The most obvious one to start with is digitial stereoscopic cinema, or digital 3D, as this was by far the biggest topic. By now, pretty much everyone has woken up to the fact that digital 3D is the only visible differentiator that digital cinema has over 35mm film. This despite the fact that I attended my first digital 3D demo at ShoWest 2004, i.e. three years ago, albeit of a prototype set-up in a hotel room in Flamingo. What is perhaps most remarkable is how long it took Texas Instruments, maker of the DLP Cinema chip and hence keepers of the digital cinema flame, to wake up to this USP of their technology. Now even Sony are trying to get in on it with their SXRD projectors. But more about that in a minute.
We've only had three digital 3D features to day: Chicken Little, Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas and Monster House and as any of the studio technologists who had worked on either will tell you, there were heaps of problems to be overcome, not least in creating the 8-12 versions that had to be sent out (that's DCPs, not local language versions). But now we have Disney's Meet the Robinsons out and playing in digital 3D in over 600 locations, so we have reached the tipping point where digital 3D crosses over into the mass market. This article from the Detroit Free Press confirms this:
There are only about 600 theaters whose owners have been convinced that the new 3-D is not a fad or a gimmick, useful only for making an audience duck when baseballs or other objects seem to be hurled from the screen.
But if "Meet the Robinsons" is a success, more theater owners will be induced to buy the necessary projection equipment. (At present, theater owners want the studios to foot the bill, just as they do with basic digital projection.)
What it will take to bring about this change is the release of a blockbuster exclusively in 3-D digital. (Most theaters will show "Meet the Robinsons" in the flat, two-dimensional version). And that is exactly what is promised in 2009, when "Titanic" director James Cameron releases the live-action sci-fi fantasy-adventure "Avatar."
The hype and hoopla around "Avatar" is certain to be on a "Star Wars" level, which will mean every theater chain will want to have it on three or four screens. And once that technology is in place, more filmmakers will embrace it, first for animated films and action-driven spectacle -- as in "Mission: Impossible IV: 3-D" or the resurrection of the "Star Trek" franchise -- and then, as we adjust to and expect it, for everything that comes after.
At the pre-ShoWest meeting of EDCF Bob Kisor of Paramount predicted that by 2009 there would be enough digital 3D films out to keep at least one screen in a multiplex occupied full time with nothing but 3D films. Paramount will be the third studio to release a digital 3D title when Beowulf comes out later this year, by which time there will be over 1,000 screens equipped to show it in digital 3D. The Financial Times has a good, if not too deep, summary of the situation in an its article 'Hollywood sees its box office future in 3D revival'. A further note of optimism was injected by Jeffrey Katzenberg of Dreamworks Animation, who are going into CGI digital 3D in the near future, according to the article in Hollywood Reporter:
Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation, which is readying two 3-D films for 2009, predicted that moviegoers will some day own their own glasses for 3-D viewing much like they own sunglasses today.He also added some interesting news./gossip, such as the Pixar and Disney were considering releasing Toy Story 3 in digital 3D and that given enough screens, Dreamwork's 2009 title Monsters vs Aliens would only be released in digital 3D in cinemas and 2D would be saved for the DVD.
He said that moviegoers will gladly pay up to a 50% premium to watch 3-D films in a theater and that such a scenario will make the debate over collapsing distribution windows largely irrelevant. He noted that the exhibition industry hasn't used variable pricing strategies to boost it fortunes nearly to the extent that other industries have.
And one more added benefit: 3-D movies can't be easily pirated.
So what did we actually see at ShoWest? There were three major digital 3D events. The company that is behind most of the installations in the US and around the world, Real D, showed clips from films (the Robinson trailer). But as the Thursday event was billed as 'Hollywood and Beyond' they also went into some ODS (other digital stuff), primarily the two documentaries that they will be releasing with National Geographics, so expect lions and sea monsters in digital 3D at your local multiplex. More interestingly we were shown clips from the U2 concert in 3D. It was impressive, but to truly have been blown away I would have want to have seen it live.
Presented by Sony ElectronicsSony caught some flack for pulling of this demo by stacking two SXRD 4K projectors, something that no-one is likely to be doing in their projection booth. I have less of a problem with this, as I'm sure that the technology will be good enough to be doing it with one projector within a couple of years. Also, the event was not about the Sony projector but about the ODS potential of digital 3D, as demonstrated by the 3ality production. Yet, there was a 'us-too' aspect to it in the fact that Sony does not want to be seen to be left behind in the rush to digital 3D.
Alternative content for your digital theater moves to the next level with live events in 3-D. As demonstrated during the NBA All-Star Game weekend, sporting and concert events captured - live - by 3D Digital Camera Systems and exhibited - live - in 3D provide a new and more compelling theater experience. Game enthusiasts competing together in multiple HD windows on a single 4K projector can provide a way to monetize off-hours in your theater. A panel of Industry Experts will discuss the moneymaking implications of these new content avenues. Examples of gaming content and 3D "live" sports content will be exhibited during the session.
Seeing the NBA basketball game in digital 3D was a revelation, even for an anti-sports person like myself, because it proved the valibity of the less-is-more adage. In this case it proved that less close ups, fast cuts, fast pans and zooms and general camera trickery, made for a more involving experience. The cinema screen is not your television at home and it is large enough for the audience to look where they want and let the eye follow the ball, rather than the camera. The whole event was captured with just six cameras and I didn't feel it needed any more. Plus, both Wayne Newton, Christina Aguillera and the cheerleeders looked great in digital 3D.
The third and last event was an invitation only demo in the Dolby room, where the company gave a preview of the new technology for displaying digital 3D that they are still working on in their lab. While it is far form ready for prime time, it has advanced much foruther than I thought it had. Put briefly, it combines the advantages of using cheap plastic glasses with not having to put in place a silver screen but keeping your normal old and dirty single-gain perf screen.
The clips were unimportant (Spy Kids 3-D and IMAX documentary Bugs), the techonlogy interesting (a spinning colour wheel between the lamp and the DLP Cinema chips that could allow for higher light output), but the business model was a killer. Unlike Real D, Dolby will not tie you in to a long-term licence fee. You buy the 3D-enabled digital cinema server and that's it. Other than the glasses, which will be cheap, there are no recurring fees. This is a return to the traditional Dolby business model of selling boxes and making money on mastering services.
I will return to this issue in the next ShoWest summary in discussing the technology and particularly why the server future belongs to Dolby, Doremi and Qube.
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