This is back when it was common (like 90s to 2000s) before smartphones were commonplace, they would sit in the back row equipped with a camcorder plus tripod or they are the ones recording the movie live inside theater. It’s known as CAM (the resolution is shit along with crap sound quality), you would also spot silhouettes of movie goers obstructing the screen at times (heading to the bathroom or walking back and fourth).
You can also hear people talking throughout since the pirated footage is recorded inside theaters, if you watched CAM footage: have you spotted your own silhouette not realizing you’re inside whilst a pirate was recording? At the time, that footage would’ve been burned onto DVD being sold at the street before official home media release. Have you also purchased a pirated copy from someone in which isn’t the official release at the time?
I vaguely recall seeing this happen once. They were at the back row recording. I don’t remember what movie it was though.
I haven’t seen this in person but this is definitely still common. I’ve seen recently released movies that are still theater-exclusive this way (although on pirating sites not DVDs), it’s funny when I see some random dude walk in front of the movie recording and get reminded that it’s a physical recording of a screen lol
I’d always assumed most cams are pirated by the projectionist, or other employee.
The watchable ones are recorded from the projection booth and have an audio cable connected to the camera.
I’ve never understood how someone could have the patience to watch a movie that way, but not have the patience to wait a few months for it to come out on VHS / DVD. It’s an absolutely miserable way to see a movie.
sometimes it was the only way to get hold of a movie, specially in a 3rd world country
This was a rite of passage tho. Everyone knew “that guy” who mysteriously had every movie known to man, for some reason each on a couple of burned CDs - or occasionally one of those tiny tapes that someone would then have to find a camera to play. Watching the bootleg made the whole thing seem more illicit, which is important when you’re of a certain age.
I can’t get past the awful sound on those button cam movies. Not worth for me I’ll just wait.
I never watched a movie recorded in the theater, and yes I was the right age for it. We had a cheap theater that did second runs on popular movies and saw everything I wanted in the main theater or that if there were too many good movies in a ahort period of time.
When I found out about the bootleg movies I thought they were idea ridiculous because the few examples I saw on the news looked like trash and a friend who knew how to get them confirmed they were trash.
We did brunch a lot of music and one guy I know pirated Playstation games, but those were good copies.
It was more like a sneaky thing to do, and the fact that you had the movie at all was the draw. There was enough making out and drinking/smoking weed that what was playing on the screen wasn’t too important.
Honestly cam recorded movies are more about making advertising money these days.
I saw one movie a year ago and it was just spamming ads every 2-5 minutes as if the low quality recording and audio wasn’t a turn off on its own.
I just saw the movie to see what it was like too, I didn’t even really care to continue.
Seen them in person? Nope.
My mother worked at a theater when ei was a child, and she would come home every so often complaining about someone causing a scene when they get caught.
No shade to anyone who does it or did it, but when you get caught and told to leave, just do it and come back later, and be more discreet.
The theater actually put signs up all over telling people all kinds of crimes (some of which sounded made up) they’re theoretically committing and how much prison time and fines they could face. It never stopped the lol
The only theater pirate I ever knew worked as a projectionist and took full advantage of that.
Yep, and I watched it on VCAARRRRR
