By H. Loren Nielsen

The decline in audience viewing of television advertising due to personal video recorders (PVRs), picture-in-picture and channel surfing has led advertisers to look for alternative venues to hock their wares.  Movie theatres are one of the hottest spots to place advertisements today. They offer a premium experience, a targeted audience and an opportunity to link a product or service with mega-budget features.  In the 2003 Arbitron Cinema Study: Appointment Viewing by Young, Affluent, Captive Audiences, Pierre Bouvard, president, New Ventures, states “Worldwide, nearly a billion dollars is spent in cinema advertising, little of it in the United States.  Our research indicates cinema audiences are open to advertising, and represent a large and highly attractive target audience for advertisers. The U.S. cinema advertising market is poised for growth.”

The theatrical market presents unique challenges to the commercial producer: especially today – when many different forms of playback and projection are being deployed in theatres for pre-show presentation.  It’s important to understand the system your content is destined for and then to post your ads to ensure proper playback. Post production for advertisements destined for the big screen differs from TV post in many important ways.  Here are some things to consider when you’re preparing your ads for exhibition in the multiplex: 

 

Exhibition Formats

No standards exist for pre-show exhibition.  Theatre chains use a variety of technologies and media for their pre-show entertainment.  Some theatres use their 35mm systems and all content must be delivered in that format.  Most theatres today have some kind of digital projection and playback system.  The quality and the technology vary wildly. Some systems are standard definition, others high definition. Some use higher quality digital cinema type projection, others lower quality business projectors.  Learn about the system on which your theatrical commercials will be displayed.  The success of your image depends on it.

 

Scale

Movie screens vary from 20 feet to 70 feet wide. The area covered in an average 35 foot movie screen is 665 square feet. Compare that to a 25 inch television screen, which is 3.25 square feet.  Audiences sit relatively closer to theatre screens.  The average seating distance in theatres is 2 to 3 times screen height while at home, it’s 7 to 8.  Things look different when they’re big and close.  Colors appear brighter, makeup is more apparent, blacks look milkier and detail of all kinds is more visible.  It’s important to consider the immersive nature of theatrical advertising and make production and post-production choices with that in mind.

 

 

Aspect Ratio

Many advertisers are familiar with theatrical aspect ratios and use them for television advertising to emulate a cinematic experience.  1.85:1 (wide) and 2.39:1 (scope) are the most common formats.  Moviegoers have an expectation that content seen in a movie theatre will fill the screen.  Presentation in a letter-box or pillar-box format reduces the impact of the experience.  In addition to picture framing, you must rigorously preserve content ratio so that a circle stays round on the big screen and does not appear wider or taller when presented in flat and scope presentations.  Think about it, if you can’t get the aspect ratio 100% right, make sure your actresses are thinner, not fatter. 

 

Frame Rate

Frame rate dictates correct motion playback.  Television plays at 30 frames per second, movies at 24.  Digital pre-show systems could playback at either 30 or 24 fps. Keep in mind that although frame rate conversion from 30 fps to 24 is available, it generally introduces motion artifacts that are very unattractive on a large screen.  Produce in 24 fps for 24 fps display.  If you start with 24 fps, you can add 3:2 pull down for 30 fps playback.  That’s a more acceptable quality trade-off.

 

Color Space

The color palette in theatrical display is generally larger than that in television.  Colors mastered for television will frequently appear over-saturated or unbalanced in theatrical display.  It is important to optimize your content for display in its intended format.  This will assure that your brand colors are correct and your images are appealing. 

 

As high value advertisers take advantage of prime theatrical opportunities more and more often, commercial production and post companies will face challenges.  It is a tricky process for production and post to make the transition between their accustomed formats to the new industry direction.  Post and production houses that are already geared up because of their work for feature films will have little difficulty with theatrical commercials and may see an increase in work as a result. However, traditional commercial postproduction facilities will need to educate themselves in order to succeed in this new business as the new medium takes hold.  Once they do this, profit margin and increased workload will follow.

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