Tom Kershaw
Subscriber
I think long term means centuries.
As quick as that?Tom Kershaw said:I think long term means centuries.
Wigwam Jones said:Sorry, I would have posted my reply here, but it was too long.
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Smooches,
Wiggy
Kino said:Oh to live in your world of absolutes, Wiggy.
Too bad we don't know enough to quit right now.
Somehow, I'll take your ironclad answer with a grain of salt and continue in this doomed enterprise called film.
Andy K said:Weathermen are often wrong.
Wigwam Jones said:However, if it makes more sense to play make-believe based on no facts whatever, then perhaps it will not rain anyway, so by all means press on.
No point in attempting to make informed decisions about what the future may hold - it could be wrong, so let's all live in utter ignorance.
Happy days indeed.
Andy K said:Wow! That's touchy! You got all that from a four word statement?
Kino said:Oh to live in your world of absolutes, Wiggy.
Too bad we don't know enough to quit right now.
Somehow, I'll take your ironclad answer with a grain of salt and continue in this doomed enterprise called film.
Andy K said:Wow! That's touchy! You got all that from a four word statement?
Wigwam Jones said:Any attempt to put together information, draw conclusions, and support them with reason and logic is seen as an attack. How unfortunate.
I never suggested anyone "quit now."
I spoke with the authority of reason, but indicated that I am ready to be proven wrong, and would in fact welcome it.
And I intend to continue to use film as well, for as long as I can economically obtain it.
This is why everyone hates the weatherman. It doesn't change the weather, though.
Wigwam Jones said:Sorry, I would have posted my reply here, but it was too long.
Dead Link Removed
Smooches,
Wiggy
JBrunner said:Your assessment of the motion picture industry is incorrect.
Steve Smith said:
Wigwam Jones said:Sorry, I would have posted my reply here, but it was too long.
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Smooches,
Wiggy
Kino said:I have known excellent weathermen, you, dear sir, are not a weatherman.
Wigwam Jones said:How so?
Terence said:I mostly agree with your reasoning, as it applies to color film. Black & white film has been a niche market for two decades, though, and I think will stick it out longer than color by a fair margin. How long? Who knows. The upside being that aside from the film itself, everything else for b&w photography (developers, fixers, paper, etc) can be readily made at home, albeit with some small forays into the "alternative" processes.
Again, worse comes to worst, I have a couple thousand feet of 70mm B&W film for medium format and can convert my large format to wet-plate, etc.
JBrunner said:It's not 1930. Theatre owners (or rather the giant corporations that own theatres) are not resistant to digital distribution and projection. They want it, and they want it bad.
The resistance to digital delivery and projection is coming from just about everybody else in the industry.
Also, the gap between video technology and motion picture film is vast, compared to still technology, and video is cleary, painfully, inferior to film to even a lay person when projected.
New theater opens Friday
Date June 03, 2006
By Keith Barnes
...
The opening features on all 10 screens are all first-run movies, but on this particular occasion the movies being shown take a back seat to the building itself.
...
The modern facility, to be called Carmike 10, will feature state-of-the-art digital projection, a relatively new concept to the movie industry but one that viewers will soon appreciate.
Few theaters are completely digital, and this is among the first anywhere to use all-digital technology on every screen.
Digital projection offers sharper and crisper screen images with more vibrant colors, and officials promise that viewers will quickly recognize the difference in quality.
Bottom line- very few producers will risk compromise. Currently there is no real consumable digital product available for the theatres to project, even though they want to, and the distributors will make sure there isn't, unless they can insure their cut.
Most working directors of photography despise video origination, and indeed it is a huge step backwards, in pretty much every way. That is why (hype aside) 99.9% of motion pictures are quietly shot on film. Were not talking about wannabes here, were talking about the big and small dogs who's work you see in a theatre. There are far far fewer luddites on APUG than in the motion picture industry.
The stock running through a motion picture picture camera is a completely different emulsion type than what consumers shoot in SLR's. It's continued viability does not depend at all on consumer sales, but rather it's continued use in professional application in motion picture cameras.
The amount of film used in one movie is staggering. Even the piddly little movies I shoot grind through between 100,000-250,000 feet of film in 12-18 days. Six movies in SLC right now. Thats about a million and a half feet of film this month shot in this backwater.The consumer market could vaporize tomorrow and it would have no effect on motion picture stock. The division would grind on happily making film and money for Kodak.
