By Carolyn Giardina

Centennial, Colo.-headquartered National CineMedia–a venture of AMC Entertainment, Cinemark USA, and Regal Entertainment Group, three of the world’s leading theatrical exhibition companies–develops pre-feature entertainment; cinema and lobby advertising products; business communications and training services; and alternative forms of entertainment content for approximately 11,500 screens operated by its owner theatre circuits and other theatre affiliates (that number is expected to grow to 13,000 in ’06).

It also distributes its products and services across its Digital Content Network (DCN), an in-theatre digital distribution network that in ’06 will comprise approximately 10,600 digital North American theatre screens in 150 markets (49 of the top 50), reaching 565 million movie patrons annually.

Ken Venturi, National CineMedia’s VP of media production, believes that with some imagination, there can be many new opportunities offered by the cinema for both traditional advertising and branded content.

“Media [today] is cluttered and fragmented,” Venturi reasons. “Cinema offers a way to reach an audience in a highly focused and receptive way. It adds up to better recall value.

“There are also branded content opportunities becoming available but [require] viable outlets,” he adds. “Online is one venue, but I think it doesn’t compare with cinema. [Cinema] offers the highest profile and largest impact.”

National CineMedia offers creative services from concept to completion of commercials, promos, and branded content for the big screen, theater print materials, and online. Clients include national CineMedia’s aforementioned exhibitor owners, as well as ad agencies, advertisers and record labels.

In addition to creating new content, another part of the company’s responsibilities is to “enhance” many of the TV commercials that come through door for cinema distribution. Venturi reports that the process extends beyond upconverting TV spots; National CineMedia also preps the commercials by moving them from an 8-bit to 10-bit color space, re-color correcting as needed, and handling noise reduction to clean artifacts from the images. It also may involve remixing the audio so that it is heard through a theatre’s 5.1 surround sound setup.

 

GREEN DAY ON SCREEN

In the area of branded entertainment, National CineMedia also offers a service that presents multicasts of concerts, sports, and other entertainment events as marketing and promotional platforms for a variety of industries.

As an example, at press time, National CineMedia and Network Live was readying to premiere Green Day’s new Bullet In A Bible concert DVD in high definition and surround sound at participating Regal, United Artists, Edwards and Georgia Theatre Company movie theatres across the country. This special big screen concert event was scheduled to take place Nov. 1 in 68 theatres nationwide, offering fans a sneak peek at the DVD two weeks before its Nov. 15 release. Tickets went for $10 in advance and $12.50 on the day of the event. National CineMedia had the task of preparing the DVD content for its in-cinema experience.

National CineMedia has created similar big screen events for Keith Urban’s Livin’ Right Now concert DVD premiere, and Bon Jovi’s Have A Nice Day album launch. Other special promotional big screen events this year have including a behind-the-scenes look at North Country, during which Clay Smith of The Insider hosted a 30-minute live-via-satellite interview session with actress Charlize Theron and director Niki Caro; as well as The Blues Brothers‘ 25th Anniversary DVD premiere, during which director/writer John Landis and the film’s star and co-writer, Dan Aykroyd, hosted a live Hollywood’s Master Storytellers Q&A discussion via satellite from Mann’s Chinese Theatres in Hollywood, followed by a screening of the film in high definition and surround sound.

National CineMedia is now preparing to launch FirstLook, the first national digital pre-show entertainment program featuring content from Universal Pictures, Sony Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox, NBC and TBS, in movie theatres across the U.S.

At press time, FirstLook was preparing to offer a “Making of” segment on director Peter Jackson’s highly anticipated King Kong. The segment was produced at Wellington, NZ-based WETA, where the film is being made. And National CineMedia completed a theatrical promo for the clip, via Universal and First Look.

 

PRODUCTION AND POST

The production and post capabilities at National CineMedia are vast. They include Sony HDV cameras, 5.1 surround sound mixing with technologies including Avid’s Digidesign Pro Tools, compositing systems such as Shake, and 3D software including Alias’ Maya and Autodesk’s 3ds max.

A Quantel eQ is used for finishing all long-form content, including the aforementioned Green Day event. And Apple’s Final Cut Pro is primarily used for finishing short form jobs.

When asked what advice he would give those advertisers that are new to the cinema production process, Venturi suggests that if producing for cinema and TV, plan for the cinema needs first. “Cinema is different from TV, and the content needs to be prepared differently. But content produced for cinema repurposes for TV very well. That’s an easier process than going the other way.”

From a technical standpoint, he recommends that agencies embrace HD formats for the higher image resolution. From a creative standpoint, he points out that an advertiser already has a captive, focused audience in a theater, so try a “soft sales message, and telling the message through a story.”

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