4D, facelifts and the best Sci-Fi ever

It'll come as a surprise to no one that when the trailer for Avatar went online on Apple's site it broke the download record with over 4 million streams. Cinema audiences will finally be able to view this much hyped epic, first conceived by James Cameron over 14 years ago, in full 3D glory when it hits the big screens on 18 December. You can catch Cameron sharing his views on 3D here. And fans of 3D will be thrilled with the news that 3D adverts are on the way.

However, as the engaging, intelligent, beautifully shot, thoroughly thought proving and deliberately low tech Moon proves, it takes more than good CGI to make a good sci-fi movie.

My favourite film related story of the week is the announcement of a new "digi-novel" - a combination of book, movie and website and a taste of things to come as traditionally separate mediums of entertainment start to have fun together. Check out the full story here. While although not cinema related, the slightly unnerving prospect of a digital advertising system that watches you also caught my eye.

Back to cinema and there's plenty of news pouring out of the UK. 4D cinema hits the headlines as the London Eye opens a new 4D cinema attraction, which they've billed as the greatest cinema attraction in the world. And plans are afoot to merge the UK's two flagship film bodies - the UK Film Council and the British Film Institute. Full story here.

UK independents worried about the cost of digital and the very real prospect of going out of business if they don't find the cash to convert, have been thrown a possible lifeline by the Cinema Exhibitors' Association. The Association has confirmed its plans to establish a funding group that will seek the finance to aid the UK's smaller cinema operators to survive the big switch over. Closer to home my much loved local - the Cameo - is asking its cinema goers to help them raise the cash to fund a facelift for this historic old gem.

And to end where I started, in the realm of good sci-fi, Blade Runner has recently been voted the greatest sci-fi film of all time.

3D – third time lucky

The first half of 2009 has seen bumper takings at the UK box office – is it the bad weather, good content or 3D? Every major studio now has a 3D release out there and according to the BBC it’s third time lucky for this twice failed wonder format. This week the BBC have also rather helpfully explained just how 3D works. While elsewhere plans are afoot to create Europe’s first 3D TV channel.

What the long term future of 3D actually is, no one knows and it’s almost an aside as it’s the power of 3D to drive forward the digital conversion that everyone is really interested in. Latest estimates claim that 20% of the world’s cinema screens will be digital by 2012. While the recently published UK Film Council’s Statistical Yearbook details that the UK currently has the most digital screens in the Europe – thanks largely to its Digital Screen Network.

What’s really caught my eye this week though is A Pilgrimage. Mark Cousins, Tilda Swinton and a band of 40 fellow adventurous cinema lovers are travelling with a mobile cinema across Scotland and taking in some fabulous scenery and rather splendid films along the way. Follow their progress here.

And finally, the top cinema story of the week is that the ghost of Norwich’s Cinema City has finally been caught on film.

Digital Futures

I’ve just come back from a digital cinema Training Day run by the Independent Cinema Office and my head is swimming. I’ve worked at a venue that’s part of the UK Film Council’s Digital Screen Network so I thought I knew a thing or two about dear old digital. However, what’s put me in a spin is not the practicalities and costs of this wonderful new format – it’s the possible potentials it holds. The flexibility of digital means that all the old systems we’ve been working with for decades could start breaking down.

For example, the definition of a cinema. Digital allows a range of alternative content such as live shows and sporting events, gaming on screen. So where does being a cinema begin and end in a venue whose big screen experience could be anything from Gone With the Wind to live ballet to mass gaming? And why should venues be tied into block booking anymore, or long programmes when there are no physical prints to book or cart around the country? Are distributors still relevant in a system where expensive 35mm no longer have to be struck and directors/producers could go straight to bookers and venues with their films?

3D anyone? Well, for me the whole notion conjured up thoughts of bad 50s cheesy films or family friendly shows at Universal Studios. I was firmly entrenched in the frame of mind that the whole thing is a cheap gimmick with limited potential. All singing all dancing 3D titles maybe rolling out of the major studios, whether there’s the screens for them or not, but is it really the future of cinema? (If you want to find out more, check out this story in the New York Times a few days ago). Well some are saying big budget movies are the tip of the 3D iceberg (no bad James Cameron puns will be made at this point!) and that one day all films and all TV will be 3D. Meaning that this in your face format is the future and good old 2D will, like dear old black and white, be banished to the realms of nostalgia. Maybe - maybe not. 

One last thought to add to this blog entry. If/when Britain opens up and invests in digital and the day arrives when films can be downloaded into venues in the blink of an eye – what will this mean to the way we all, as exhibitors and programmers, work. Death of the programmer? Festivals curated through Facebook polling? And if a venue can upload as much content as it downloads, can it also embrace the roles of producer and distributor? And if we do, what happens to the industry when these three separate roles, which define the way we do business, start to disintegrate?

Digital or bust

Those of you who check out The Pixel Palace website on a regular basis may have already seen this blog detailing Pete Buckingham's (Head of Distribution and Exhibition, UK Film Council) belief that all cinemas without a digital projector will be doomed to closure in a few years time. And that we all need to start redefining what cinema actually is.

This is my favourite quote from the blog:

There is a wave of creativity to be unleashed if we accept that while our current cinemas were built to serve the interests of film exhibition they are no longer tied to that purpose.

Discuss..........