Workprint

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Frame captured from a digital editing workprint. The timecode on the left begins with a userbit designating the lab roll and the code on the right is a Keykode. Workprintstill.jpg
Frame captured from a digital editing workprint. The timecode on the left begins with a userbit designating the lab roll and the code on the right is a Keykode.

A workprint is a rough version of a motion picture or television program, used by the film editor(s) during the editing process. Such copies generally contain original recorded sound that will later be re-dubbed, stock footage as placeholders for missing shots or special effects, and animation tests for in-production animated shots or sequences. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Contents

For most of the first century of filmmaking, workprints were done using second-generation prints from the original camera negatives. After the editor and director approved of the final edit of the workprint, the same edits were made to the negative. With the conversion to digital editing, workprints are now generally created on a non-linear editing system using telecined footage from the original film or video sources (in contrast to a pirate "telecine", which is made with a much higher-generation film print). Occasionally, early digital workprints of films have been bootlegged and made available on the Internet. [4] [5] [6] They sometimes appear months in advance of an official release. [7]

There are also director's cut versions of films that are only available on bootleg, such as the workprint version of Richard Williams' The Thief and the Cobbler . [8] Although movie studios generally do not make full-length workprints readily available to the public, there are exceptions. Examples include the "Work-In-Progress" version of Beauty and the Beast (albeit it is unfinished footage intertwined with the DVD release on top with the finalized sound mix), and the Denver/Dallas pre-release version of Blade Runner . Deleted scenes or bonus footage included on DVD releases are sometimes left in workprint format as well, e.g. the Scrubs DVD extras. [9] A workprint as source for a leaked television show is rather unusual, but it happened with the third season's first episode of Homeland a month before it aired. [10] [11]

Notable examples on the internet

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warez</span> Movies, software or music distributed in violation of copyright

Warez is a common computing and broader cultural term referring to pirated software that is distributed via the Internet. Warez is used most commonly as a noun, a plural form of ware, and is intended to be pronounced like the word wares. The circumvention of copy protection (cracking) is an essential step in generating warez, and based on this common mechanism, the software-focused definition has been extended to include other copyright-protected materials, including movies and games. The global array of warez groups has been referred to as "The Scene", deriving from its earlier description as "the warez scene". Distribution and trade of copyrighted works without payment of fees or royalties generally violates national and international copyright laws and agreements. The term warez covers supported as well as unsupported (abandonware) items, and legal prohibitions governing creation and distribution of warez cover both profit-driven and "enthusiast" generators and distributors of such items.

A screener (SCR) is an advance or promotional copy of a film or television series sent to critics, awards voters, video stores, and other film industry professionals, including producers and distributors. It is similar to giving out a free advance copy of books before it is printed for mass distribution. Director John Boorman is credited with creating the first Oscar screeners to promote his film The Emerald Forest in 1985.

Topsite is a term used by the warez scene to refer to underground, highly secretive, high-speed FTP servers used by release groups and couriers for distribution, storage and archiving of warez releases. Topsites have very high-bandwidth Internet connections, commonly supporting transfer speeds of hundreds to thousands of megabits per second; enough to transfer a full Blu-ray in seconds. Topsites also have very high storage capacity; a total of many terabytes is typical. Early on these warez sites were mainly distributing software such as games and applications after the release groups removed any protections. Now they are also a source of other copyright protected works such as movies and music. It is strictly prohibited for sites to charge for access to the content, due to decreased security, and sites found doing so are shunned by the topsite community.

A warez group is a tightly organised group of people involved in creating and/or distributing warez such as movies, music or software ("warez") in The Scene. There are different types of these groups in the Scene: release groups and courier groups. Groups often compete, as being the first to bring out a new quality release can bring status and respect – a type of "vanity contest". The warez groups care about the image others have of them.

Standards in the warez scene are defined by groups of people who have been involved in its activities for several years and have established connections to large groups. These people form a committee, which creates drafts for approval of the large groups. Outside the warez scene, often referred to as p2p, there are no global rules similar to the scene, although some groups and individuals could have their own internal guidelines they follow.

