Great! Here are a few handy tips to make sure you do a good job.
Since I live outside the US, it’s tough for me to see new release movies in a timely manner. At least, it used to be. With the advent of P2P file sharing and the magic of BitTorrent, new release films are usually available within a day or two of hitting the big screen.
Heck, some of them are available online before they’re even in theaters.
Of course, when you’re dealing with a product like camcordered movies, quality is always an issue. Some people do a good job of it, and other shouldn’t even fucking bother. Here are some guidelines for the prospective cammer to follow, in the hopes that most of these cam releases will be at least watchable.
1. Get a good seat.
I really can’t stress this enough. You know how movies have that nice “letterbox” format with a big, wide image? There’s a reason for that. It looks good! If you don’t get a seat that allows you to shoot the whole screen (or at least most of it) at a good angle, the whole letterbox rectangle is ruined. Key word there – rectangle. I don’t want to try and watch a movie that looks like a trapezoid or off-kilter parallelogram. Get a good seat and you’ll avoid this issue.
2. Turn off autofocus!
This should be a no-brainer, but it isn’t. I realize the default setting for most every camcorder is autofocus, and there’s a reason for that – stuff moves around. If you’re filming something in motion, you want it to stay in focus. A movie screen is not moving. Unless you move around, your camcorder will always be the same distance from the screen, so turn off autofocus. If it’s on, and the screen goes at all dark, the camera will lose focus and start tweaking the focus back and forth trying to recapture the image. If you manually set the focus and leave it alone, this won’t happen.
2b. Same goes for image stabilization.
3. Decent audio is a must.
I know you may be hungry while taping the movie, but for fuck’s sake, no popcorn or chips. You’re camming a movie, not making a “sounds of a cammer” tape. The best releases tend to have audio taken right from the sound system in the theater, so why not get chummy with the projectionist and see if he’ll hook you up?
4. Learn from the pros.
This is easier than you may think. All you’ve got to do is learn by example. Want a good example? Head over to Torrentspy and get the SAOSIN release of The Ring Two. Flawless cam-job. Looks great and sounds great. These cats know their shit.
5. When you upload – LABEL!
This is another one that should be a no brainer – but isn’t. Did you cam in a theater that’s got the movie dubbed in another language? Then you’d fucking better label it as such when you start your torrent. There’s nothing more annoying than having a download run all night only to find out the movie you’ve been waiting for is in Spanish. You made the cam and the torrent, so you know what you’re uploading. You need to share that info with the rest of us.See? That’s not too much for you to handle. A few simple rules to follow and everybody’s happy. We get good quality releases and you get a rep for yourself as a quality cammer. Now get out there and get camming!
Us expats need our movies. ^.^