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Digital cinema

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For the recording digital images, see digital cinematography.

Digital cinema refers to the use of digital technology to distribute and project motion pictures. The final movie can be distributed electronically and projected using a digital projector instead of a conventional film projector. Note that digital cinema is distinct from high definition television and in particular, digital film is not completely dependent on using television or HDTV standards, aspect ratios, or frame rates, though recent developments in HDTV have led to a resurgence of related interest in using the HD format for digital cinema, known as HD cinema.

The resolutions

In this article, 2K refers to 2048x1080 (1.90:1) and 4K to 4096x2160 (1.90:1).

History

You must add a |reason= parameter to this Cleanup template – replace it with {{Cleanup|December 2005|reason=<Fill reason here>}}, or remove the Cleanup template.
 Recent (late 2005) interest in digital 3D stereo projection has led to a new willingness on the part of theaters to co-operate in installing limited number of 2K installations to show Disney's "Chicken Little" in 3D. Seven more digital 3D movies are slated for 2006 or 2007 release. This will likely increase the number of 2K installations to several hundred by the end of 2006. The cost of planned target format, 4K, is much greater, and will likely remain on hold until more results for 3D are evaluated. Other digital applications such as live sports are additional incentives. HD TV and pre-recorded HD Blu-ray disks, will put greater pressure on theaters to offer something better to compete with the improved home HD experience. 2K does not actually improve on the existing film prints, except in eliminating scratches, where 4K will likely look better than 35mm film. 3D, if it proves to be a factor, will look much better in the bigger 4K format.

Technology

The basic idea of digital filmmaking is simple: to use digital electronic cameras to capture and store motion images in binary data (similar in process to digital photography), as well as record synchronized digital audio. Thereafter the image and sound are edited via non-linear editing and then sent for projection in a theater with digital projectors or pressed straight for video in playback capacities like DVDs. In many cases though digital is transferred back to film for distribution, although this would lead to higher cost of production.

Digital capture

HD vrs. 2K and 4K formats

At this point, no movie directors are seriously using HD cameras to make theatrical films. Only a few directors, including Robert Rodriguez are using high-end digital cameras to do original photography. His recent Shark Boy and Lava Girl was a technical disaster, and his more successful Sin City was in a non-conventional black and white, high contrast format with a few color elements dropped in. For the time being, films will be shot on film, and perhaps composited to a digital intermediate "DI" (Digital intermediate). From the DI, they can go to film or digital release. Until 4K cameras are perfected, very little digital shooting for the theater market will likely occur.

Digital release of films may progress with 2K technology, but, on the other hand, may not. When 4K technology is available for releasing films, the odds are much better than the public will embrace the change. 3D is one of the factors driving the change over. 2K digital 3D only works well on fairly small screens. 4K, being four times bigger in file size, will allow much bigger and brighter 3D images. The advent of HD recorded disks for home HD monitors will raise the ante, so that digital theater presentations must look noticably better, or digital theaters will risk dying on the vine.



Digital projection

There are two types of projectors for digital cinema. The original one in the US was DLP technology. 1990s style DLP projectors used limited 1280 x 1024 resolution. These are widely used for pre-show advertizing but not feature shows. The Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) has included 2K (2048x1080) and 4K (4096x2160) resolutions in its plan.system specification for digital cinema. Christie Digital Systems, Inc. is the market leader in terms of units (CP2000 - 2K DCI compliant Digital Cinema Projector) sold and deployed internationally and has signed digital distribution agreements with the majority of Hollywood Studios through it's joint venture with Access Integrated Technologies. Sony has developed a projector intended for digital cinema, which has a resolution of 4096 x 2160 pixels.

Digital end-to-end has failed to gain traction, so far

During October 23-29, 1998, The Last Broadcast became the first film to be end-to-end digitally produced and distributed when it was exhibited in theaters in Providence, Orlando, Philadelphia, Portland, and Minneapolis, transmitted by satellite and projected with DLP projectors, 7 months before Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace was distributed to digital cinemas electronically. This Star Wars film would become the first time a film was projected digitally at a movie theatre for a paying audience, led by CineComm Digital Cinema. (CineComm founder Russell J. Wintner would go on to lead digital cinema development at Technicolor, and later at Access Integrated Technologies, Inc.) Recently, with the growing interest in 3D, a re-birth of the "still-born" digital revolution has been taking place on a small but encouraging scale. Chicken Little from Disney, with it's experimental release of the film in digital 3D, may lead to growth in the projection base, in 2K format. Several digital 3D films will surface in 2006 to test the concept further.

Culture

There are some like George Lucas or Robert Rodriguez who think celluloid is as good as dead and the future is an all-digital medium. It should be noted that Rodriguez had a very poor financial result from his disasterous Shark Boy and Lava Girl and his other film, Sin City for 2005 was mostly in an unconventional form of black & white. Directors such as Steven Soderbergh and Michael Mann have filmed some parts of their most recent pictures on digital. Many think digital filmmaking will democratize the world of film and point out how inexpensive shooting digitally can be considering the cost of film, especially if the output is on video as a movie can be edited on a home computer and burned to DVD. (Many would characterize this as wishful idealism, as film and laboratory work are only about 1% of the cost of a Hollywood or even "Bollywood" style production) but it is part of the "cultural" background of the issue.

