US cinema reward to stop piracy

[Culley]

Cinema staff in the US are being offered up to $500 (£275) to catch people recording movies on camcorders.
The reward scheme is being run by film studios and movie theatres in a bid to stop piracy, which costs the industry billions of dollars each year.

Staff can qualify for the reward by catching the perpetrators, telling police and stopping the recording.

Other anti-piracy moves include staff wearing night-vision goggles to see if customers are recording films.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) said it seized 52 million DVDs and other illegal copies of movies in 2003 - many of which began as recordings made in theatres during the first few days of a movie's opening.

Metal detectors

Hollywood studios have already cracked down on tapings made during pre-release screenings.

Studios often search bags and use metal detectors to catch people taking camcorders into the screenings.

Studios have also been lobbying for state laws that make recording a movie in a theatre a crime.

In California, individual theatregoers can make a citizen's arrest of someone recording a movie.

The reward programme is co-sponsored by the National Association of Theater Owners and MPAA.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/entertainment/3828551.stm

[Suntan]

Studios have also been lobbying for state laws that make recording a movie in a theatre a crime.

As long as they attach something to that bill so that the two teenagers in the back row pawing all over each other is also considered illegal...

-Suntan

[adam]

I heard this on the radio this morning. What I don't get is, are these types of bootlegs even a problem? How many people actually bother to watch a cammed movie as opposed to a telecine ripped off the reels, or a copy of a DVD or VHS screener?

In my mind, its like fighting the war on drugs by regulating cough syrup.

With that said, these forms of legislation never bother me. As far as I'm concerned there is no reason in the world why someone should ever need to film a movie played in a cinema, without express permission, ie: documentary. So if you get caught and severely punished then you deserve it. If they want to enforce this via citizen's arrests, night vision spying, and public rewards, oh well its never going to affect me.

[BobV]

Am I wrong in assuming that bootleg copies created like this are very low in quality?

[fritzi93]

What I don't get is, are these types of bootlegs even a problem?

No, of course not. It's ludicrous, cammed movies are worth less than nothing. This is just part of the campaign to keep the piracy issue in the public eye. And if some poor dumb schmuck gets caught and has to pay thousands in fines, so much the better. The MPAA will make sure everyone knows about it. That's what angers me, it's an offense so minor that it causes no harm, if anything it should be winked at as it used to be. The possibility that lawmakers can be muscled into enacting stiff penalties is an eye-opener. I hope our representatives come to their senses, but the trend is not encouraging.

[bugster]

Am I wrong in assuming that bootleg copies created like this are very low in quality?

No, you are quite right.

I think part of the problem here is where bootleg DVD's are being sold on street corners or 'under the counter'. Many of these are CAM's of unreleased movies and the people buying them can not complain about the crap quality as they are either well aware of what they are buying or simply have no way of contacting the 'trader' they paid $% cas to in the pub last night.

I doubt this kind of trade has much impact on Cinema ticket or DVD sales (those buying these fakes probably would not pay for the real thing anyway) but I do see that crap quality fakes can affect the reputation of the studios/publishers etc..

[flaninacupboard]

Am I wrong in assuming that bootleg copies created like this are very low in quality?

Correctimundo. as the time between cinema release and DVD rental ever shrinks this type of pirating seems totally pointless. but then i never go to the cinema anymore either.....

[Headbanger's Ball]

WOW, where can I get a copy? I love my movies to be shakey, have head-shadows and filled with coughs, popcorn crunching and the never annoying "shhhhhhhhhhhhhh." In my surround sound system, it's just like being at the movies. (Execpt my floors aren't sticky.)

As long as they attach something to that bill so that the two teenagers in the back row pawing all over each other is also considered illegal...

AMEN

In my mind, its like fighting the war on drugs by regulating cough syrup.

Or like putting guards on the border to keep the Americans drugs from entering Mexico.


Camming is probably done by kids. Instead of commando tatics to stop the piracy of poor quality movies. Catch the kids, take the camera, and tell his parents. I think the parents will be more concerned with getting the camcorder back than junior's poor attempt at piracy.

[vitualis]

Yes, completely feckless policy.

If they want to stop film piracy there are simple ways:

1. Make DVDs priced more reasonably -- in Australia, VHS releases still cost less than DVD despite DVDs being cheaper to make.
2. Get rid of region coding and staggered releases. If my only option of watching a "new" film that's been released months ago in another country is to get buy a pirated disc, well, that's a pretty good incentive for your ordinary otherwise law abidding citizen to do so (e.g., "Hero" still hasn't been released in Australian cinemas and won't until November and there is no Australia release of the DVD either... and another e.g., there is no region 4 Australian release of "Princess Monoke").
3. Once you done the above two, it's pretty easy to convince the general public that the official release is better than a pirated one and there won't be much public malaise in cracking down on PROFESSIONAL pirating rings (i.e., people who make fake DVDs that for all intents and purposes look real and are near as good as the real thing).

