 Illegal copies of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" have already begun appearing on the Internet, days before the film is scheduled to hit theaters.
Warner Bros., the studio that produced and distributes the movie, confirmed Wednesday that pirated copies of the movie have popped up on Internet sites that regularly offer illegal copies of first-run films. "The illegal copying and distribution of movies is theft," the studio said in a statement issued late Tuesday. "Warner Bros. takes the threat of Internet piracy very seriously and employs all legal means to contain the unauthorized copying and distribution of our films on the Internet." Pirated copies of films, often grainy, jumpy versions taped using a handheld camera at a pre-premiere screening, regularly show up on the Internet before a movie hits theaters. "As long as they are showing premiers and as long as post-production have access to the film, it's very hard to prevent this from happening," said Andrew Frank, vice president for an Internet software and services firm. That may be the case with "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," which was shown to the public in a special "sneak preview" screening last weekend in New York and in London earlier this month. The movie opens nationally on Friday. The early, inferior copies often are soon replaced by better versions that pirates make by bribing a theater projectionist and mounting a camera on a tripod in a projection booth. Other high-quality versions, called "screeners," are sneaked from post-production houses, where final production work is regularly done on prints of films destined for theaters. (Agencies) | 備受矚目的電影《哈里波特與密室》還沒來得及進入各大院線開始上映，影片的盜版卻已經通過因特網"登堂入室"了。 11月13日，影片的生產和發布商華納兄弟公司證實，在一些經常提供首映電影盜版的網站，最近赫然出現了《哈里波特與密室》的盜版電影。 華納公司于12號發布了一份聲明，其中提到："對于影片的非法復制和傳播是一種盜竊行為。華納兄弟公司一向把網絡盜版看成是對電影事業的嚴重威脅，勢必運用一切法律手段來打擊網絡盜版。"  盜版電影一般是在影片首映前的放映會上用手提攝像機偷拍的。畫面往往有明顯雪花，圖象也很閃爍。一般早于影片公映的時間而出現在網上。
一家網絡軟件服務公司的副總裁安德魯·弗蘭克對此有他的看法："只要他們（電影公司）進行試映，或者影片的后期制作能夠有機會接近影片，盜版就很難被制止。" 也許《哈里波特與密室》被盜版也正是由于這些原因。因為盡管影片定于11月15日公映，但上周末和本月初卻已經分別在紐約和倫敦舉行了小規模的試映會。也許投機分子正是從試映會上覓得下手機會的。 不法分子進行盜版的手段也各不相同。有的買通了電影放映員，在放映室里支起三腳架、裝上攝像機進行偷拍，這樣的盜版質量要比早期用便攜攝像機拍出的效果更好。 但質量最高的當屬從后期工作室中偷到的版本了。因為后期工作室是最后完成電影膠片并送往各影院的地方。在這里獲得的盜版自然比較接近電影的“最終效果”。 （中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2002-11-15 01:00
