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A digital cinema is a movie theatre that is equipped with specialized digital film projectors that effectively replace traditional film projectors. Digital Cinemas allow the film industry to create, distribute and project full-length feature presentations filmed entirely on digital cameras and stored on hard disk space rather than celluloid film. This innovation will allow studios to distribute digital data rather than converting digital films to 35mm and/ or copying the master recording onto numerous projection reels for cinemas across the world.
Digital Cinema is a relatively new form of film transmission. Until recently, most productions were filmed on celluloid film and then digitally converted using computers. The first film to be digitally recorded, produced and distributed was The Last Broadcast. It was released during the week of October 23-29, 1998 to select theatres in Providence, Orlando, Philadelphia, Portland, and Minneapolis. The film was transmitted by satellite and projected using DLP projectors. (Wikipedia, 2005) The first major motion picture to be released to digital cinemas electronically was Star Wars Episode 1: the Phantom Menace. This marked the first time that digital films were digitally projected to a paying audience.
Although most Hollywood directors still film on celluloid film using traditional methods and cameras, a select few, like Robert Rodriquez and Steven Soderbergh, have filmed parts of their films on digital. The first full-length film to be recorded entirely on digital cameras was Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones. George Lucas, long a pioneer in digital effects creation, is single-handedly pushing the industry to an all-digital medium. Many would argue that the future of filmmaking lies in the usage of Digital cameras to record, produce and distribute films; although it is not certain if there will be considerable backlash from traditional filmmakers who do not want to use this new technology. As of 2003, out of the estimated 150,000 movie theatres in existence throughout the world, only 156 were capable of showing digital films. (IEE, 2005) To date, there have only been 20 films recorded and distributed entirely though a digital medium.
Digital Projectors are slowly becoming more commonplace in cinemas throughout the world. Most digital cameras record at a widescreen format of 16:9, unlike the traditional ratio of 4:3. Most cinemas are equipped to show widescreen format films, allowing for a higher bandwidth and reducing the need to crop films, thereby increasing film resolution. The standard Digital projector uses 1280x1024 resolution, and runs at 24 frames per second. They picture quality is equalled to if not better than 35mm film. Because of resolution restrictions, it is unlikely that IMAX films, which run at a higher resolution, will be technologically equipped to handle digital projection in the near future.
The most common Digital projector is the Digital Light Processing projector (DLP). Instead of showing an analogue screen image, the image is broken up into millions of pixels. A large data file is made up of each pixel. Assuming that the average full-length feature film is 2 hours in length, the total size of the data file stored by the digital projector stands at around 850 megabytes. (IEE, 2005) The larger the raw data files are, the better the resolution and quality of the projected image.
Digital cinema has a substantial economic advantage over traditional film. Digital film is significantly cheaper than celluloid film. If digital cinema becomes increasingly popular, the cost to make a film will become considerably less. This particularly affects low-budget films, and independent filmmakers who can create, produce and distribute better quality films for much less than what it costs to film a traditional movie.
[Film Industry: Distribution | Distribution] costs will also be significantly less. Digital film can be transmitted a number of different ways, all of which are cheaper than converting digital data from computers to film reels for distribution. The average film print can cost upwards of $2000 dollars. This digital master copy can be used to mass-produce DVDs, which are inherently cheaper than VHS tapes.
There is one major disadvantage to the development of digital cinemas. The upfront costs to convert a standard cinema into a digital cinema are extremely large. The average cost for one theatre to be converted is upwards of $150,000 dollars. (Wikipedia, 2005) It is apparent that the slow development and adoption of this new technology is directly attributed to the reluctance of theatres willing to convert their theatres to an all-digital format. It remains to be seen if more theatres will be inclined to make the switch to a digital format without compromising their annual income and profits.
Australian Center for the Moving Image (2005) Retrieved October 19, 2005, from, http://www.acmi.net.au/digital_cinema.jsp
Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC (2005) "Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) Announces Final Overall System Requirements and Specifications for Digital Cinema," Retrieved October 19, 2005, from, http://www.dcimovies.com/press/07-27-05.tt2
Harris, T. (2004) "How Digital Cinema Works," retrieved October 19, 2005, from,
http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/digital-cinema.htm
IEE Review (2003, November) “Digital Cinema: A Slow Revolution,�? IEE Review, retrieved August 27, 2005 from, http://www.iee.org/OnComms/Circuit/benefits/Editorials/Features/DigitalCinema.cfm.
Wikipedia (2005) "Digital Cinema," retrieved October 19, 2005, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_cinema.
Jared Ault 20:18, 27 Oct 2005 (EST)
