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A cam (camrip or camming, deriving from ''
camcorder A camcorder is a self-contained portable electronic device with video and recording as its primary function. It is typically equipped with an articulating screen mounted on the left side, a belt to facilitate holding on the right side, hot-swa ...
'') is a
bootleg recording A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. Making and distributing such recordings is known as ''bootlegging''. Recordings may be copied and trade ...
of a
film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
. Generally unlike the more common DVD rip or screener recording methods which involve the duplication of officially distributed
media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass ...
, cam versions are original clandestine recordings made in
movie theater A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall (Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...
s.


Audience camming

The most common type of cam is produced by a theater patron who smuggles a compact digital camcorder into the theater by hiding it in their clothing or in a container such as a
handbag A handbag, commonly known as a purse or pocketbook in North American English, is a handled medium-to-large bag used to carry personal items. Purse, handbag or pouch The term "purse" originally referred to a small bag for holding coins. In man ...
or
backpack A backpack—also called knapsack, schoolbag, rucksack, rucksac, pack, sackpack, booksack, bookbag or backsack—is, in its simplest frameless form, a fabric sack carried on one's back and secured with two straps that go over the shoulders ...
. The filmer then records the movie using the camcorder as unobtrusively as possible. They may try to pick a seat as far back in the
auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theatres, the number of auditoria (or auditoriums) is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoria can be found in entertainment venues, community ...
as possible to avoid the attention of other patrons (and to ensure proper framing of the screen) and/or choose sparsely attended showtimes. The filmer may also rely on cinema employees who will overlook infringement activity because of an existing friend or family relationship, collusion, bribery, or apathy to the law. In an attempt to impede this practice (as well as curb the smuggling in of non-theater food), some establishments now ban customers from carrying bags or other containers into theaters. As an additional form of deterrent, theaters may equip ushers with
night vision Night vision is the ability to see in low-light conditions, either naturally with scotopic vision or through a night-vision device. Night vision requires both sufficient spectral range and sufficient intensity range. Humans have poor night vi ...
goggles to discreetly catch a bootlegger in the act of recording. Cams produced in this way use the camera's microphone to record audio, which tends to produce a recording that sounds "muddy". In addition, the microphone may pick up ambient noises in the auditorium, such as the audience's response to the film (e.g. laughter, screaming) or disruptive noises (crying baby, mobile phone ring, people coughing, etc.). In the auditoria of older or poorly maintained theaters, other sounds such as air conditioning or sound from adjacent auditoria may also be audible. In other cases, a tripod is used in the handicapped sections of an auditorium while plugging the jack in a hard-of-hearing device. These recordings with better sound are called telesync. A camera situated in the audience area may record silhouettes of other audience members, especially those leaving the theater for the restroom or concession stand.


Projectionist camming

Sometimes cam versions are made by
projectionist A projectionist is a person who operates a movie projector, particularly as an employee of a movie theater. Projectionists are also known as "operators". Historical background N.B. The dates given in the subject headings are approximate. Early ...
s themselves, either for home use or to distribute (with or without profit). This provides several advantages: first, the projection booth window has a central, unobstructed view of the screen. Second, the projectionist can bypass the built-in microphone and link the camcorder directly to the monitor output of the audio rack, resulting in a clear, well-separated stereo recording. The projectionist can also alleviate the frame rate conversion problem described above by speeding the projector up from film's traditional 24 fps to 25 fps and then use a standard PAL video camera to record the film picture. These advantages come with a higher risk: a projectionist, if caught, will almost certainly be fired, and is more likely than the typical audience member to face legal prosecution.


Anti-piracy

Since 2001, many major motion pictures have been shipped to theaters with watermarks of unique patterns of tiny dots embedded throughout the film, known as Coded Anti-Piracy technology. If the cammer is unable to catch and blur all of these sequences, the
studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery ( ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial desig ...
can determine at which theater the cam was recorded.


Compared to other piracy methods

The overall quality of cam bootlegs is highly dependent upon the choice of theater (and sometimes the individual screening), the quality of camera used, the skill of the operator in framing the screen and minimizing camera movement, and the method of
encoding In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communicatio ...
used before distribution. Cams are generally considered to be the lowest
fidelity Fidelity is the quality of faithfulness or loyalty. Its original meaning regarded duty in a broader sense than the related concept of ''fealty''. Both derive from the Latin word ''fidēlis'', meaning "faithful or loyal". In the City of London fin ...
method for duplicating video and film content, somewhat behind Telesync and markedly worse than DVD rips or screeners. For newly released films, however, cams are often the first bootleg copies available. In the developing world, cam DVDs are often available from
street vendor A hawker is a vendor of merchandise that can be easily transported; the term is roughly synonymous with costermonger or peddler. In most places where the term is used, a hawker sells inexpensive goods, handicrafts, or food items. Whether stationa ...
s for prices equivalent to US$1–2 ( PPP); worldwide, they are swapped or sold on Internet pirate sites.


Origin

Around the start of the millennium, many first time camera recordings originated from
Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Malay ...
, recognizable by the burn-in Malay subtitles. VCDs often appeared 2 to 3 days before the theatrical release. In some cases, they were even available online 3 months before release.
Robert Krulwich Robert Louis Krulwich (born August 5, 1947) is an American radio and television journalist who currently serves as a science correspondent for NPR and was a co-host of the program '' Radiolab''. He has worked as a full-time employee of ABC, C ...
sees two possibilities as the main reason for such early availability of these illicit recordings. Someone in Hollywood shows movies a couple of days before they show them in America, or some people get prints sent to them from people in the Californian movie business.


See also

*
Analog hole The analog hole (also known as the analog loophole or analog gap) is a perceived fundamental and inevitable vulnerability in copy protection schemes for noninteractive works in digital formats which can be exploited to duplicate copy-protected wo ...
*
Coded Anti-Piracy Coded anti-piracy (CAP) is an anti-copyright infringement technology which marks each film print of a motion picture with a distinguishing pattern of dots, used as a forensic identifier to identify the source of illegal copies. They are not to ...
, an anti-copyright infringement technology for marking a movie with a pattern of dots to identify the source of illegal copies * List of warez groups * The Scene, an underground internet community that used to be very active in the creation and spreading of bootleg movie recordings * "
The Little Kicks "The Little Kicks" is the 138th episode of the American television sitcom ''Seinfeld''. This was the fourth episode for the eighth season, originally broadcast on the NBC network on October 10, 1996. In this episode, Jerry inadvertently becomes a ...
", a 1996 episode of the television series ''
Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. It aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, over nine seasons and 180 episodes. It stars Seinfeld as a fictionalized version of himself and f ...
'' in which cam bootlegging is a major storyline *
Warez Warez is a common computing and broader cultural term referring to pirated software (i.e. illegally copied, often after deactivation of anti-piracy measures) that is distributed via the Internet. Warez is used most commonly as a noun, a plu ...


References


External links


The Prince of Darknet
- feature story in ''Legal Affairs'' regarding movie copyright infringement, May/June 2005.
Information for cinema employees on how to fight CAM piracy

Title 18 U.S. Code Section 2319B - Unauthorized recording of Motion pictures in a Motion picture exhibition facility
(United States law). *

(State of Florida law).
Warner Bros. cancels Canadian preview screenings citing piracy concerns
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cam (Bootleg) Copyright law Warez Film and video technology