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Topic: Small theater operators weigh digital conversion
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Jonathan Goeldner
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1360
From: Washington, District of Columbia
Registered: Jun 2008
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posted 04-30-2011 12:01 PM
but do all studios, specifically the smaller indie ones, that release independent and foreign films release their product 'digitally'??
Case in point, Landmark once stated they'd be doing a nationwide installation of Sony 4K units, yet as far as I know there's only one at E Street (DC) and none at their Bethesda location - all the films at Bethesda have (and always) been 35mm.
What happens during film festivals? I perceive and note that the films at various Washington DC film festivals are pretty much 35mm. (AFI's Silverdocs seems to be the exception, where it swings more to digital projection)
if the industry wants to think everyone's on the same page on digital conversion .... uh? I really beg to differ.
Even though the major chains, specifically AMC has begun a more aggressive conversion, it's still a guessing game on when and which theaters get new DP units - Tysons is half way done. My neighbourhood Mazza theater, four of the seven auditoriums are digital but the two largest screens (and one smaller auditorium)are not ... ?!? I asked the general manager why that was the case, one was the fact FilmFest had booked Mazza as a festival venue, screens 1 and 4 (and 3) can only playback 35mm - he also noted the screen size of 1 is another factor - my retort 'well, if the huge Uptown screen has a Christie DLP unit, then screen 1 can', he agreed and said that will probably be the outcome.
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Bajsic Bojan
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 190
From: Ljubljana, Si, Eu
Registered: Aug 2008
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posted 04-30-2011 03:04 PM
most indie films in festivals here already come on 'digital' as in there is more dcp, digibeta and hdcam then 35mm.
the cost for indies to get a DCP off of an HDCAM is also increasingly smaller than getting a blowup to 35mm and having an extra (one!) festival print. ever wondered how many festivals in the past year for instance rent 5+ HDCAM decks for periods of two weeks, not to mention extra fullHd projectors, extra staff... getting 35mm for film festivals as the "extra" is and will be cheaper, and theres going to be less and less...
lots of film festivals are already just eliminating tapes altogether for instance and doing standardised dcp/mxf mpegs for projecting, to avoid hassle with dozens of video standards, aiming to get all on one or two formats, period.
its really funny reading about people just NOW realizing that a full digital transition is mandatory in order to stay in the business, its even more funny that these are the people from countries which have the highest incentive to go digital, have far the lowest cost of digital equipment, have no real distribution bottlenecks, have more than adequate infrastructure/IT backbone to get it all installed and running,...
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that sized screen and cheapest acceptable pj would be 70k Eur (cca 100k USD) around here.
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