Guerrilla Drive-Ins

An anonymous reader submits "A NY Times story yesterday talked about a new fad sweeping the underground: guerrilla drive-ins. Essentially, someone sets up a DVD player, LCD projector, and wireless transmitter next to any blank wall (preferably on someone else's property - to make it more fun), and people come to watch movies. As you would expect, the movie studios aren't too thrilled." The idea that this is a notable fad reminds of when the residents of Doonesbury's Walden jokingly informed intrepid reporter Roland Burton Hedley, Jr. ("Rollie") about imaginary trends in the college drug scene. On the other hand, anything that knocks down the price of projectors is fine with me!

Comments

Guerilla Drive-In How-To

[Rico Thunder]

In answer to almost all the "Is it possible to..." and "How hard is to..." questions. The answers is: yes and not hard at all.

Check out the Santa Cruz Guerilla Drive-In DIY page: www.thespoon.com/drivein/start-your-own.html

In the NYT photo you can see how hi-tech our arrangement is: a VCR, a DVD Player, an Amplifier, and a video switch racked in a milk crate. All of it donated or scrounged. Except for the LCD projector of course, which costs around a thousand bucks for a high luminosity. low wattage one now.

As for being hipsters and slackers the trendsetting youth of the future: don't know nutin about that. We're just poor schmucks who wanted to watch movies with our friends without spending ten bucks a pop.

Other links:

NY Times article minus ads and login: http://www.thespoon.com/drivein/press/nytimes-0407 30/

Local press: http://www.thespoon.com/drivein/press/sentinel-040 720/

Rico Thunder
Guerilla Drive-In Collective
Santa Cruz

Re:Isn't this illegal?

[JohnQPublic]

All fine and good, but what exactly constitutes unauthorized exhibition of a motion picture or video tape?

According to 17 USC 101 and 106:

To perform or display a work ''publicly'' means -

(1)

to perform or display it at a place open to the public or at any place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances is gathered; or

...

Subject to sections 107 through 121, the owner of copyright under this title has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following:

...

(4)

in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works, to perform the copyrighted work publicly;

So, yes, churches, summer camps etc. movies are illegal. When I was in high school, we showed films (16mm, multi-reel) every few weeks after school. The rental included a performance fee that legalized our doing so. Blockbuster doesn't pay that fee for you, and neither does NetFlix.

"Just because we can do a thing does not mean that we must do it." The technology does not imply the right.