Well folks, Mr Adrenal sent in this screaming letter in bold all caps. And... well news about Digital Theaters... well, I think it should be in ALL CAPS. Until I see a demonstration with my own eyes, I won't believe the quality of it. There is a part of me that would just love to see it come to pass, but... well I've always had a love affair with film, the type you can hold up to light and see a tangible progression of motion. I like the soundtrack in the margin and the sprocket holes. My eyes love 24 frames a second, but all of this opens the world of filmmaking up to a larger audience. It is... quite honestly the dream that Lucas spoke of in that WIRED interview a long time ago. Well they had a meeting in Denver... here's what one spy, Mr Adrenal, took from that meeting... I'm sure to see some talk back on this...
THERE WAS A BIG MEETING IN DENVER THIS WEEK AND THE TOPIC OF MOST OF THE MEETING WAS DIGITAL MOVIES. DIGITAL MOVIES WOULD BE RELATIVELY CHEAP FOR THE STUDIOS BUT WOULD COST THEATER OWNERS ROUGHLY $100,000.00 PER SCREEN TO HOOK UP THE EQUIPMENT. TO LOOK AT IT FROM A STUDIO'S POINT OF VIEW, THIS IS A MAJOR MONEYSAVER. THE PRICE TAG FOR MOST PRINTS MADE FOR THEATERS IS AROUND $1500.00. SO EVERY THEATER PLAYING THE MOVIE WOULD HAVE TO MAKE AT LEAST THE PRINT COST FOR THE STUDIO TO COME OUT EVEN. SMALL TOWNS USUALLY DON'T IN MOST INSTANCES DURING THE FALL AND SPRING MONTHS WHICH ARE THE SLOWEST TIMES OF THE YEAR. WHERE DIGITAL MOVIES COME IN, THE PRINT WOULD ONLY HAVE TO BE MADE ONCE. THEN A SIGNAL WOULD BE BEAMED TO EACH THEATER PLAYING THE MOVIE. HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A MOVIE WITH LONG BLACK OR GREEN SCRATCHES RUNNING UP AND DOWN THE SCREEN? WELL WITH THIS NEW TECHNOLOGY THIS WOULD BE ERASED BECAUSE THE MOVIE IS NOT RUNNING THROUGH A PROJECTOR THAT THE PROJECTIONIST COULD ACCIDENTALLY SCREW UP. TO LOOK AT IT FROM THE THEATER OWNERS' POINT OF VIEW, SPENDING THAT KIND OF MONEY TO INSTALL EQUIPMENT IS NOT EASY, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE A SMALL TOWN THEATER. BUT ON THE PLUS SIDE, SMALL TOWNS COULD BOOK ANY MOVIE THEY WANTED TO. NO MOVIE WOULD BE JUST REGULATED TO LIMITED RUNS. IF YOU HAVE A FOUR SCREEN THEATER AND WANTED TO PLAY SOMETHING ADVENTUROUS AND SMALL LIKE "ELIZABETH" OR "ORGAZMO" OR ART HOUSE MOVIES, YOU COULD. THIS TECHNOLOGY IS READY TO GO AND IS JUST WAITING FOR APPROVAL. THOUGHT I'D LET YOU KNOW.
