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Author Topic: Security gone mad? Thomas Pitt Master Film Handler Posts: 266 From: Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK Registered: May 2007 posted 06-05-2010 02:21 AM                     On Tuesday, some theaters in the UK had a special advance preview screening of the new Shrek 4 movie in 3D (it's not officially released until July 2nd). When I went to see it, I was surprised by the huge security presence there! I got my bag checked twice - once by the ticket collector, and again by some muscular security guards outside the auditorium. There was even a security guard who stayed in the auditorium throughout the movie, occasionally looking for cameras using night vision goggles. I'm surprised I wasn't frisked, with all the security going on! I also had to switch off my cellphone (an iPhone) and show the security guard that it was switched off before I could enter. I guess they didn't think about the fact that camcorder copies of the movie would be all blurry (unless they put a 3D polariser in front of the lens). Any of you experienced security 'gone mad' at your theater?  |  IP: Logged Christopher Crouch Expert Film Handler Posts: 128 From: Holywood, ca, usa Registered: May 2006 posted 06-05-2010 06:16 AM                  That sounds like many of the advanced screenings I've been involved with. Some studios will even send someone out to sit in booth while the print is onsite. I've seen some screenings (usually Disney) where the security team utilizes metal detecting wands on patrons.  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 06-05-2010 08:47 AM                    Pretty soon everyone will have to watch the movie naked.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 06-05-2010 08:54 AM                        Rated PG13??? Louis  |  IP: Logged Demetris Thoupis Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1240 From: Aradippou, Larnaca, Cyprus Registered: Apr 2001 posted 06-05-2010 11:37 AM                     Very advanced screenings do have this type of security measures. At least in Cine Expo that is a standard procedure. Demetris  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 06-05-2010 01:24 PM                    Watching naked?  |  IP: Logged Bruce Hansen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 847 From: Stone Mountain, GA, USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 06-05-2010 07:20 PM                     quote: Mark J. Marshall Pretty soon everyone will have to watch the movie naked. But then, no one will be watching the movie.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 06-05-2010 08:09 PM                        Fox wanted to have their security people "wand" patrons on one of their sneaks that we were running. We accepted all the other stuff -- the security guard carrying the print up to the booth (he refused to my offer to put it on the winch so it could be motor-hoisted up the six flights -- that's right, no elevator -- I thought, "OK, it's your back; have at it if you must), then having him sit there in the booth & watching me run the show, looking at whatever it is he was supposed to be look for. Also we let the guys with night goggles in the theatre, but when it came to the wand business, I just said, no way. I refused to let them wand my patrons -- it was out of the question. They run sneaks with us because of the college population; it's a marketing tool for them. So, either you want to market it bad enough to forego the wand crap or they find some other venue to run their movie. Sorry, we don't treat our patrons like criminals. I told them I understood their concern, so if they really wanted to search for hidden video cameras or whatever the eff they think is going to be used to "steal" their movie, then I was perfectly OK with them bringing in those walk-through detectors that they use at the airports, but nothing as intimate an invasion of personal space as wanding is. They capitulated; no wanding. quote: Thomas Pitt I also had to switch off my cellphone (an iPhone) and show the security guard that it was switched off before I could enter. So I guess once he sees you turn it off, there would be no way you would be able to turn it back on in the theatre, eh? Sheer silliness.  |  IP: Logged Jake Spell Master Film Handler Posts: 294 From: Johns Island SC Registered: May 2009 posted 06-05-2010 09:11 PM                     I was thinking the same thing Frank. I have seen 2 early screenings, one of Borat, and the other of Dear John The Borat screening had 2 security gaurds there to check the college kids watching(this was a deal with a local college) and they wanded everyone. The Dear John screening was a much bigger deal. There were 2 people from Sony Pictures, on tech and the organizer of screening. And a tech from Dolby was also there. As for the security there was someone on site from the point the cans arrived till they left the building. During the show there were 2 guards in the theater with nigh vision, one in the booth, and two roaming the theater. There was no wanding because it was a charity event with very high ticket prices ($100 to $200 if I remember correctly)  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Althaus Master Film Handler Posts: 435 From: Bedford, TX Registered: Dec 2008 posted 06-05-2010 09:48 PM                     We held a screening of Stop Loss for all armed forces personnel and a pair of Paramount (i think it was paramount) guards watched me build, run, and teardown. I wasn't allowed to even look at the screen and was questioned about my building methods.  