History Main / CameraSpoofing

* Lampshaded in ''{{Intragalactic}}'' with a [[http://intragalacticcomic.com/2010/01/25/130-the-craytrix/ crude drawing in crayon taped to a security camera.]] "They've looped the video feed!" And then it's revealed [[spoiler:The ''real'' feed renders as a crayon drawing too]]

* ''Film/{{Ghostwatch}}'': After they open the [[ItMakesSenseInContext 'Glory Hole']], the soundman gets koshed over the head with the hall mirror and the live feed, from inside the house, cuts out. The gallery say they've re-established the feed via the University Research Team's CCTV installed in the house, so communication via TheBBC link between studio and the outside broadcast is still down. So the gallery just put the picture on the big screen as Michael Parkinson and Dr Pascoe discuss the paranormal. Pascoe suddenly exclaims "It's in the machines!" Noting the images from the house aren't live, as a picture previously knocked of the wall suddenly appeared back wall.

* The movie ''File/MissionImpossibleIII'' had a spoof, where the scene being spoofed was projected onto what appeared to be a large projection screen. Said screen was the size of the hall, and had to be synchronized to its location. The spoof was only revealed when the screen started to droop.
** In ''[[Film/MissionImpossibleGhostProtocol Ghost Protocol]]'', they use an extensive projector screen setup to pull off ''eyeball spoofing''. It works perfectly (when Creator/SimonPegg isn't sticking his head into the camera pickup) until a second guard shows up, causing the confused projector to constantly swap between their viewpoints, tipping them off that something is up.

* In the second book in the ''Literature/{{Spaceforce}}'' series, the kidnapping of an alien Prince is covered up by a criminal [[{{Cracker}} hacker]] who fakes security camera images from an earlier time period. In a later book, reformed hacker Andri performs the same trick with security cams on the 'theme world' Fantasia, to allow two other agents to sneak into the planet’s central research laboratories without attracting unwanted attention.

** In ''Ghost Protocol'', they use an extensive projector screen setup to pull off ''eyeball spoofing''.

* ''OceansEleven'' revolves around use of both Splice and Dice and Polaroid Punk to an almost excessive degree. In fact, the vast majority of the movie consists of the heroes making Splice and Dice preparations and sneaking around.

* Somewhat averted in an ''OlsenBanden'' movie, where the gang manages to calm an elderly guard not with a picture of the room the camera is pointing at, but a picture of the royal family.

* In the WhateleyUniverse, [[MadScientist devisors]] [[{{Jerkass}} Overclock and Make]] attempt to [[spoiler: [[DisproportionateRetribution assassinate]] most of Team Kimba]] ''during class''. Turns out, that session took place in [[InsideAComputerSystem the Sims]] without direct supervision. They just replace what the instructors see of the Kimbas with a 30-second loop.

* In the second book in the ''Literature/{{Spaceforce}}'' series, the kidnapping of an alien Prince is covered up by a criminal [[{{Cracker}} hacker]] who fakes security camera images from an earlier time period. In a later book, reformed hacker Andri performs the same trick with security cams on the 'theme world' Fantasia, to allow two other agents to sneak into the planet’s central research laboratories without attracting unwanted attention.

* There's a subversion of this in Creator/BarryLevinson's film ''{{Toys}}'', where the distraction created by the characters in the hallway is disguised as a music video, and the illusion is compounded by having another character replace that particular monitor's label with one reading "MTV."

'''The Polaroid Punk''' -- The heroes take an instant photograph from the camera's perspective and then place it in front of the camera. This may or may not require blocking or removing the camera in the process, but even if it does, the security officer on duty will [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy dismiss it as just a temporary glitch]], because the image is back, showing no activity, before they can investigate. Whether or not (or exactly how long) this works depends on a number of factors, such as whether the security camera is capable of focusing that close to its own lens (otherwise the photo will be horribly blurred out) how well-illuminated the picture is (especially compared to the scene it's imitating), and whether or not there's any ambient movement (such as outside traffic or a flowing fountain) that normally ''should'' be in the scene -- because the guard might catch on that the image is ''too'' still to be a live feed. There's also the matter of lighting: The photograph may or may not be correctly illuminated to mimic the brightness of its surroundings, or the camera could wind up casting its own shadow on the photograph.

* ''GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' takes this a step further. The cleverer members of the Section 9 team can hack into the cyberbrains of ''people'', and edit their sight (this is in addition to the active camouflage that renders them invisible). The powerful cyber-hacker known as "The Laughing Man" can do this to whole crowds, including all cameras and other such devices in the area, replacing his face with a cartoonish logo.
** The only people who saw his actual face were those without cyberbrains. However, when they tried to describe him to a sketch artist, the cyberbrain'd artists just found themselves drawing said logo.
*** Not quite. The people without cyberbrain did see him as he really was, but since he had a hoodie and scarf and the said witnesses were drug-addled bums, it wasn't much help. It was the cyberbrained people who drew the logo, all the while believing they were drawing an actual face - even Togusa does this trying to draw an apparently catatonic teenager before even realizing his true identity.
** Inverted in one of the episode, when the tachikomas send the camera a feed of motoko breaking through a vault, tricking the owner to open it to catch the thief.

* ''GhostWatch'' : After they open the [[ItMakesSenseInContext 'Glory Hole']], the soundman gets koshed over the head with the hall mirror and the live feed, from inside the house, cuts out. The gallery say they've re-established the feed via the University Research Team's CCTV installed in the house, so communication via TheBBC link between studio and the outside broadcast is still down. So the gallery just put the picture on the big screen as Michael Parkinson and Dr Pascoe discuss the paranormal. Pascoe suddenly exclaims "It's in the machines!" Noting the images from the house aren't live, as a picture previously knocked of the wall suddenly appeared back wall.

