THE SOLUTION: To Prevent Footage Leaks Comic-Con Needs to Stream Their Biggest Panels and Presentations



Everyone is freaking out about leaked footage during panels and presentations at San Diego Comic-Con 2015. Heck, even I posted embed footage and then redacted it for reasons of earning respect of studios. Although it's really the studios who should respect all their fans a little bit more.

Today, there's been several posts about 'the why' and 'the how' SDCC should help stop the leaks but the only answer is the one Disney and Lucasfilm installed this year at their Star Wars Celebration Anaheim event in April... stream it.

I understand this removes some of the exclusivity of those who wait in lines for hours for a panel but as TheWrap says in their recent post about this topic, "[SUICIDE SQUAD director David] Ayer wrote on Twitter that the leak was 'unfair to the fans who waited in line.' Well, what about the 7,001st person in line who spent their hard-earned money to come to San Diego and then didn’t get into Hall H? They sacrificed numerous other opportunities and panels, just for the chance to see 'Suicide Squad,' and then a member of the press can show up at the last minute and snag her seat?"

This is a valid point for those fans who are waiting in line for hours and hours and know they are not guaranteed entrance into a panel. Give these fans who sacrifice hours of their time, after spending big bucks to get to SDCC, something for their effort.

Streaming would certainly do this as would uploading footage immediately after.

Meanwhile, streaming does not take away the effect of being in that room with actors and the stars. I couldn't financially afford to go Star Wars Celebration Anaheim but I was able to watch many panels streaming on my laptop. And I couldn't have been happier about it. Especially when the second trailer for STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS was revealed in real-time.

Another example is how all the big keynote presentations at E3 are all streamed live with new footage and clips for upcoming video games. It's a great thing for the fans who actually can't attend E3 because it's for industry and press and not open to the public.

A great read on this topic is over at the website FilmSchoolRejects who pretty much say studios need a better plan. A plan like Lucasfilm had with their Comic-Con Star Wars panel where they showed behind the scenes footage but then released it online right after the presentation ended. [Click here to read the entirety of their post.]

FilmSchoolRejects is 100-percent right with their assessment on how studios should be better prepared to prevent footage leaks by simply have footage ready to upload online.

Finally, there's the point to be made that some studios show footage with unfinished CG effects and they don't want it to be seen by a large audience. Well, you brought that footage to SDCC and showed fans who still loved it even though you told them it was unfinished. Slap a disclaimer on the footage when you upload it to YouTube and fans won't care because they still get to see it in HD right after a panel ends. It's not like fans don't know that making a movie is a process, especially when it comes to the development of CG effects before its official theatrical release.

Bottom line is fans who cannot attend due to work reasons, or financial strains or because they just missed the cutoff to get into Hall H after spending half a day in line just want to see your footage. Stream the entire presentation live and then upload footage whether it's fully rendered with CG effect or not. Fans don't care... they just want to see how their anticipated movie is looking so far.

It's really a simple solution that Lucasfilm and E3 video game companies have mastered while Comic-Con has not adapted to how powerful digital media is. And if a studio isn't happy with releasing footage to the mainstream public, then don't show it at all because it will most likely get leaked in today's age of personal recording devices built into our mobile device.




Related Post: 

 Redaction: The Daily SuperHero Apologizes to Studios For Poor Judgement in Embedding Leaked Footage