Re: Kodak shrinks with changing times
on 3/10/07 18:52, Ryuji Suzuki at rs@silvergrain.org wrote: > One thing that news reporters never seem to learn is that the > biggest users of films are those who don't have cameras. On > one end there is a big market for release prints of motion > picture, and on another end there is medical imaging > application. I didn't post the following here as it was mainly a digital issue, but a week or two ago I went to see the Pixar film, "Ratatouille" (which is great fun) A card appeared at the end of the appallingly presented ex TV converted for cinema commercials which said something like "Kodak Digital Projection Presents" I pricked up my ears, or whatever the visual equivalent is. The images were probably the best that I've seen in any cinema at any time, no dust, no scratches, no weave (almost all cinema projectors do this, usually imperceptibly) no jumps from badly spliced patchups by projectionists, resolution sharp right to the ends of the rat's whiskers, clean shadows and highlights. I spoke to the projectionist afterwards, and I'm told that the distribution of this format is made by shipping a hard drive. The normal means of distribution, which has been the norm since early last century, is to ship around very heavy steel cases containing release prints on 2,000 ft spools. These need, in most cinemas these days, to be made up into very large rolls for the platter projectors, and broken down at the end of the season. Judging numbers of release prints required and circulating them is an enormous cost in the motion picture business. I'm sure that the savings in warehousing and shipping of release prints, the quality of presentation, the flexibility of programming, are obvious. Poor houses? Grab another picture on hard drive. Great houses, could run in 2 cinemas? Grab another copy on hard drive. How far are we from a central "release print" distribution point without even the hard drive transportation requirement? BTW the cinema that I saw this "film" in was not a NY or LA premium first release top ender, just the local multiplex in an outer Sydney suburban shopping mall. I've not seen a non-animated production via digital projection, perhaps someone who has can comment? I love(d) film in my cutting room days, its tactility and the joys of holding a 24th of a second in my hand, but the few occasions that I dealt with releases and all the hassles with prints were a pain. Regards - Ross =========================== Ross Chambers Blue Mountains New South Wales Australia maelduin@ozemail.com.au ===========================
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