* There's a subversion of this in Barry Levinson's film ''{{Toys}}'', where the distraction created by the characters in the hallway is disguised as a music video, and the illusion is compounded by having another character replace that particular monitor's label with one reading "MTV."

* In ''Film/TheFifthElement'' an apparently drugged up dancing attempted thief spoofs a security video of the door by wearing a hat with a picture of the background. He puts the hat up to the camera, it shows the background, and the door opens, at which point he points a gun at Bruce Willis. Willis disarms him with a "[[NotWithTheSafetyOnYouWont The Safety is Off]]" trick, and compliments the thief on his hat.

* In an episode of ''{{CSI}}'', a security guard time-shifted the camera from one elevator to another in order to cover for the casino owner's daughter.
* Subverted in ''{{Smallville}}''. A [[BroughtDownToNormal depowered]] Clark was forced to steal an item from a high-security complex. Knowing that he couldn't just "superspeed past the cameras", he brought Chloe along for the technicals. When approaching the camera problem, Clark suggested, in great detail, the use of the second example, only to be informed how complicated the execution really is. In the end, Chloe just hacked into the system and turned the power off.

* Done in the film ''HollowMan'' with a thermal camera so no-one notices his escape.

* The movie ''File/MissionImpossible III'' had a spoof, where the scene being spoofed was projected onto what appeared to be a large projection screen. Said screen was the size of the hall, and had to be synchronized to its location. The spoof was only revealed when the screen started to droop.

* In ''UnaccompaniedMinors'', the characters escape from a holding cell by making a video of themselves with video-enabled cell phones and taping the cell phones in front of the security cameras. (Of course, in real life, this would have the same problem with being out of focus that the Polaroid Punk would have.)

* ''HudsonHawk'' contains a textbook example of the Splice-and-Dice method, right down to the unusual occurrence captured on film which later tips off the security guys that something's amiss; to their credit, they immediately realize that someone's replaying earlier camera footage. (It helps that the unusual occurrence was both unique and highly distinctive; if it were just somebody walking by a camera, things might've been different.)

* ''{{Entrapment}}'' used the splice-and-dice method to show the thieves (dressed as swanky party-goers) riding an elevator (played via a loop) while in reality they slipped into the main bank's database. The guards did notice they weren't moving at all.

* Its a standard part of ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}''. Runners are expected to do this to deal with cameras often. Helps that everything in the 2070 is wireless. Theres even softwares specifically meant to spoof sensor footage.

* ''TheEqualizer'' uses the Polaroid method in one episode, though you do see him manually adjusting the focus of the camera so the image won't be blurred.

* ''Manga/ToAruKagakuNoRailgun'': Misaka Mikoto uses her [[ShockAndAwe electricity powers]] to get the "Splice and Dice" effect. It also worked against security robots.

* The movie ''MissionImpossible3'' had a spoof, where the scene being spoofed was projected onto what appeared to be a large projection screen. Said screen was the size of the hall, and had to be synchronized to its location. The spoof was only revealed when the screen started to droop.

** Grinder uses it again in the same novel to cover up one of his pranks involving a fellow pilot's X-Wing. In this case, the hangar was empty, so there was no background movement to worry about.

-->'''Homer:''' I saw this in a movie about a bus that had to ''speed'' around the city, keeping its ''speed'' over fifty, and if its ''speed'' dropped, the bus would explode! I think it was called ''The Bus That Couldn't Slow Down.''

* In one episode of the second series of ''LupinIII'', Lupin and his allies had themselves arrested for drunken driving as part of the set-up for a heist. They smuggled in a projector with reels and used bedsheets to make a screen, showing a loop of themselves in bed to the security camera. Interestingly, the guards didn't spot anything -- the plan worked until a suspicious Zenigata checked on the cell itself.

* ''GhostWatch'' : After they open the [[ItMakesSenseInContext 'Glory Hole']], the soundman gets koshed over the head with the hall mirror and the live feed, from inside the house, cuts out. The gallery say they've re-established the feed via the University Research Team's CCTV installed in the house, so communication via TheBBC link between studio and the outside broadcast is still down. So the gallery just put the picture on the big screen as Michael Parkinson and Dr Pascoe discuss the paranormal. Pascoe suddenly exclaims "It's in the machines!" Noting the the images from the house aren't live, as a picture previously knocked of the wall suddenly appeared back wall.

* In the pilot episode of ''It Takes a Thief'' (the 1968 series) the titular thief makes a drawing of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Head_test_card Indain Head Test Card]] and sticks it up so that the camera monitoring him looks like it's on the fritz.

* In ''WesternAnimationOddJobJack'', Bobby and Leo break into a vault and replace a security camera's footage with a loop of a break in from a movie. The guards notice immediately, but don't care because the actress has such a nice butt.

* ''RegularShow'' manages to do both in one episode, sorta. When Benson installs a security camera in front of Mordecai and Rigby, they stick a bad drawing (with a talking jet) in front of it. Benson's response is to physically attach cameras to both of them. The workaround this time? Put the cameras in front of a TV showing the World Dishwashing Championships.
* In ''OddJobJack'', Bobby and Leo break into a vault and replace a security camera's footage with a loop of a break in from a movie. The guards notice immediately, but don't care because the actress has such a nice butt.
* In ''StaticShock'', when Virgil gets kidnapped by Ebon's gang, Richie has to put his new-found powers to use to break him out without letting him find out Static's secret identity. He uses the Backpack to hack into the security camera in Virgil's cell and cause the video feed to loop over and over, while Richie heads over and gives him his suit. When they come out to face Ebon, the camera footage is still rolling and he concludes that they "got the wrong guy".