Arrgh! Today be International Talk Like a Pirate Day so ’tis mighty fittin’ that news out o’ th’ Toronto International Film Festival announces a new tack on film distribution ‘n online piracy.
Canadian post-production companies Red Square Motion ‘n Unstable Ground ‘ave joined wit’ distributor Indiecan Entertainment t’ launch LightVAULT.
Th’ new crew offers an end t’ end solution fer th’ secure holding, quality control, conversion ‘n delivery o’ film assets t’ clients around th’ globe, promisin’ a one-stop solution fer digital storage, protection ‘n delivery o’ film ‘n media treasure.
“The core of the service is designed with protection of content from unauthorized sharing and piracy in mind, by using a blockchain-based forensic encoding technology.”
They harness technology from South Africa’s Custos who have “built a platform designed to incentivise people in criminal communities from all over the world to protect your content.”
“You never want your film to be on The Pirate Bay. You probably don’t want your film being shared on campus networks. You don’t want the guy from the local paper that you asked to review your movie sending it to his friends. We get people from all over the world to anonymously tell us when they find your film where it shouldn’t be. We have blockchain magic, and we will find them.”
How do they do that?
Pasha Patriki of Red Square Motion explains why he’s promoting this technology:
“My own feature film that I Executive Produced and directed (Black Water, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren), was leaked online several months before it’s official world release date. Since then, I have been researching technologies that could help track every delivery and download of the master files of the film.”
My take: ’tis a smart solution that helps filmmakers keep tabs on thar screeners. ‘Tis prolly worth th’ cost, as th’ price o’ piracy be growin’ in terms o’ lost revenue ‘n compliance. Arrgh!