Many people know, but many people also do not know - that it is OFTEN possible to hack into the wireless signal from a motion picture camera viewfinder and record what the director sees at video village (the preview monitor).
OFTEN this can be done by tuning a television set to channel 3 or 4 in the proximity of the motion picture being shot. This does not give the full data transmission at the resolution of film or HD but you do get NTSC video with artsy flicker and wireless noise winds. OTHER TIMES use a consumer video tuner at 800-900 MHz.
Hook up the TV outputs to a recording device or capture live to a hard drive. If there is a famous star on set - it is possible to record them and place the video right up on youtube or better yet - live feeds such as ustream.com
My experiences that led to this finding: I was trained as a camera assistant and as a video assist operator. My thesis for a bachelor’s degree in New Media was a tuneable radio frequency jammer in the range of consumer and prosumer devices. I once asked a professional camera assistant about the security aspects of this hack and they said they never heard of such malicious intent if it did happen - and that was that, no interest in the reality of it from the industry, until it happens.
I admit I am excited by this prospect and I see the legal implications - but if so much money is spent on movie-making and not on the encryption for the security of image signals - that is the production company’s problem, and they should be hacked in order for more people to take notice and to develop a security strategy.
Of course I say this because I know how to design such an encryption system, but who’s gonna listen to me unless it makes them money?
