Screeners!!!???

Deron · 28-01-2002, 12:17

At the weekend I came across my first screener. To say I was blown away is an understatement.

It was an SCVD copy which I presume was ripped from a DVD.

The question I have though is why are screeners produced and for whom?

I really can't believe that people in a position of trust are letting these out for illegal copying.

Now I'd love to receive official screeners, but I don't think I'll ever be in that position. This isn't a "get your screeners here," or "I love screeners" thread it's just a request for some info.

Guest 1046 · 28-01-2002, 13:19

I've got a few, I got 'Jurassic Park : The Lost World' when I worked in Blockbuster (it was for a staff competition ages before the film came out on video, and I got to keep it). I can't remember where I got the other ones from, but the screener copy of 'The Rocketeer' I have, has fantastic packaging - A glossy carboard cover, which when you open up the top, contains a pop-up Rocketeer!

Guest 1471 · 28-01-2002, 13:34

They go to a mix of places from distributors/bookers, retailers, PR companies and ad agencies (so they can talk about films that haven't opened yet knowledgably) and, the guilty secret of the movie press, they go to journos too. Reasonably often film reviews are written from screeners and I'm afraid I've even known DVD reviews to be written from VHS screeners too!

If you want to get screeners then get into the media - either PR or as a journo. Or take a job at Blockbuster! Rare screeners, like the uncut Batman Beyond: The Joker's Return change hands at a premium (and that one got sent to quite a few video stores in the US) but usually "ordinary" people don't get real screeners - they get pirate VHS or VCD copied from VHS screeners. Usually these copies originate in the far east but the screeners used are often legit US sourced ones, and yes, they do come from "trusted" sources, like cinemas.

If you want to buy them there's a record shop in Soho that often has quite a few, due to the high number of authoring houses and magazines round there that flog em off after use and a video shop round there too that often has the type they send to video stores (press ones are often white card sleeved, video stores ones often have the artwork on the box, marked "sample.")

For those that don't know what a screener looks like, they used to have timecodes on them, nowadays most have marks (often an N or Z shape) on the side of the screen that move up and down at intervals in the film. Sometimes you find that screeners will have messages on screen at intervals during the film (the recent Mulholland Drive screener was like this) saying "Property of blah, not for resale blah". This is true. In theory the screeners you receive are not yours, but the movie companies seldom try to get them back sooo...

Deron · 28-01-2002, 15:36

hmmm,

The thing is the screener that I have seen is a dvd rip of Lord Of The Rings. About every half hour, a property of New Line blah, blah.... scrolls along the bottom.

The sound is identified as pcm too.

Now considering that it is not out until September, I would have thought that screeners of it would have been under lock and key.

Guest 491 · 28-01-2002, 17:33

you lucky son of a....

Then again, he might be lying. Yeah, I'm sure that's all it is. *sob*

Guest 890 · 28-01-2002, 20:21

Got my first real screener this weekend Vanilla Sky video from girl that works is promo dep.

more info on screeners can be found at www.isonews.com

burn · 29-01-2002, 02:10

Quote:

Originally posted by Shoom
Got my first real screener this weekend Vanilla Sky video from girl that works is promo dep.

more info on screeners can be found at www.isonews.com

What was it like? Good quality?