# Why are there purple lights blinking in the movie Inside Man? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 5, 2007, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-purple-lights-blinking-in-the-movie-inside-man/418083 "2007-09-05T03:33:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-purple-lights-blinking-in-the-movie-inside-man/418083/1 "2007-09-05T03:33:13Z")
All throughout the movie, there are very quick flashes of a neon purple light blinking on and then quickly off at random places on the screen. I’ve watched it on two sets now and am convinced it’s in the movie. I was not the only one who saw this, so I’m not going crazy. 😉 It’s the one with Denzel Washington. Is it some sort of subliminal message? Anyone know about this yet? ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-purple-lights-blinking-in-the-movie-inside-man/418083/2 "2007-09-05T03:36:42Z")
Perhaps it’s [a CAP identifier.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coded_Anti-Piracy) ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-purple-lights-blinking-in-the-movie-inside-man/418083/3 "2007-09-05T03:38:58Z")
See [this Pit thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=435072) for further illumination. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-purple-lights-blinking-in-the-movie-inside-man/418083/4 "2007-09-05T04:43:06Z")
[QUOTE=Duckster] Perhaps it’s [a CAP identifier.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coded_Anti-Piracy) [/QUOTE] Also known colloquially as “CrAP Code”. Between this, obnoxious patrons, and increasingly poor projection quality (and an almost complete dearth of worthwhile films in the last couple of years), I’ve pretty much given up on going out to cinemas at all. If it’s worth seeing, it’s worth waiting for the DVD release. And besides, I have a backlog of classic films, not to mention books, that are far more worth seeing than the lasted _Ocean’s \_ movie. I’ll make the exception for really good films, but it’s truly the exception…and I still get annoyed by CrAP Code markings. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-purple-lights-blinking-in-the-movie-inside-man/418083/5 "2007-09-05T04:48:28Z")
Possibly, bu these are bright purple dots. Single purple dots that flash in a split second. But yeah, it’s possible. ---
**Author:** ![PuddingCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b4bc9f/32.png) [@PuddingCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PuddingCat)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-purple-lights-blinking-in-the-movie-inside-man/418083/6 "2007-09-05T19:58:35Z")
I vaguely remember seeing them and I thought it was just some post production FX to try and create a spooky “are they brainwashing me?” thought. tim ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-purple-lights-blinking-in-the-movie-inside-man/418083/7 "2007-09-05T20:00:20Z")
Unless you’re watching a bootleg, you should not be seeing CAP dots on the video. They are on certain film prints only. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-purple-lights-blinking-in-the-movie-inside-man/418083/8 "2007-09-05T20:53:28Z")
[QUOTE=friedo] Unless you’re watching a bootleg, you should not be seeing CAP dots on the video. They are on certain film prints only. [/QUOTE] It was my understanding that the CAP dots were put on _all_ films, and each individual film print had a different pattern. That way, when a pirated copy is found, you’d simply compare the dots to a master list, and find out which theater allowed video to be taken in their cinema. The dots would be unique, similar to a bar code. If they were only on the bootleg, they wouldn’t be of much use when trying to track down the pirates. As was said in the pit thread, though, it’s not difficult to edit the dots out with a bit of time and some (probably not so) special software. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-purple-lights-blinking-in-the-movie-inside-man/418083/9 "2007-09-05T21:27:55Z")
[QUOTE=Pygmy Rugger] It was my understanding that the CAP dots were put on _all_ films, and each individual film print had a different pattern. That way, when a pirated copy is found, you’d simply compare the dots to a master list, and find out which theater allowed video to be taken in their cinema. The dots would be unique, similar to a bar code. [/quote] Right – but it’s usually considered too expensive to individually mark every exhibition print, so they mark a subset of the ones that are going to theaters in what they think are high piracy areas. > [@](#): > > If they were only on the bootleg, they wouldn’t be of much use when trying to track down the pirates. My point was that since the OP was watching the movie on video, he _should not_ be seeing any CAP dots, as they only put those on exhibition prints, not the video transfer prints. If what he’s seeing actually _are_ CAP dots, then there’s a good chance his DVD is illegitimate. ---
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-purple-lights-blinking-in-the-movie-inside-man/418083/10 "2007-09-06T05:51:29Z")
This was on Showtime, not DVD though…