Section B: Audiences and Institutions

Films are made up images printed on to acetate negatives.

These are then “spliced” together to form a reel of film.

These are then feed through a projector at a constant speed of 24 frames a second which makes the pictures appear to be moving.

Digital cinema uses bits and bytes (strings of 1s and 0s) to record, transmit and reply images, instead of chemicals on film.

The whole process is electronic so there is no printing or “splicing” involved.

Digital cinema has grown rapidly in the last 10 years.

Star Wars: Episode II, the Attack of the Clones (2002) was the first big budget live action film shot entirely on digital video.

However, transferred to 35mm film to be exhibited in cinemas

Film makers were far from convinced that digital was the future of cinema.

Advantages Digital technology can store, transmit

and retrieve a huge amount of data exactly as it was originally recorded.

The quality of digital film does not deteriorate.

Analogue technology (film) loses information in transmission and generally degrades with each viewing

Digital information is a lot more flexible than analogue information

A computer can manipulate bytes of data very easily

E.g. ease of editing using a program such as iMovie/Final Cut

This saves time and therefore saves money.

Digital cinema affects the three stages of film-making:

Production – how the film is madeDistribution – how the film gets

from the production company to the cinema

Exhibition – how the cinema shows the film

How has digital cinema changed:

ProductionDistributionExhibition

Prepare to feedback to the class

1.Production New digital camera technology

rivals traditional film for quality Digital camcorders using a high-

definition format called HD-CAM are much cheaper than standard film cameras.

Virtually no processing necessary before the editing stage

Tapes can be re-used many times – unlike film

Footage can be viewed on immediately on set

Production time is cut and so are costsBY HOLLYWOOD STANDARDS

DIGITAL VIDEO COSTS VIRTUALLY NOTHING

Example:Attack of the Clones$16,000 on 220 hours of digital tapeWould have spent:$1.8million on 220 hours of film

2.Distribution Film prints are very expensive

(£1500-£3000 per print) Expensive to ship heavy reels of

film and then to collect them when film finishes its run

Digital films are basically big computer files

Can be written to DVD-ROMSent via broadbandTransmitted via satelliteVirtually no shipping costsNot much more expensive to show in

100 cinemas as 1

Because of cost you have to very cautious about where films are played – unless it is a guaranteed hit it is a risk to send film to a lot of cinemas

This is one reason why there is such a limited choice at multiplexes

Films can be opened simultaneously all over the world

3.Exhibition A good analogue film projector

produces a clear, crisp vibrant image but every time the print is projected the film is damaged.

A digital projector produces a high quality image and sound every time.

The 1000th view is a good as the first!

High quality, low cost home exhibition

BluRay HD Television

DisadvantagesPiracy – much easier to make

illegal copiesPirated copies may be of a much

higher quality than beforeNeeds to be more advanced

encryption systems

With much cheaper home entertainment technology and professional cinema technology - will people still bother to visit cinemas?

Hollywood Independent

The digitalisation of the film industry has affected Hollywood Studios and Independent film makers in different ways.

Opens up competition to Hollywood through decreased production and distribution costs

Could break Hollywood hold on exhibition in Britain

DIGITAL CINEMA IN THE UK 2005The UK Film Council is investing

£12m of National Lottery money into a DIGITAL SCREEN NETWORK

‘Digital distribution is significantly cheaper than 35mm and will allow a richer diet of films to be distributed’

John Woodward