Who is supposed to get Academy DVD Screeners? (1 Viewer)

[Marc Carra]

A friend of mine came over last night with a very interesting DVD. It was an Academy Awards screener of "Monster's Inc." It was definitely NOT A BOOTLEG. The disc was a legitimate pixar product complete with an incredible Anamorphic transfer and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. About every 20 minutes or so, the message "For screening use only. Not for Sale, Rent, Duplication, or Public Presentation"

Now my question is, who are these DVD meant for, and aren't they tracked so that they must be returned afer screening? How do they find there way into the public?

Once again, I stress that this disc was NOT A BOOTLEG!

Marc.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

They are suppossed to be sent ONLY to members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, i.e., the Academy Awards people.

Many recipients then lend out or sell their copies. Look on Ebay and you'll see a lot of "Academy Screener" or "Academy Promo" DVDs and CDs.

They don't normally ask for the return of the items, but, in theory, they could.

 

[Stan]

Friend of a friend is a member of the academy and loans out her screeners. Used to be VHS, although they were always OAR thank goodness. Last year she got Crouching Tiger on DVD and this year requested everything on DVD if it was available.

So far have watched Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Oceans 11, Gosford Park and many others. Very bare bones DVDs, movie only, but always very high quality. Since I rarely go to theatres any more and always wait for the DVD, it's always a pleasure when she starts receiving such recent releases, usually starting in January.

The "not for rental, etc." warnings go from very subtle, translucent fonts that only show up every 30 minutes for about 10 seconds, to bright white annoying scrolling warnings every 10 minutes, just depends on the studio.

Chapter breaks also vary from every 10 minutes, every 30 minutes, to one film that had none, just one big 2 1/2 hour chapter.

If you pay your dues and stay a member of the academy, you're eligible to receive them.

 

[Mark E J]

What you have might not be a bootleg but it should be pointed out that those screener can aften become bootlegs. There is right know a version of the screener of Black Hawk Down floating around out there both as a burned VCD and shared file over FSPs'. If you have a friend who is in some way connected to the Academy good for you, but be careful to be taken by the Academy screener bootlegs.

 

[Dan Brecher]

They used the Fellowsip of the Ring screener to crated these bootleg VCD, online mpeg2 files and bootleg DVDs too, but I suggest all talk of bootlegs end there.
Obviously screeners are not just made to drum up interest for Oscar types, but voters of many other award cememonies too. They circulate in the industry, studios, critics, agents...etc.
They do the same for film scores. You'll always see "for your consideration" promo score release put out in the hope of an award nomination. I have a great number of promos, I collect them, and many score promos get released in their complete form (John Williams' A.I Promo is complete and spans 2 CDs).
Dan

 

[Marc Carra]

Thanks for the info, guys. When "Monsters Inc." finally hits the shelves for sale, it will probably be everyones new demo DVD. The image is almost three dimensional and the dolby digital sound is certainly reference material. There was no DTS track on the screener, but it certainly didn't need one judging from the DD track. Talk about low Bass!

Marc.

 

[Chad R]

Academy members aren't the only ones getting DVD screeners. Universal is getting pretty good about sending out their screeners to retailers on DVD. In the past few months I've gotten 'Fast and the Furious', 'K-Pax' and 'Spy Game' on DVD screener. They're bare bones, but at least are widescreen and Dolby 5.1 so I can't complain much.

 

[Dan Brecher]

It's also worth noting the screeners are not always good indication of what the final DVD will be like AV wise, as not as much time is spent on perfecting the transfer (they probably don't even edge enhance screeners come to think of it. Thats a bonus).

Monsters Inc is an interesting one, does the screener look like a direct digital transfer? On the Fellowship of the Ring screener, the transfer has some specs of dirt here and there... Final release should be free of all that.

Dan

 

[Marc Carra]

Yes, Dan, Monsters Inc is definitely a direct digital transfer. It even exceeds the Toy Story DVDs , in terms of depth and clarity of the image. The audio matches or exceeds prevoius pixar releases as well. I'm using a Panasonic RP91 Progressive SCan player on a Panasonic 47" HTDV. I checked the disc size on my PC and it reads 5.1 GB. It's a dual layered discs with a DD 5.1 audio track and no extras(a screener of course), so I'd say they pretty much maxed out the bit rate as well. If the transfer on the retail version is at least as good , everyone will be blown away.

Marc.

 

[Carlo_M]

I've seen the screener too, and it is incredible in terms of picture and sound quality. Hopefully Pixar will put all extras on a second disc and devote all the bits to picture and sound, because the screener quality was fantastic!

 

[Dan Brecher]

Good to know. Monsters only just opened recently in the UK, and I went and caught a DLP screening. The detail, especially in Sully's hair, was just incredible. Pixar's work just excells with every film they make.

Dan