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This topic comprises 6 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6
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Author
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Topic: Change Over To Digital Cinema
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Jeffrey Korns
Film Handler
Posts: 22
From: marion, ia, usa
Registered: Oct 2004
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posted 03-10-2005 05:35 PM
Maybe the theatres need to have live acts before the movie, show cartoons and other short subjects to make it special? Nah, been there done that.
Joe is right, unless going to the theatre is a special event people won't go.
Radio City in it's heyday thru the late 1970s was a special event. Gorgeous theatre, Rockettes, orchestra, organ, and some crappy product from Hollywood-every thing but the film made a special event. Back in the "old days" people used to dress up to go to a movie, and they knew how to behave in public.
My next big screen tv will be a video projector, once resolution and price are where I think they should be.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 03-10-2005 08:58 PM
quote: Ian Bailey
At least you should be able to get the print you want when you want it!Not months after all the hype and advertising.
I think that's one of the marketed myths about "D-Cinema", or what I prefer to call "video projection." There's a number of challenges to overcome in beaming a movie from satellite to theaters.
The first problem is bandwidth. The studios are probably not going to be transmitting something any better than highly compressed HD video, if it can even qualify for Hi Def at all. The second problem is who is going to pay for that satellite bandwidth? The studios sure don't want to pay over a hundred thousand dollars per screen on video projection hardware. What makes anyone think they'll want to pay for that rented satellite time either?
Then you have the issue of piracy. Just like all those guys who sell cracked smart cards for Dish and DirecTV receivers, you can bet there'll be hackers who intercept and decode that satellite stream. Hell, even if the distributor overnights hard discs or DVD-ROMs to theaters, there's little to stop someone somewhere from dubbing a "perfect copy."
From my point of view, film seems a little more piracy proof than some HD video bitstream. I mean, I laugh at people who are silly enough to waste 2 hours of their life watching a pirated movie where the source was a camcorder videotape of the screen. Losers! Even if you put a 35mm release print through a telecine you would still have noticeable generational loss. Real sucky image quality. However, we know the real, #1 source of pirated DVDs: the screener DVDs given to critics and press people. Crap code chickenpox on film prints is completely unneccesary.
quote: Kurt Zupin
There will never be a simultaneous release of DVD/Film ever...I think we've reached the closest release that will ever happen this past year with Surviving Christmas...
Actually, Warner Bros. is moving to do simultaneous releases of movies to theaters and DVD. However, the movie prints will play here in America and the DVD's will go on sale in China. Pirated DVDs in China fetch perhaps $1. WB plans to charge $2 or $3 for theirs. My guess is these will be same thing as those screener discs for critics, but just dressed in more legit packaging. I'm not sure if this plan is going to work for Warner. If anything, it may create more of a black-market demand for bootleg discs from the United States.
quote: Rick Raskin
Agreed, nothing, not even ultra hi def video, can beat a 70mm print shown with true skill and showmanship. What I gather, is that the public's acceptance of less perfect projection, will make video more acceptable.
This, essentially, is the core of the problem. Too many Americans adopt the "it's good enough" attitude when it comes to lots of things, especially film presentation. It kinda pisses me off a little if I have to go to some considerable length to explain the advantages of 70mm film or well presented digital surround sound to someone. Can't these folks see or listen? Duh!
Video projection does pose a real and lethal threat to the movie exhibition industry. There are no commercially available video projection systems for theaters that show any more image detail than standard HDTV. It is vital for commercial movie theaters to have a competitive edge against home systems when it comes to image quality. Not enough is being done in video projection R&D to allow theaters to do that.
While the movie theater companies may be directly threatened by the growing sophistication of home systems, it is the movie industry itself that will pay dearly in the long run.
Commercial movie theaters give a film release legitimacy. If the movie doesn't play in any theaters, it's just a straight-to-video release with very limited appeal, if any at all. If there are no movie theaters, then the movie production companies of Paramount, Disney, etc. will effectively be reduced to nothing more than television production companies. Everything will just have to be shot in 1.77:1 ratio. No need for formats like 'scope if there are no movie theaters. Anamorphic lenses will only be used to make music videos for gangsta rap assholes then.
The movie industry is already suffering as it is. The average quality of movies has really dropped in the last two decades. The big corporations have effectively sucked much of the creative life out of movies. It's no surprise the video game industry is now raking in twice as much money as Hollywood. Look for that earnings gap to widen even further.
What the movie studios and theater chains need is some Mike Ditka styled management. What I mean by that is looking after the fundamentals. Ditka did that with coaching. The movie industry needs that too. What are the fundamentals? The movie has gotta be worth dropping $10 per ticket at the box office. We need exceptional picture and sound. That's a very basic thing. And since it's costing a family of four $50 for their outing, the atmosphere could stand to be a bit better. Joe's McDonalds description hits the bullseye when it comes to a great deal of movie theaters.
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Monte L Fullmer
Film God
Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004
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posted 03-11-2005 04:12 AM
quote: Greg Mueller
I remember as a kid (in the 50s) that people clapped when the movie started and when it was over....
Ain't that the truth! 1965's "the Sound of Music" saw that at our local theatre that year (the same place that I worked at 11 yrs later with the picts of the booth that I've posted) which was the MagOptical version. House was filled, upstairs in the balcony and downstairs. Excellent presentation and at the end the applause from the crowd on how excellent this movie was.
My last experience of this audience participation was when I help revive an old movie palace in UTAH that was closed down for over 12 years. We went though a thorough cleaning and remodeling with me redoing the booth from a carbon arc booth to a platter configuration. On re-opening night we sold that old palace out- upstairs in the balcony and the downstairs of a total of 800 people, playing Disney's "Pocahontas" and the people cheered and clapped with thuderous applause of the presentation.
Brought a lump in my throat and my eyes swelled with tears that people STILL loved to go out to the movies and will clap for a good performance.
...can Digital do that, you wonder? Is it worth it converting to Digital whereas the good ol' celluloid has proven itself after all of these years?
Can "Hollyrock" bring back the "gits and glitter" that they are known for with movie from the classic studios of MGM, Paramount, 20th Century-Fox, and others?
By the time Digital is well established on the world, some of us wouldn't have to worry about it: We'd be either too old to give a rat's ass, or be too busy "pushing up dandelions."
Besides, the following generations will prob screw it up anywho with some stupid fandangled operational procedures just to make things more complicated as it is and get paid pennies wearing the company's "slave bracelets" showing whom they work for.
(lol)
-Monte
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