Mysterious *dots* on film explained!

[furtech]

A while back, someone on my friends list was curious about what he thought were registration dots that were accidentally left in one frame (Willy Wonka, appearing around either the grandfather or Willy's head). Someone just explained to me that these are "anti-piracy" codes on all feature prints to identify -every- print with a unique serial number. Known as "CAP-codes" (CRAP-codes to angry film buffs), these are supposedly "invisible" to the normal eye and appear every fifteen minutes or so.
Here are some articles on the annoying things.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coded_Anti-Piracy

and also:

http://www.operationsombrero.com/Articles/Fatboy/pirates031118.htm

and here's a sample of the "invisible" dots...



Piracy is bad...but to further annoy the few remaining film-goers with this annoying code is ridiculous!

Comments

[okojosan.livejournal.com]

They're definitely not invisible. I see them all the time these days.

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

I appreciate the heads-up on this, guy... thanks

[millencolinf0x.livejournal.com]

wow, what a stupid idea somebody came up with. How annoying.

[frysco.livejournal.com]

I think that it was aeto who originally posted about this.

I certainly don't remember seeing any thing like this on film when I was doing projection back in my University days (1994-6). However, your film frame example did remind me of a few things that I knew about - particularly where the different audio tracks are on the film.

I did a quick edit of that frame to show:



It nicely shows the 3 major digital sound formats used today (SDDS, Dolby Digital and DTS), as well as the two analog sound tracks. It's quite remarkable how the 'dead space' between sprocket holes and along the side of the film has been grabbed for packing in that audio information.

If you look close, you can see the Dolby logo in the bitmap between the sprocket holes. This isn't Dolby just being egotistical. It's actually used as a 'sync' method to ensure that the bitmap being read is appropriately 'centered'.

Oh, and it's also pretty clear from the shape of the images in the frame that this film should be shown using an anamorphic lens - ie, cinemascope :>

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Wow--more cool info! Thanks for pointing out the Dolby logo-- that's kind of neat! I'm not sure if going to digitally delivered films will be an improvement or just another way to discourage people from going to the theater!

[nicodemusrat.livejournal.com]

I agree, those dots are not invisible. I've noticed it a number of times in recent movies. If your eyes happen to be in the right place, you can see the matrix of marks; otherwise, it's a momentary orange blur. What's the point of going for modern film clarity and digital whosawhatsits if the studios are going to deliberately deface their film?

And, the real question, are these codes actually good for anything? Are they reproduced on vidcam captures and useful in prosecution? Not only are they annoying but they might be useless to boot.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Apparently they can be seen in the bootleg prints and uploaded camcorder recordings. I'm not sure what good that does them: it only lets them know what theater that bootleg was shot at.

[nicodemusrat.livejournal.com]

Well, that may make it easier to determine either where security is lax (for camcorders) or if there's an inside accomplice. But I've yet to hear of any case brought against a theater or any success tracking down the bootleggers. So, I guess I doubt that there's much payoff.

[foofers.livejournal.com]

Joy. Have you noticed the swarm of small yellow "20"s on the back of new $20 bills? Same idea. Try scanning one and watch what happens.