Cam (bootleg)

A cam (camrip or camming, deriving from camcorder) is a bootleg recording of a film. Unlike the more common DVD rip or screener recording methods which involve the duplication of officially distributed media, cam versions are original clandestine recordings made in movie theaters.

The most common type of cam is produced by a theater patron who smuggles a compact digital camcorder into the theater by hiding it in their clothing or in a container such as a handbag or backpack. The filmer then records the movie using the camcorder as unobtrusively as possible. They may try to pick a seat as far back in the theater as possible to avoid the attention of other patrons (and to ensure proper framing of the screen) and/or choose sparsely attended showtimes. The filmer may also rely on cinema employees who will overlook infringement activity because of an existing friend or family relationship, collusion, bribery, or apathy to the law.

In an attempt to impede this practice (as well as curb the smuggling in of non-theater food), some establishments now ban customers from carrying bags or other containers into theaters. As an additional form of deterrent, theaters may equip ushers with night vision goggles to discreetly catch a bootlegger in the act of recording.

Cams produced in this way use the camera's microphone to record audio, which tends to produce a recording that sounds "muddy". In addition, the microphone may pick up ambient noises in the theater, such as the audience's response to the film (e.g. laughter, screaming) or disruptive noises (crying baby, mobile phone ring, people coughing, etc.). In older or poorly maintained theaters, other sounds such as air conditioning or sound from adjacent theater screens may also be audible. In other cases a tripod is used in the handicapped sections of a cinema while plugging the jack in a hard of hearing device. These recordings with better sound are called telesync.

A camera situated in the audience area may record silhouettes of other audience members, especially those leaving the theater for the restroom or concession stand. In parts of the world where the video standard is PAL, such as most European countries and Australia, the standard frame rate is 50i or 25p, which may result in video problems due to frame rate conversion between the 24fps film projection and the PAL camera.

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