A fan edit is a version of a film modified by a viewer, that removes, reorders, or adds material in order to create a new interpretation of the source material. This includes the removal of scenes or dialogue, replacement of audio and/or visual elements, and adding material from sources such as deleted scenes or even other films.

Pirated movie release types are the different types of pirated movies and television series that are shared on the Internet. The quality and popularity of pirated movie release types vary widely, due to the different sources and methods used for acquiring the video content, the development and adoption of encoding formats, and differing preferences on the part of suppliers and end users as to quality and size-efficiency.

Myth was a warez group, focused on cracking and ripping PC games. Besides ripped games, the group also released trainers and cracked updates for games. Myth's slogan, "Myth, always ahead of the Class", was referring to the rival group Class that existed from 1997 to 2004.

According to Circular 38a of the U.S. Copyright Office, Iran has no official copyright relations whatsoever with the United States.

In the warez scene, to nuke is to label content as "bad", for reasons which might include unusable software, bad audiovisual quality, virus-infected content, deceptively labeled (fake) content or not following the rules. Duplicates and stolen releases from other pirates that do not attribute the original pirates will also be nuked. When a scene release is "nuked", a message is attached to its listing informing other sceners of its "nuked" status, as well as the specific nature of the problem.

The term telecine refers both to a film-to-tape transferring machine, as well as the process by which film is transferred to tape. The telecine process is frequently used by filmmakers to transfer production footage to video, which can then be captured by various non-linear digital editing systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TorrentFreak</span> Blog on file sharing, copyright infringement, and digital rights

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aXXo Alias of an unidentified internet pirate

aXXo is the Internet alias of an individual who released and standardized commercial film DVDs as free downloads on the Internet between 2005 and 2009. The files, which were usually new films, were popular among the file sharing community using peer-to-peer file sharing protocols such as BitTorrent. A download-tracking firm BigChampagne found — in a sampling period in late 2008 — that almost 33.5% of all movie downloads were aXXo torrents. aXXo encoded files to approximately 700 MB – the same size for a compact disc. Due to the re-encoded quality of an aXXo file, the suffix "aXXo" was often used by imitators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DrinkOrDie</span> Software piracy organization

DrinkOrDie (DoD) was one of the most prestigious underground software piracy group and warez trading network during the 1990s. On 11 December 2001 a major law enforcement raid - known as Operation Buccaneer - forced it to close under criminal charges of infringement. DoD, as a rule, received no financial profit for their activities. The DoD network - which primarily consisted of university undergraduates - was also supported by software company employees, who leaked copies of software and other digital media. DoD was also actively involved in illicit file-trading with other networks.

<i>TPB AFK</i> 2013 Sweden, Denmark, Norway film

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Video game piracy is the unauthorized copying and distributing of video game software, and is a form of copyright infringement. It is often cited as a major problem that video game publishers face when distributing their products, due to the ease of being able to distribute games for free, via torrenting or websites offering direct download links. Right holders generally attempt to counter piracy of their products by enforcing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, though this has never been totally successful. Digital distribution of pirated games has historically occurred on bulletin board systems (BBS), and more recently via decentralized peer-to-peer torrenting. In terms of physical distribution, China, Indonesia and Vietnam are known for major manufacturing and distribution centers for pirated game copies, while Hong Kong and Singapore are major importers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nyaa Torrents</span> File sharing website focused on East Asian media

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">YIFY</span> Peer-to-peer movies release group

YIFY Torrents or YTS was a peer-to-peer release group known for distributing large numbers of movies as free downloads through BitTorrent. YIFY releases were characterised through their small file size, which attracted many downloaders.

FitGirl Repacks is a website distributing pirated video games. FitGirl Repacks is known for "repacking" games – compressing them significantly so they can be downloaded and shared more efficiently. TorrentFreak listed FitGirl Repacks at sixth in 2021 and at ninth in 2020's Top 10 Most Popular Torrent Sites lists.

