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Woman Tapes Minutes of 'Twilight,' Faces Felony Charges
Charged With Felony After Taping 4 Minutes Of "New Moon" - The Consumerist
Woman arrested for trying to record 'Twilight' on digital camera :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Metro & Tri-State
This is why I don't go to the movies.
Charged With Felony After Taping 4 Minutes Of "New Moon" - The Consumerist
Woman arrested for trying to record 'Twilight' on digital camera :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Metro & Tri-State
switched said:We still haven't really wrapped our heads around the 'Twilight' phenomena, but we do at least know it's there. And that your average vampire fanatic would probably do anything to sink their fangs into the latest film in the series, even attempt bootlegging.
Samantha Tumpach, a 22-year-old Chicagoan, is facing up to three years in prison after being charged with a felony for recording four minutes' worth of footage from the latest 'Twilight' movie. Tumpach claims, though, that her intention was never to record the movie, in part or in whole, and that she was simply videotaping a group of her friends who had gathered at the Chicago theater for a surprise birthday party. As the Sun-Times reports, Tumpach acknowledges that there are snippets of the film that pop up in her videotaped footage, but maintains that most of what she shot consists of girls just having fun. Theater management has meanwhile decided to move forward with pressing charges.
She understandably plans to fight the accusations, and, at first glance, it seems like she has a good chance of avoiding jail time. Her strongest piece of evidence may turn out to be the quality of the video; it apparently includes a group performance of "Happy Birthday," and, as she says, "you can hear me talking the whole time." It depends on how closely a given judge adheres to the letter of the law, but we think it's pretty clear that any video that has that much ambient noise -- and so little of the actual film -- probably wasn't intended to be distributed broadly. Was it wise to videotape in a theater? No. Was it probably annoying to be stuck in a theater with a group of bacchanalian women photographing and singing? We'd imagine. Would we have gone with a totally different choice of venue for a birthday party? To each her own. But did she have law-breaking, malicious intent? We'd say no.
consumerist said:The Sun-Times is reporting that a 22-year-old Chicago woman has been arrested and charged with a felony after taping 4 minutes of "New Moon" during her sister's surprise 29th birthday party.
Managers saw the woman taping and called the police, who examined the camera (a digital still camera that also takes short video segments) and say they found “two very short segments” that totaled no more than 4 minutes.
The alleged felony movie-taper says she was taking pictures of her family before the film and that nobody warned her.
From the Sun-Times:
“
“We sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to her in the theater,” Tumpach said.
She also took pictures of family members in the theater before the film began, but an usher who saw the photo session never issued them a warning, Tumpach said.
As ads and previews ran on the big screen, she fiddled with the camera — which she got in July and is still learning how to work — and was surprised to see it took clear videos of the screen.
The footage she shot also includes the pre-film commercials, as well as her talking about the camera and the movie.
“You can hear me talking the whole time,” Tumpach said.
She plans to fight in court the felony filed against her because she said she did nothing wrong — and certainly didn’t try to secretly tape the movie.
“It was never my intention to record the movie,” she said.
”
The theater managers decided to press charges, so the woman spent two nights in jail and faces up to three years in prison.
sun said:Taping three minutes of “Twilight: New Moon” during a visit to a Rosemont movie theater landed Samantha Tumpach in a jail cell for two nights.
Now, the 22-year-old Chicago woman faces up to three years in prison after being charged with a rarely invoked felony designed to prevent movie patrons from recording hot new movies and selling bootleg copies.
» Click to enlarge image
Samantha Tumpach, 22, is charged with one count of criminal use of a motion picture exhibition, a Class 4 felony, according to Rosemont police Sgt. Keith Kania.
But Tumpach insisted Wednesday that’s not what she was doing — she was actually taping parts of her sister’s surprise birthday party celebrated at the Muvico Theater in Rosemont.
While she acknowledged there are short bits of the movie on her digital camera, there are other images that have nothing to do with the new film — including she and a few other family members singing “Happy Birthday” to her 29-year-old sister at the theater.
“It was a big thing over nothing,” Tumpach said of her Saturday afternoon arrest. “We were just messing around. Everyone is so surprised it got this far.”
She was nabbed when a worker saw her shooting video during the movie, Rosemont police said.
Managers contacted police, who examined the small digital camera, which also records video segments, Cmdr. Frank Siciliano said. Officers found that Tumpach had taped “two very short segments” of the movie — no more than four minutes total, he said.
Tumpach was arrested after theater managers insisted on pressing charges, he said. She was charged with criminal use of a motion picture exhibition. She remained jailed for two nights in Rosemont’s police station until being taken to bond court on Monday, where a Cook County judge ordered her released on a personal recognizance bond that didn’t require her to post any cash.
Rosemont police, though, seemed to sympathize with her situation, she said. “They were so nice to me,” she said.
Tumpach insisted she recorded no more than three minutes while in the theater — and said not all of the video she shot was of the movie. There’s footage of she and her relatives singing to her sister, she said. “We sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to her in the theater,” Tumpach said.
She also took pictures of family members in the theater before the film began, but an usher who saw the photo session never issued them a warning, Tumpach said.
As ads and previews ran on the big screen, she fiddled with the camera — which she got in July and is still learning how to work — and was surprised to see it took clear videos of the screen.
The footage she shot also includes the pre-film commercials, as well as her talking about the camera and the movie.
“You can hear me talking the whole time,” Tumpach said.
She plans to fight in court the felony filed against her because she said she did nothing wrong — and certainly didn’t try to secretly tape the movie.
“It was never my intention to record the movie,” she said.
This is why I don't go to the movies.