The overwhelming turnout for the National Association of Broadcaster’s (NAB) Digital Cinema Summit–produced by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) and the University of Southern California’s Entertainment Technology Center in conjunction with the NAB and held during the recent NAB Convention in Las Vegas–underscored a growing belief that the promise of digital cinema projection and distribution is on the verge of being realized.
Academy Award-winning director James Cameron (Titanic) is a believer, and during a passionate keynote address that highlighted the Summit, he challenged the audience to use this technology to energize the movie industry and “fight” to bring audiences back into the theaters. Proclaiming his passion for the theatrical experience–while referencing mobile content, another key topic at the NAB–he states, “I don’t want to make movies for your cell phone.”
Instead, the helmer declares that a renaissance is occurring in 3D–not the 3D of years past that were fraught with problems, but a quality experience enabled by new digital cinema projection technology that he called “a Godsend.”
A digital cinema transition has indeed started, carrying implications for in-theater advertising. As NAB began, there were an estimated 336 digital cinema theater installations in the U.S., and it is widely believed that that number will exceed 1,000 before the end of the year. As well, last summer Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI)–a consortium of the seven major Hollywood studios including Disney, Fox, MGM, Paramount, Sony, Universal, and Warner Bros.–released its recommended Digital Cinema guidelines for the digital projection of motion pictures. And with these recommendations, SMPTE has drafted a set of digital cinema technical standards expected to be completed before the end of the year.
The support of the theatrical exhibition community is also an important piece of the puzzle, and that backing was publicly proclaimed in a second Digital Cinema Summit keynote address delivered by National Association of Theater Owners (NATO) president John Fithian.
With all of these forces coming together, Cameron suggests, “there could be tens of thousands of digital cinema projectors, which could run 3D much less expensively that today’s IMAX theaters.
“3D might be the most important part of the Digital Cinema strategy,” he told the NAB audience. “3D is a specific and marketable reason to put in digital cinema screens.”
“It’s something that will intrigue the public’s imagination,” he says. “When the theaters and content are in place, it’s going to drive the economics.”
To emphasize both consumer interest and the potential financial upside, Cameron pointed out that roughly six months ago, Disney’s animated Chicken Little was the first feature to be presented in 3D on these new digital cinema screens. In the U.S. that involved 85 screens, which made up only two percent of the total number of theaters offering the movie–and those screens still hatched 10 percent of the film’s North American gross. “The 3D theaters sold out first and more often,” he reveals.
To underline this financial point, Cameron similarly reported that the IMAX version of Sony Pictures’ Robert Zemeckis-directed animated feature The Polar Express also represented two percent of the screens–and it still generated a whopping 25 percent of the gross revenues.
CONTENT IS KING
While these examples demonstrate promise, Cameron points out that a true 3D movement “needs to be driven by content, not format.”
He sees significant movement to that end as well. He began by identifying new titles that are planned as 3D releases. These upcoming 3D releases include Disney’s animated Meet the Robinsons, director Robert Zemeckis’ Beowulf, and New Line Cinema/Walden Media’s live action stereoscopic remake of Journey to the Center of the Earth.
Cameron also confirmed that his next features–sci-fi films titled Battle Angel and Project 880–would be produced as 3D movies. The helmer emphasizes that the production technology is ready. “There is nothing that you can do in 2D that you can’t do in 3D,” he asserts.
That statement comes from a substantial range of 3D knowledge and experience. Cameron first delved into the 3D world when he created his 12-munite T2 3D ride film for Universal Studios, which opened in ’96. In ’03, he released his first 3D IMAX feature documentary, Walden Media’s Ghosts of the Abyss, which traced a journey beneath the North Atlantic to the Titanic wreckage; and in ’05, he debuted his second IMAX documentary, Buena Vista’s Aliens of the Deep, which featured underwater exploration.
For Ghosts of the Abyss, Cameron and DP Vince Pace worked closely with Sony to develop 3D stereoscopic camera system using Sony’s F 900 HDCAM Cine Alta cameras at a time when the Sony camera was still fairly new. Cameron and Pace continue to work together and further develop the stereoscopic camera systems, which currently relies on the Sony F950, a newer model of the F900 that records 4:4:4 RGB to the HDCAM SR format. Pace, who runs his Santa Monica-based Pace Technologies, reports that development is continuing, and he would be examining new digital camera technologies for this purpose.
During the Digital Cinema Summit, DPs from the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) presented their experiences with some of these developing camera systems. For instance, Daryn Okada, ASC, presented clips from a series of camera tests that he lensed for Disney last fall. Here, he tested Arri’s D-20, Sony’s aforementioned F950 Cine Alta camera, Thomson’s Grass Valley Viper and the Dalsa Origin.
The test material was lensed on location, both interiors and exteriors. There was no “winner,” he points out, explaining that the tests were designed to see what cinematography options are available to filmmakers.
REMASTERING
In addition to new titles, Cameron points out in his keynote that there are also newly developed methods of remastering exists films for 3D projection.
“I support dimentalization because it ensures a steady flow of content,” the helmer says. “I’m looking at doing Titanic and T2, and maybe some others.” He also reports that Peter Jackson is looking at doing King Kong and The Lord of the Rings, and George Lucas is looking to do Star Wars.” (The first Star Wars, incidentally, is scheduled for a 3D release next spring, marking the 30th anniversary of the original film release.)
While some point to past 3D fads and suggest that this one may not last, Cameron disagrees. “The new wave of 3D movies will be the best commercial films of the year–movies that you would have seen anyway,” he predicts.
Looking ahead, he says, “I think every major studio will be asking how many titles [can be made in a year]– and there will be a proliferation of filmmakers who want to create titles.” He also foresees that it will become standard for CG features to be created for 3D. And, he suggests that animated classics will be remastered for 3D.
Before closing, He added that digital cinema projection could offer other benefits to Hollywood and to moviegoers. For instance, Cameron notes that, “Digital Cinema projectors can received live feeds and digital cameras can shoot live–so this can allow people to participate in world events in 3D.”
And, the director suggests that a rise in 3D could help reduce widespread piracy that is one of Hollywood’s chief concerns. “You can’t pirate films in 3D,” the helmer asserts. “It’s an experience you can only have in the theaters.”