Given the constant year-on-year improvements in digital cinema technology, it appears that the future of cinema is likely to be digital within the next 10 to 20 years. However, digital cinema still has some way to go before it can completely replace film.

For the last 100 years all movies have been shot on film and nearly every film student learns about how to handle 35mm film. Digital, especially the super high-definition equipment, has not had the time to become as widely accepted, though the growing popularity of HD video camera (less than 2K) equipment in the television domain will certainly have an effect to spur development of theatrical grade 4K cameras and post-production facilities.

Some purists would argue that digital does not have the same "feel" as a movie shot on film. While this may be a matter of personal preference more than anything, digital cameras have been evolving quickly and quality is improving dramatically from each generation of hardware to the next. Also many counter-argue that because most films are developed back to film when distributed to theatres the film's 'feel' returns to the audience. While today's digital cameras cannot achieve the same level of quality as 35 mm film some believe clarity and color are "good enough". 70 mm offers a sharper picture, but is now considered obsolete. IMAX remains well out of reach for now, since the equivalent resolution (around 30 megapixels) is far beyond the capability of any digital motion picture camera today. The compromise, 6 perf. 35mm format, delivers 4K for a low cost, so might find a place with 3D and to "recover" the lost 70mm roadshow market.

It is also hard to say how democratized cinema would become if it were to turn all digital. There are over 5,000 films shot a year in digital. With such a huge supply, a digital filmmaker has difficulty getting seen and, therefore, often doesn't get the upper hand in distribution negotiations. It has actually given more power to large distribution companies, because now they can play the gatekeepers, in picking which films are seen and which are not.

Technical Challenges

Film is in many ways more portable than its high quality digital counterparts. The chemical process initiated by exposing film to light give reliable results, that are well documented and understood by cinematographers. In contrast every digital camera has a unique response to light and it is very difficult to predict without viewing the results on a monitor or a waveform analyser, increasing the complexity of lighting. However, accurate calibration techniques are being developed which eliminate this as a practical problem, and the possibility of inexpensive post-production color grading can make digital cinematography more flexible than film in achieving artistic color effects.

More seriously, most digital cameras have an insufficient exposure latitude when compared to film, increasing the difficulties of filming in a high contrast situation, such as direct sunlight. This is a much greater problem, because if highlight or shadow information is not present in the recorded image, it is lost forever, and cannot be re-created by any form of exposure curve compensation. Cinematographers can learn how to adjust for this type of response using techniques garnered from shooting on Reversal film that has a similar lack of latitude in the highlights. Digital video is also more sensitive than film stocks in low light conditions, allowing smaller, more efficient and natural lighting to be used for shooting. Some directors have tried the "best for the job" route, using digital video for indoor or night shoots, but using traitional film for daylight work outdoors.

Economics

Digital cinema has some big economic advantages over film. Digital video is very cheap compared to film. For instance Rick McCallum, a producer on Attack of the Clones, said that it cost US$16,000 for 220 hours of digital tape where a comparable amount of film would have cost US$1.8 million. Obviously this matters most to low-budget films which are often shot for a few million dollars or less.

Digital cinema can also reduce costs while shooting and editing. It is possible to see the video and make any necessary adustments immediately instead of having to wait until after the film is processed. Digital footage can also be edited directly, whereas with film it is usually converted to digital for editing and then re-converted to film for projection.

Digital cinema has also big advantages when it comes to distribution. Making and distributing copies is a lot easier with digital files than with physical film. A film print can cost up to $2000 so making 4000 prints or for a wide-release movie can cost up to $8 million.

Any film needing the 4000 prints would likely have an $80,000,000 budget, so the added cost would only be 10% over the production cost. To put things in perspecive, any film with a production budget below $800,000 (1% of the average cost of production) would likely have no theatrical release whatever (go direct to cable or video). If it did reach the theaters, the first risk of print cost, might be only 200 copies or far less. If it proves a hit, in limited release, there is no problem getting more prints made.

On the downside the upfront costs for converting theaters to digital are high: up to US$150,000. Theaters may be reluctant to switch without a cost-sharing arrangement with distributors. Another potential downside is that digital copies may be more vulnerable to piracy than film.

It should be noted that for the last 25 years, many respectable people (like Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas) have made the claim digital will make films cheaper to produce. However, in the last 25 years, we have seen the average production budget jump by 400% (from $20 million to $80 million) despite the embracing of many new digital equiptment and techniques. Movies are continually spending more and more on CGI and new editing. On average, they spend far more on CGI than 1950s and 1960s epics did on special effects and extras (even after inflation). This is rarely discussed in the digital vs. film debate.

Digital cinema companies

See also

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