Digital Cinema Projection - Research

History

In the early 1990s, non-linear editing systems were introduced, quickly dominating post-production within a few short years. By 1995, CDs were able to store a full-length feature film, and in 1999 DLP cinema technology was publicly demonstrated on four screens in the US, showing 'Star Wars: The Phantom Menace' (George Lucas, 1999). Gradually, throughout the 2000s more and more cinemas were being equipped with 2K digital projectors, with 'Star Wars: Attack of the Clones' (George Lucas, 2002) being the first film to be shot and distributed entirely digital, without a single roll of film. Whilst digital cameras and editing is not new, all-digital distribution and projection of films has only arrived recently, and motion picture film is subsequently estimated to end in 2015. As of summer 2014, over 90% of the screens in the US have been converted to digital, with nearly half of them 3D capable.

How it works

A digital cinema screen also requires a digital projector and a server. The films are supplied physically to the cinema via hard-drives and range from 90-300GB in size. Trailers also arrive in the same format separately, ranging from 200-400mb in size. After this, the 'digital cinema package' must be ingested into the hard-drives of the server, usually via USB - and for feature films must be de-crypted using a key provided by the distributor via email. After this, a member of staff creates a playlist for the content on the server, which can also automate cues such as lighting and sound in the cinema. 

Positives and Negatives of DCP

For film distributors, DCP is very economical. Printing an average-length feature on film can cost millions, whereas with digitally distributed films all that is needed is a hard drive and a 'broad release of digital prints'. However, many exhibitors refused to purchase equipment to replace film projectors as they were expensive and they would not see the savings. Therefore a subsidy, a 'Virtual Print Fee' was provided to exhibitors to go towards the purchasing of the equipment needed to show a film digitally.

One of the drawbacks of digital cinema projection is that the playback system (server, projector, media block) can cost 2-3 times as much as standard film projectors but has a greater risk of failure and obsolescence - film projectors can be expected to have an average life of 30-40 years by contrast. Digital storage is also unreliable and hasn't been around long enough to see whether they can be stored and archived like film. The content must also be periodically transferred to up-to-date media which adds to costs and complications. 

Arguments over quality have been made both for and against digital film. Supporters of film projection highlight that the 'theoretical resolution' of 35mm film is greater than that of 2K digital cinema (which is only slightly greater than consumer 1080p HD). Advocators of DCP argue that digital is better than film, as it is, by nature, immune to scratches, fading or jitter. There is 'total fidelity' at every screening, seeing the film the way its creators intended it. With the move to higher resolution cameras and projectors, capable of screening 4K - the difference in resolution between digital and film becomes negligible.

Criticisms of DCP

Many high profile directors have publicly criticized digital cinema, such as Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino. On the other hand, directors such as David Lynch, Steven Soderbergh and James Cameron shoot in digital (with the format being a necessity to Cameron to shoot in 3D). In a recent interview for Empire, Cameron discusses the technology for the Avatar sequels, which will be shot in a high frame rate similar to the Hobbit films. Despite the public reaction against the higher frame rate (HFR), he believes strongly that, whereas 3D was 'fundamentally different' to 2D, HFR is an improvement that he and Jackson are pioneering.

'What they're bumping up against is the limitations of the projection, 

that's been like that for almost a hundred years' 

- James Cameron

In this video, Tarantino denounces DCP as 'television in public' and the death of cinema 'as I know it'. He describes this generation of film-makers as 'hopeless' and hopes that the next will realise what was lost with the death of film and bring it back. 'There's no reason to leave the house if the quality of home theatres rivals that of in the cinemas.'

Recent films that have been shot on film include 'Django Unchained' (Quentin Tarantino, 2012), 'The Dark Knight Rises' (Christopher Nolan, 2012), 'Lincoln' (Steven Spielberg, 2012) and 'The Master' (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012). Christopher Nolan continues to champion the use of film in cinema, shooting his films on 35mm and increasing lengths of them in 70mm IMAX format. The latest of which is 'Interstellar' (Christopher Nolan, 2014) which the featurette below explores. 

The documentary 'Side by Side' (Christopher Kenneally, 2012), featuring and produced by Keanu Reeves, explores the ongoing transition from film to digital and includes interviews with a number of the above mentioned directors, sharing their views on the future of cinema and projection.