References

  1. Christopher George. "What are the different types of Piracy?". Archived from the original on 2012-03-01.
  2. "VCDQuality: Terms". Archived from the original on May 29, 2010. Lists recent video releases in the warez scene.
  3. 1 2 Craig, Paul; Ron, Mark (April 2005). "Chapter 8: The Piracy Scene". In Burnett, Mark (ed.). Software Piracy Exposed – Secrets from the Dark Side Revealed. Publisher: Andrew Williams, Page Layout and Art: Patricia Lupien, Acquisitions Editor: Jaime Quigley, Copy Editor: Judy Eby, Technical Editor: Mark Burnett, Indexer: Nara Wood, Cover Designer: Michael Kavish. United States of America: Syngress Publishing. pp.  164–165. doi:10.1016/B978-193226698-6/50033-7. ISBN   1-932266-98-4. Workprints are unfinished, pre-production materials that often lack scenes and additional sounds. They are of higher quality than CAM movies, and usually contain a ticker somewhere in the picture. (PIRACY FACT... A ticker is a small clock that shows the current frame that is running. It is usually used for reference purposes by directors and animators.) Workprints are usually leaked from production houses. Most recently, a StarWars Episode 3 workprint was released hours before the first official screening. The workprint was of relatively high quality because it originated from a DVD; however, it had two tickers at the top of every frame. (See Figure 8.1.) Workprints are rare, and only a highly anticipated film's workprints are released by pirates. The majority of watchers are only interested in watching the final product.
  4. 1 2 Duke, Alan (2009-04-03). "'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' leaked to Web". CNN . Retrieved 2010-02-21. It was without many effects, had missing and unedited scenes and temporary sound and music," the studio said. [...] He said the movie is a rough cut, using placeholder images in many sections and special effects that look like "video games 12 years ago.
  5. "New Wolverine film leaked online". BBC News Online . 2009-04-01. Retrieved 2009-04-01.
  6. "VCD Guidelines". Workprint: This category represents movies that were taken usually from VHS tape. If the source is as good as first generation VHS demo tape with GOOD encoding, it should be labeled Screener. All other home-made VCDs must be labeled Workprint. If you know your copy is not complete, use this label. (missing scenes, missing audio tracks, additional scenes, alternate ending etc.) VCD standards set by the warez scene.
  7. Andy (2014-01-03). "Good 'Pirate' Reviews More Important Than Piracy Itself, Game Devs Say". TorrentFreak .
  8. Williams, Alex (March 1997). "The Thief And The Cobbler". Animation World Magazine. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
  9. Practice, Practice, Malpractice – Scrubs outtakes (DVD). Buena Vista Home Entertainment. 2005-11-15. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12.
  10. Ernesto (2013-09-02). "Homeland Season 3 Workprint Leaks a Month in Advance". TorrentFreak .
  11. "Homeland series 3 opener leaked online". BBC. 2013-09-03.
  12. 1 2 Respers, Lisa (2009-05-02). "In digital age, can movie piracy be stopped?". CNN . Retrieved 2010-02-21. In 2003, a version of Universal's "The Hulk" appeared on the Internet two weeks before the film opened. A New Jersey man pleaded guilty to the theft. And in 2005, a pirated print of "Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith" was uploaded to the Web within hours of the movie's release.
  13. "The.Hulk.WORKPRINT-SMF". Vcdquality.com. 2003-06-06. Retrieved 2010-02-21. Had to crop and throw some black bars over the indicative parts. All I can say is you wouldn't like SMF when they're angry! Enjoy a 2-week pre. and die slow all you puny banners! HULK SMASH!!!
  14. Jeff Howe (2005-01-01). "The Shadow Internet". Wired .
  15. Andy (2014-01-06). "The Simpsons Cleverly Cover The Pirate Bay & Anti-Piracy Enforcement". TorrentFreak .
  16. Ernesto (2010-08-17). "Fox Drives a Stake Through 'Vampires Suck' Workprint". TorrentFreak . Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  17. Ernesto (2013-09-02). "Homeland Season 3 Workprint Leaks a Month in Advance". TorrentFreak .

Further reading