Digital & Film Imaging Systems (D&FIS) Segment
Sales from continuing operations of the D&FIS segment for 2005, 2004 and 2003 were (in millions) $8,460, $9,366 and $9,415, respectively.
This segment combines digital and traditional photography and imaging services in all its forms, including consumer, professional and motion
picture. ...
Digital product offerings are replacing some of the traditional film products at varying rates. For example, the workflow improvements offered by
digital are having relatively more significant effects in the professional markets, while digital is having little impact in the entertainment markets.
The materials to make motion picture film are hardly so exotic that they will preclude the manufacture of it for people who are willing to pay.
Kodak considers its motion picture imaging division its untouchable golden boy, the cash cow that will fund their flopping and ill directed efforts at becoming a "digital" company.
They are different emulsions, different products, so the "Hollywood still uses film, so I will always be able to buy film for my SLR" is incorrect, as you wrote, but not for the reasons you stated.
Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC (DCI) was created in March 2002, as a joint venture of Disney, Fox, MGM, Paramount, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal and Warner Bros. Studios. DCI's primary purpose is to establish and document voluntary specifications for an open architecture for digital cinema that ensures a uniform and high level of technical performance, reliability and quality control. DCI will also facilitate the development of business plans and strategies to help spur deployment of digital cinema systems in movie theaters.
Brit Film Future Is Digital
By Jason Silverman
The Digital Screen Network, an initiative of the U.K. Film Council, is providing government funds for installation of digital projectors in commercial theaters. The program will disburse an estimated $25 million to install approximately 250 digital projectors in theaters throughout the United Kingdom. (By comparison, there are currently about 120 digital projectors in U.S. movie houses.) Applications for funding closed Dec. 10.
JBrunner said:Couple of things without needing to belabor everything:
Goerge Lucas is a microcosm, resposible for a microscopic amount of product viewed in the scale of the industry as a whole, but he is always drug out when this subject comes up. Steven Spielberg said "I will shoot film until the last lab closes down" Same thing.
Also the way I understood the report Big Yellow is losing money hand over fist with digital, and the motion picture and medical sales are whats keeping them afloat. IDK for sure because who knows whats spun what way for what end. Anyway, very interesting.
The Film & Photofinishing Systems segment performed essentially on expectation, as we rapidly reduce our manufacturing assets and employment in line with revenue decline.
Moving onto the Film and Photo-finishing Group, revenues declined 28%, as a result of continuing secular declines in consumer film and photo finishing. In the quarter, the motion picture film portfolio was down 7%, largely due to unfavorable foreign exchange, more conservative release strategies by the major studios, and an increase in the proportion of independent versus studio feature film releases.
Operator: And we'll take our next question from Laura Starr with Equinox Capital Management.
Laura Starr: I just wanted to ask a question about the film - the Entertainment Imaging business. It was down seven percent in the first quarter. When you look to the second quarter, the line-up of blockbuster sort of movies coming out over the next three months is much higher than last year. Are you expecting the comparison this year in second quarter versus last year to be much higher?
Antonio Perez: Hi, Laura. Yes. It went down in the first quarter. We think this is caused by poor content content that hasn't been accepted by the audiences. This is factual data: in North America, the attendance has grown two to three percent this year. The number of people going to see movies has gone up.
Laura Starr: Right. And the box office is up too, this year.
Antonio Perez: Yes. And their revenue is about five percent up. This is before Memorial Day weekend, which is normally the time when all the blockbusters that you mentioned are ready to come into play. So, I don't know how those are going to be received. We're optimistic but we keep saying the same thing we said before we expect this business to re-flourish.
We don't expect this business to grow significantly or go down significantly. On the other hand, we have seen a shortening in what is called the theatrical window - the time from movies going to the theatres and then coming into DVD's. It does not seem to affect the number of attendees to the theatres. We're doing well with our digital program. Our preshow digital we are actually the largest supplier of independent theatres as far as preshow
digital projection. We have about 2,000 installations already in place. We have a system that can actually perform through HD. We are ready for whatever happens - although it's going to happen slowly. There are going to be some pilots this year and next year and the year after. This is going to be, in our view, a long process and a hybrid industry and we'll be working through it.
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