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 06-05-2010 10:05 PM                    Sorry, but if I can't look at the screen I don't think I'm running it. Why do the most outrageous security protocols get put in place for the movies that practically no one gives a shit about?  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 06-05-2010 10:30 PM                        quote: Jake Spell There was no wanding because it was a charity event with very high ticket prices ($100 to $200 if I remember correctly) Ahh....and the assumption here is that rich people and the hoity-toity crowd don't steal things, eh? Eat me.  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 06-06-2010 05:36 AM                     quote: Jonathan Althaus I wasn't allowed to even look at the screen Sorry...but how fucking stupid. You're the projectionist for goodness sake. What...do you have an HDMI or USB outlet somewhere on you? I did an advance screening of AUSTRALIA a few weeks before it was released. Security was rampant...Cell phones had to be checked in and there were security guards with night goggles looking at our guests. Not once...not ONCE did they say a WORD about the camera mounted on the front of the booth for my monitoring purposes observing the entire movie. Movie security is an entire industry created by executives who want to be seen to be doing something, but in reality couldn't give a shit. They know it'll be on DVD in three months anyway and copied from a screener before it's even released to the theatres.  |  IP: Logged Dominic Espinosa Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1172 From: California, U.S.A. Registered: Jan 2004 posted 06-06-2010 10:51 AM                     I see the pattern too...Crappy movies, excessive security. Weird. Before a screening of LETTERS TO JULIET this spring I had to check my bag (because I have a laptop) and my cell phone with security personnel who had no sense of personal space. It was quite frustrating. The funny thing was the laptop is what they told me the bag had to be checked in for -- never mind the camera in the side pocket of the bag! I guess cellphone-to-laptop-to-3g piracy straight from the auditorium has become a problem, eh?  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 06-06-2010 11:29 AM                     quote: Jonathan Althaus We held a screening of Stop Loss for all armed forces personnel and a pair of Paramount (i think it was paramount) guards watched me build, run, and teardown. I wasn't allowed to even look at the screen and was questioned about my building methods. I don't mind if the guy comes upstairs and sits in a designated chair next to the rewind bench while the movie is being built up and sits in a designated chair by the projector, but the minute he starts telling me how to assemble the print or run the booth (or interferes with other screens because he is wandering around bored), he is escorted out of the building or I cut the film...his choice. Seriously, I have had these morons jump on me because I was using a frame counter on a dark reel change. Even if that frame counter DID have bootlegging capability, I only ran a few feet of the 12,000 foot movie through it! I have also had a guy freak out on me because I was rewinding a reel that came in backwards. These goons need to learn to use their tiny little brains and think about things before they speak and prove how little they know about the job they were hired to do. The latest thing with digital screenings is for the security guy to "watch us delete the content". There are SOOOOO many ways around this if someone wanted to. *Delete the playlist. *Delete a trailer for the movie. *Delete the feature content from the library (its still on the servers). *Delete the feature content from the server (its still on the library). *Delete the feature content from the server AND the library (its still on every other screen if I so wanted it to be). *Offload the content to a personal USB drive (which can be done through the network, via a laptop, remote FTP...lots of ways dipshit security goon would have no way of knowing. *Create a fake DCP with the proper title and delete over and over and over again. Seriously any of these would work. We had one friendly security guy once and I kept screwing with him when the movie was over showing him how that aspect of his job was stupid. He didn't realize I was deleting a playlist, then he didn't know the difference between trailer and feature content, then he really thought I had deleted it after I deleted the feature content, only to show him the content on another server. Point proven. Next time I get a "we have to watch you delete this" I think I might delete the content on the physical DCP hard drive too before we give it back to him. After all that guy could be mugged by evildoers on his way back to the airport!!! I'm sure there's more ways, but still its stupid. If the DCPs are encrypted and impossible to crack, there is no concern...and anyone who is smart enough to figure out HOW to crack it, will be WAY smarter than anyone the studio would send in to try and prevent it.  |  IP: Logged

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