How are digital movies distributed?

[bi0boy]

No, back in the 60's platter systems were invented that effectively changed the cinema industry. These systems allowed a film to be made up into one big reel and played from start to finish without the need for reel changes. This meant that multiplexes could have loads of screens and not have to pay someone to sit next to the projector and change reels every 40 minutes or so.

Wow thanks for that, it's more hi-tech than I imagined.

I always thought it was something like this only a bit bigger:

 

[Redeyes]

Do the HDs get delivered to multiple cinemas, or does each site get it's own HDD? I realise that a load of HDs is still going to be a lot cheaper than 35mm (I used to book cinema advertising and the first time I was presented with the bill for the film I nearly fell over!), but that seems like a lot of wasted HDs (or do you send them back when they've been copied?)

For the 'big' films like, say, TOY STORY 3 each site will get their own HD. Smaller independant films will have a lot fewer HDs which will be passed around. We had a show of LA TRAVIATA a few weeks back and we had to transfer it straight to our system and a courier picked it up the next day so it could go to another site.

All the HDs get returned and re-used though.

 

[Redeyes]

Wow, look at the ventilation on the new digital one. I am guessing that's sucking the hot air out?

Yes, there's a 3000w Xenon lamp in the back of the projector that needs to kept as cool as possible!

 

[danny la rouge]

This thread has been very interesting. I'm going to be incredibly boring at parties now.

 

[kyser_soze]

Yes, there's a 3000w Xenon lamp in the back of the projector that needs to kept as cool as possible!

Do you use it as a grow lamp between shows?

 

[TitanSound]

Do you use it as a grow lamp between shows?

The username would suggest so

 

[Crispy]

I'm amazed that the 35mm film just flows through the free air in and out of the projector. It must pick up loads of dust

 

[skyscraper101]

One of the most noticeable things about digital projectors is the lack of magnified dust particles on the screens IME.

 

[Idaho]

Top thread

It's making me want to go to the cinema and bore Ms Idaho with my new found knowledge.

 

[Crispy]

One of the most noticeable things about digital projectors is the lack of magnified dust particles on the screens IME.

And the absolutely rock-steady picture. You can tell it's digital when the BBFC certificate doesn't wobble about

 

[Redeyes]

I'm amazed that the 35mm film just flows through the free air in and out of the projector. It must pick up loads of dust

One of the main things we did when we had 35mm was to make sure we swept and mopped regularly and cleaned out the film gate and path after every show.

We also had to check the films when they were on screen every half an hour or so to make sure a hair hadn't found it's way onto the aperture plate and was dancing away in the middle of the image.

And the absolutely rock-steady picture. You can tell it's digital when the BBFC certificate doesn't wobble about

After doing this job for the last 10 years it was a joy to behold a rock solid BBFC cert.



One of the best things about digital for me is knowing that the image will be perfect for every show. It did my head in when we'd get a scratch on the 35mm and I knew people were paying good money to watch a poorly presented show.

 

[19sixtysix]

Redeyes as a projectionist what do you think about the resolution and quality of the digital product? So far in the digital cinemas I been to, I have not been impressed by the digital copy. They all seem to have a problem with slow panned scenes looking jerky.

 

[Crispy]

oh god, I remember seeing attack of the clones and it was terrible. Lucas used 1080p resolution cameras and then even cropped that for closeups where he'd only shot wide. Compression and noise all over the image. Looked awful. Shit movie too, but it could have looked so much better.

But that's not about projectors, so I'll shut up

 

[Pingu]

Rarely has a poster's question been so comprehensively answered - nice one Redeyes!

indeed

i have learnt stuff from this thread

 

[skyscraper101]

Trufact. The BBFC certificate that you see on screen is a piece of black card which is filmed for a few seconds. We had the actual card for one of our films when I worked at Warners.

 

[Crispy]

surely they make them on computers now!

also, wouldn't it be easier to make it on white card and then invert the colours in the lab?

 

[Redeyes]

Redeyes as a projectionist what do you think about the resolution and quality of the digital product? So far in the digital cinemas I been to, I have not been impressed by the digital copy. They all seem to have a problem with slow panned scenes looking jerky.

After having looked at 35mm everyday since I started working in the cinema, which was back in 1997, I am really impressed with how the films look on screen at our place.

Bear in mind though that we are using the Sony Cine Alta 4K projectors which can not only display 4K images but also upscales 2K images to 4K.

2K being slightly higher res than 1080p and 4K being four times the res of 2K

I'd stick my neck out and say that the Sony projectors put out an image that is as good as a perfectly presented 35mm show.

I've not had chance to see any films shown on other digital cinema projectors though so can't really comment on the quality of those. Though I do know most of the digital projectors currently being used in cinemas are only 2K.

 

[Idaho]

So what's happening to all the old 35m films? Is there going to be a boom in independent cinemas as they will be able to buy up libraries of old films?

 

[Buddy Bradley]

Another question: How do you do the adverts, previews and cinema warnings (don't smoke, turn off your phones, etc.) that are shown before the feature? Are they all on separate disks and need to be cued up manually, or do you just stick a chunk of data on the front of each feature and let the whole thing play? Do the distributors or the cinema chain decide which trailers go with which feature?

And how did it used to work when showing 35mm features?

 

[kyser_soze]

Redeyes: very quiet on the subject of multi-use lamp technologies

 

[souljacker]

Another question: How do you do the adverts, previews and cinema warnings (don't smoke, turn off your phones, etc.) that are shown before the feature? Are they all on separate disks and need to be cued up manually, or do you just stick a chunk of data on the front of each feature and let the whole thing play? Do the distributors or the cinema chain decide which trailers go with which feature?

And how did it used to work when showing 35mm features?

And where, in the name of god, do you get that horrible orange 'cheese' that goes on the Nachos you can buy to eat? Because whoever makes it needs to be shot.

 

[kyser_soze]

That's just standard pre-cut cheesy single slices stuff. You can buy it from supermarkets.