Regards.

[vcdforme]

For a laugh, I bought one of these "bootlegs" when I was in
Asia. And that's what it was. Hilarious!
You could see people getting up, hands going up, and the sound was
as if the microphone was in the building next door. Whispering,
and one LOUD popcorn muncher. Video was horrid.
You cannot take this seriously.
Somebody really has their head up their arse to think that
these bootlegs pose ANY KIND of threat. Except for
comedic value??? I couldn't stop laughing.

[iooi]

Just a question to all you saying how bad these cams are have you seen any lately ????
Not to say that i approve of the practise but if i'm unsure about a film i will acuire one of these copies to judge if its worth spending my hard earned cash taking the Mrs to the flicks for a night out. £2 on a disk compared to £15 is a big saving.... Nowt worse than her winnig about crap film.....
THe latest ones are comming out of france and have No heads NO talking or sticky bits either.
All in all very good quality for a cam.

[Suntan]

So do you think anybody out there mics a coupe of wise asses and makes their own MST3K?

-Suntan

[lostbee]

Well what iooi said, they are getting alot better, i was reading up on this you first get the dodgy cam with the popcorn munchers, which is usualy out a day after the film has come out.
Then a few days later you get the telesync which is a high def cam in an empty cinema or in the projection booth, with the sound coming from the dts discs or plugged in to the hard of hearing holes
now these telesync's are getting very very good however there's no staff around to stop this
But as the technology is becoming cheaper more and more films coming out are going through the telecine prosess being ripped straight from the reels
I dont approve of this either but they have to bring down the price of dvd's and cinema tickets, if they want to put a stop to piracy.

It seems to be working with mp3'3 legal music downloads cost £4 an album or £14 in the shops, the music piracy has slowed down alot.

[adam]

I don't doubt that DVD prices are too high in certain regions, but this latest reward policy only applies in the US. Also most of the other tactics employed lately have also only occurred in the States. As an American, and a movie lover and collector, I honestly feel that if anything DVDs are underpriced in this market. $10-20 is a good enough price for me for a DVD I want. I'd be willing to pay a little more. When I look at the $50 or $60 pricetag on some Playstation games, I think DVDs are a great bargain. I don't buy the unfair price arguement. Maybe in another country, but not in mine.

As for ticket prices, the only control the movie industry has over that is the price of reel rentals and other licensing fees. Granted that is substantial, but not enough to blame ticket prices on "the industry." If the theatre wants to pay less for film rentals then they can show more older films. I can literally go see any movie I want at a decent quality theatre for only $1 if I'm willing to wait a month after its initial release. Again, this might not be an option in other countries but it seems we are only talking about the US here if we are complaining about these specific industry tactics. I see "dollar cinemas" everywhere I go in the States.

I do hate going to the movies these days, but I still go quite often. I can't remember the last time the price of the tickets exceeded the price of my popcorn + drink + sour patch kids, and I'm talking about top quality theatres on opening day. Its not the movie industry's fault, its the theatre's fault.

[Suntan]

@adam

As for ticket prices, the only control the movie industry has over that is the price of reel rentals and other licensing fees. Granted that is substantial, but not enough to blame ticket prices on "the industry."

Do you actually believe that the industry would allow some theater to only charge $5 for Hary Potter 3 on opening night? What are the chances of that theater getting a copy of HP 4 for opening night when it comes out?

-Suntan

[adam]

Did you read the rest of my post, or just the part you quoted? As I already said, the theatres have to cover the cost of their movie rentals and licensing fees. If they want to show a movie on opening night its going to cost more and their ticket prices will reflect that. If they want to wait a month the reel rental will be cheap and so will the ticket prices. The point is that the consumer has a choice. You don't have to see the movie the first week it comes out just as you don't have to see it at all, so this is no excuse for pirating.

[Suntan]

I did read the whole post and I do agree that pirating is bad, but to say that the movie industry just hands over the reel as soon as the theater cuts the check and then goes along its merry way is a simplistic view at best.

-Suntan

[adam]

I don't think you are grasping what I am saying. Have you been to a dollar theater? They charge only a $1 for admission because the movies are no longer in high demand. The theatre can rent the reels for less, and the distributor will be willing to accept lower licensing fees for each ticket sale. Lower operating costs for the theatre means lower ticket prices. Its like any other business.

The movie studio doesn't get a cut of the theatre's revenues from each ticket sale. Obviously, if the theatre decides to cut costs by using cheaper popcorn, 1/2 of that shouldn't go to the film industry. Its a contract. The theatre pays a fee for each ticket that is sold. The film distributor(s) is going to be paid the same amount regardless even if the theatre gives the tickets away, and the theatrical marketability of the film will decrease over time, thus the consumer can choose to see the movie for less later.

