for me to even get me to consider doing it for even a SECOND! (I'm talking several THOUSAND dollars!)

Even then, I would say, "Naaah! Forget it!"

It's not about the money, really. It's about reputation.
People can take just about anything from you except your dignity. That's the only thing you have to sacrifice yourself. They can take all your money, your house, your possessions and even your family. Once you have given up your dignity you have nothing left.

Besides, if films are CAP coded,(and we KNOW they are) it's too easy to get busted. All "they" have to do is ask, "What theatre had that copy of the film?" Once they get that far, it's only a matter of time before they zero in on the projectionist and nail him/her.

Some folks get these "seemed like a good thing to do at the time" bright ideas and they either don't know some critical piece of information or they don't think things all the way through before jumping in with both feet. THAT'S what gets people into trouble... Failure to activate the brain before engaging the mouth!