Digital Technology and the Film Industry

Production - Digital technology has seen huge advances to the film industry. Films can be shot straight onto a Hard Drive rather than using a reel of film which is first of all MUCH cheaper (An average length feature film print costs around £700), also HardDrivess are smaller so they cost less to transport, and can hold much more footage than rolls of film. This allows more creativity in shooting a film as the low cost enables experimentation. Digital tehnology has opened more opertunities in post production aswell. This means that colours, lighting etc can be edited. It also introduces the possibilty of CGI which enables imaginative scenes that would be impossible to shoot profilmically.

Distribution - Delivery of film reels etc to cinemas has been a costly process in the past and the use of digital technology would irradicate this, enabling cinemas to download the encrypted film directly. Also, digital technology has introduced DVDs, a more appealing non-linear way of experiencing a film; there are often special features like deleted scenes, subtitles in several languages and interactive content. However, due to the publics increasing access to advanced technology, piracy is becoming more common, lowering cinema ticket sales because people are seeing the films before they are shown for example on illegal vidoe hosting sites on the internet. Hollywood claims piracy has cost it $6bn (£3.2bn), digitising films means that copies are easily made and distributed illegally which is a big threat to the industry.

Exhibition - A projection of a 35mm film roll picks up any imperfection in the frames like dust or scratches, impairing the visual experience whereas a projection of a film shot digitally gives a crystal clear picture, just as the director intended on any scale, from your ipod nano scrento a cinema. Advances in technology have introduced home cinema systems to the general public. This could be a threat to cinemas as one of the last deterrences of viewing DVDs or pirated films was the idea of the "cinema experience" beating any alternative, as this high definition, big screen, high sound quality is being brought into peoples front rooms, they are less likely to pay for it elsewhere. However, digital projectors in cinemas will bring a wide range of new oppertunities as they will be able to project anything with a digital input- from a youtube video to multiplayer gaming, possibly turning the cinema into a universal entertainment centre