8mm Forum: How prevalent was movie piracy during film era?

This is topic How prevalent was movie piracy during film era? in forum 8mm Forum at 8mm Forum.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://8mmforum.film-tech.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=011649

Posted by Robert Lee (Member # 5776) on August 07, 2017, 06:08 AM:

I just bought a super 8 film title "There's no business like show business." Turns out it's a bootleg copy, someone filmed it with a camera in a theatre. Picture is very washed out and I can see shadows of people's heads at the bottom of the screen.

The bootleg copy must still be expensive, considering its on film.

Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on August 07, 2017, 06:58 AM:

Does it come with sound or silent?

It suprises me someone was doing it a long time ago. I was wondering what ASA or film stock he used....considering the darkness and not to mention 50' cartrdiges only.

cheers,

Posted by Joe Taffis (Member # 4) on August 07, 2017, 07:59 AM:

Although I wasn't "pirating", I did shoot a roll or two of test film clips in a theater on a couple of occasions with good results both in picture and sound. I used Kodak Ektachrome 160 super 8 sound 50' cartridges at 24fps.
Winbert, there were also 200' cartridges available back then [Smile]

Some of the super 8 dealers also had "bootlegs". Any films that were in a "gray" area concerning copyrights were fair game [Wink]

Posted by Robert Lee (Member # 5776) on August 07, 2017, 11:01 AM:

It has sound and run at 18fps. Sound is decent. Film is Kodak I think.

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on August 08, 2017, 10:31 AM:

Robert - piracy of the specific sort you're referring to is immensely rare. I've never heard of such a print before and I've been collecting Super 8 since the early 1980s. Although we can just about imagine someone tolerating a film shot in a cinema, if it gives them an early home viewing chance to see a new film, paying the very high cost of such a film on Super 8 seems incredible. Actually shooting it on S8 (if that was the case) without being caught makes it even more astonishing, in view of the sound the camera would make.

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on August 08, 2017, 10:39 AM:

Surely there must be many sections of the actual film missing for each time a cartridge needed to be changed?

50ft or 200ft, that's a lot of film cartridges!

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on August 08, 2017, 12:25 PM:

You also occasionally find films copied from TV!

I'm sure I'm not the only person who saw a certain "digest" version of "The Wizard of Oz" that someone recorded off of a TV image! [Eek!]

Posted by Robert Lee (Member # 5776) on August 08, 2017, 12:48 PM:

Yes a lot of cuts in the movie. I'm returning it for a refund even if it's only $20 for 800ft of film.

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on August 08, 2017, 01:29 PM:

[Wink]

Posted by Brad Kimball (Member # 5) on August 11, 2017, 11:37 AM:

I have a 600' digest of "Curse of Frankenstein" that combined the 2 Americom cutdowns (color and striped) with footage that was shot off of tv. The Americom scenes are beet red and sub-titled. The home made footage has nicer color, but is very shaky and darker - sound is nice, though. It makes a nice 30-minute digest. I just wish the home made footage was done with a tripod. A lot of effort went into this being that the scene selection is in proper order. A one-of-a-kind treasure that is definitely a curiosity piece.

UBB.classic^TM 6.3.1.2