My point is that a large portion of ticket prices is made of the markup by the theatre. That happens in every market. You can't blame the motion picture industry for the cinema's markup.

[stiltman]

I used to work at a movie theater many moons ago...
Back then, they didn't make 1 penny from ticket sales. They only made money from the food area...

[Suntan]

OK, I will give you the agrument about the sky high prices on popcorn. And yes, the studio gets X upfront plus something from every ticket sold. Also, I am aware of cheap theaters that show movies after their initial phase is over.

All I am saying is that if every first tier/opening night theater in a region decided to drop the prices for their tickets by $3 all of a sudden, you can bet that the studios would be putting heavy pressure on them to "get back in line".

And, at least in my area, the dollar theaters are not worth it. Either I can wait another week or two to rent the DVD (in which case I can sit in my comfy chair instead of that rusty-around-the-edges, spring up the middle excuse for a seat while listening to my surround system vs the beat to death cerwin vegas at the crap theater) or I have already paid the big bucks because I really wanted to see it right when it came out (admittedly a rarer and rarer occurance).

-Suntan

[adam]

All I am saying is that if every first tier/opening night theater in a region decided to drop the prices for their tickets by $3 all of a sudden, you can bet that the studios would be putting heavy pressure on them to "get back in line".

Once again, distributors don't get paid a portion of the revenue from each sale. They get paid a fee for each ticket sale, which is set in advance. So say the theatre enters into a month long contract. They pay X amount of dollars just to show the film. They agree to pay $5 of every ticket sale to the distributor. Whether they charge $99 or $1 per sale the distributor gets paid the same regardless.

If a theatre decided to drop prices to $3 on opening day movies, the distributors would love it. Ticket sales would surely skyrocket. Theatres don't do this because they'd be operating at a loss and all the extra money would just go to the distributor.

[ViRaL1]

I've never bought one of these myself but I've had friends who have. The funny thing about it, is that the best screeners come from movie theater employees who have access and ability to run the movie when there's no one else in the auditorium, not Joe Blow off the street with his Shaky-CamDV.

[vitualis]

You get to watch films in cinema for $1 in the US? You bastards...

There was an article in the newspaper recently in AU... Compared to US retail prices, we pay on average about 33% more on most consumer items...

Regards.

[flaninacupboard]

but in return you have a nice country with low crime and a sensible government.

[Snakebyte1]

Its too bad all this effort wasn't put into stopping say, murders and violent crimes, but that doesn't make anyone any money, so its a low priority...

So just hope you don't get shot or beaten on the way to buying another replacement DVD for the one that got stolen during your last home invasion.

[Nilfennasion]

33% is a conservative estimate of how much more expensive it is to buy things in Australia compared to America. When it comes to things like compact discs, or DVD-Videos that have all the same features in cases like O Brother Where Art Thou?, it is more like 100%. Before parallel importing was introduced, it was even worse.

[Headbanger's Ball]

but in return you have a nice country with low crime and a sensible government.

Salt & Sarcasm. Rub it in.

[d_unbeliever]

In asia movies captured in cinema is a million dollar business...the quality is so poor and i hope they catch those bastard pirates u can hear the other movie goers laughters...

if they pirate a movie they should at least come up with better quality pirated movies

[proxyx99]

Sorry to interrupt but I'd like to say something on the subject matter if possible. I liked the part about staff wearing night vision goggles... are we that paranoid?
As much as I understand and support anti-bootleg steps (to a degree of course...) what seems to be apparent is that Studios are trying to create some kind of national paranoia about piracy. This is one more step in an attempt to encircle and isolate those bastard pirates that are still living among us. In the name of public interest (as they see it) we can expect snitch lines soon to be established, midnight searches and maybe torture to extract needed information. Political correctness combined with guerilla tactics may soon change US into exactly the opposite to what, not long ago, this country was proud to stand for i.e. freedom. I have a feeling that soon Russia will start criticizing US for human right violations.
Movie industry tries to portrait piracy as a thievery of a national treasure at the very least. What if camcorders will soon be built into the frames of regular prescription glasses? Will I have to wear contacts in a movie theater? Their problem is the technology that gets better and better and becomes cheap and omnipresent (except for Australia it appears... sorry mates). They should arrest the technology then (btw. that is what they try with the Induce Act) and leave us alone. How about sentencing it for 100 years of hard labor and exile for example in China. That will guarantee pretty much that all the spoils of it will not apply to US. Becoming a Third World nation will solve all the problems associated with highly developed society. Let others deal with that crap.

[gitreel]

What about the employees sitting in the transmission room ripping the movie from the reel?

Infrared night vision goggles do not help with that.

There are better quality versions out on the net than the cams, yet they only focus on the cams....

Can you say stupid?