Those different types of (very obtrusive) markings are called "cap codes" and are supposed to be an anti-piracy measure.
This is from a recent column by Roger Ebert:
Quote:
Crap codes -- excuse me, cap codes -- have enraged a lot of Answer Man correspondents. Will Sparks of Charlottesville, Va., writes: "I saw 'Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World' yesterday and was disgusted by the number of times that I saw those hideous dots during the film, especially during the chase scene around Cape Horn. Do the studios think we're too dumb not to see them?"
Why are the dots so big and visible? Why not do something subtle and subliminal? Because the dots are intended to identify prints that have been pirated by analog means -- i.e., by being videotaped off a screen. Hollywood is in a paranoid seizure about piracy right now, spending a fortune on security guards who body-search movie critics while the real pirates steal from within the system.
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