WSJ Article:
March 22, 1999
Farewell to Film
Digital projectors are coming, and
movie distribution will never be the same.
By NICK WINGFIELD
Behind a movie screen at a spacious Washington, D.C.,
television studio, sits an unglamorous rectangular plastic
box, the size of a large fruit crate, that may hold the
future of cinema.
The box is actually a movie projector, producing the
same larger-than-life images that have thrilled
moviegoers for a century. But there are two big
differences between this and traditional projectors. First,
this one is jam-packed with sophisticated electronic
circuitry, optics and illumination technology. And
second, it doesn't use celluloid film.
For years film futurists have called digital projectors the
next big step for theaters, while critics and moviegoers
have consistently given the machines a resounding
thumbs-down because of inferior image quality. But
now, companies are cracking the technical puzzles that
have marred digitally projected movies, refining picture
quality to the point where even some of the most finicky
cinematographers say they can't tell the difference
between digital images and those from traditional film.
Burt Maggio, co-founder of Studio 650, a monthly
gathering of hundreds of film buffs and movie-industry
insiders who come to the Washington TV studio to see
locally produced documentaries and independent films,
is a convert. In fact, he says, the only thing missing from
the experience is the faint ticking sound from the
projection system -- not that audiences mind. "They're all
amazed at the quality," he says.
If theater owners and studios embrace digital projectors
-- and that's still a big if -- the technology may eventually
mean better-looking, more durable movies, since films
will be stored as digital bits on computer hard disks
instead of slowly corroding inside film canisters.
But perhaps the most-profound implications of digital
movies are going to take place behind the scenes -- in
their distribution. For years, the film industry has relied
on decidedly low-tech courier services to deliver its
reels to movie houses. Digital movies may turn local
multiplexes into download centers that get the latest
Leonardo DiCaprio vehicle from a satellite dish or
fiber-optic line.
That could mean lower costs for studios, and more
flexibility for theaters to respond immediately to the
picks and pans of the viewing public.
Some in the movie industry say the sooner the better.
"[Except] for sound and color, there hasn't been a major
change in the technology since the 1890s," says Gordon
Radley, president of Lucasfilm Ltd., the Nicasio, Calif.,
company responsible for the "Star Wars" trilogy and its
impending prequels. Digital projection, Mr. Radley says,
"is the real great leap forward."
Lagging Behind
Digital technology has revolutionized the
post-production of movies, allowing gee-whiz special
effects such as the dinosaurs of "Jurassic Park."
Theaters, meanwhile, have embraced some technical
bells and whistles -- ear-splitting digital sound, for
example -- not to mention amenities like curved movie
screens and stadium seating. But today's celluloid-film
projectors are virtually unchanged from the pioneering
days of the Lumiere brothers.
Recent technological advances account for much of the
current optimism about digital projectors. One
breakthrough by Dallas-based Texas Instruments Inc. is
called Digital Light Processing, or DLP. This is a
collection of computer chips, including one called a
Digital Micromirror Device, that contains 800,000 tiny
reflective surfaces and can form an image from a digital
signal. A light source and a lens then project the image
onto a movie screen.
Another breakthrough is that some cinematographers --
the most aesthetically demanding audience digital
projectors will face -- finally stand persuaded of
digital's visual quality.
"Electronic technology is now able to support image
quality that's comparable to film," says Curtis Clark, a
cinematographer who shot "Alamo Bay," "Triumph of the
Spirit" and other films. "This is the first time we have
seen that promise materialize."
Quick Response
Studio chiefs, meanwhile, are beginning to weigh the
potential commercial benefits. With digital movies,
studios could virtually eliminate the cost of creating
copies of films, which can run $2,000 a print; that's a
steep sum when you're talking about a title that goes out
to thousands of theaters. Theater owners could adapt
more quickly to an unexpected hit. Today, they're stuck
with however many celluloid prints they've already
ordered, based on expected demand. But tomorrow's
multiplex could decide almost instantly to show a
sleeper hit on five screens instead of three simply by
making its own digital copies of the film.
Audiences would get to see pristine copies of movies
every time: no scratches and no projectors choking on
sprockets. What's more, digitally archived movies won't
suffer photochemical degradation. "The vast majority of
people never get to see a film as it should be seen or as a
director wants it to be seen," says Mr. Clark.
Digital projectors will soon get a high-profile
demonstration thanks to one of the most eagerly awaited
films of the year: On June 18, two theaters in the U.S.
will show "Star Wars: Episode 1 -- The Phantom
Menace" using digital projectors based on Texas
Instruments' DLP technology.
A Lack of Capital
Mr. Maggio of Studio 650 says his digital projector lets
him show movies from high-quality videotapes with a
clarity that conventional video projectors can't come
close to matching. Mr. Maggio's situation, however, is
hardly typical: He borrows the model he uses -- built by
Digital Projection Inc., Kennesaw, Ga., with DLP
technology -- through connections with a Digital
Projection distributor. If he were to buy one, it would
cost about $90,000, compared with roughly $50,000 for
a traditional projector.
At those prices, mainstream theater owners will be a
tough sell, particularly since most owners will also need
to pony up for data-storage hardware, satellite dishes
and in-house networks for shuttling movies around
multiplexes. As a result, not surprisingly, few theater
chains have set out a game plan for adopting the new
machines.
"The retrofit to screens is going to be very
capital-intensive," says Marci Davies, senior vice
president of marketing at Cineplex Odeon Corp., a
theater chain based in Toronto. "It's something that will
evolve over time. We just don't know what that time is
yet."
A few companies hope to accelerate the switch by
eliminating the need for hefty investments in new
equipment. Within the next year and a half, CineComm
Digital Cinema LLC of Los Angeles hopes to begin
leasing to theaters digital equipment including projectors
from Hughes-JVC Technology, a unit of Japan-based
Victor Co., and satellite gear from Qualcomm Inc. of
San Diego. Fees will vary, says Russell Wintner, chief
technical officer at Cinecomm, according to how many
projectors a theater uses and the numbers of movies it
downloads.
But studios, too, have to sign on to digital projectors --
after all, they're the ones providing the software, as it
were, for the machines. One big concern for them is
piracy, which is far more worrisome in the digital realm
than in the analog world. An intercepted satellite signal
carrying a Jim Carrey comedy, for example, could
provide a pirate with a digital master of the film and the
ability to make picture-perfect copies on digital
videodisks. Experts say, though, that encryption
technology could scramble the signals so that only
theaters could decode them.
The Power Issue
Some industry officials wonder whether there is another
reason studios aren't exactly racing to embrace digital
distribution. Suppose the movie industry eventually does
back electronic cinema: Could digital delivery of films
shift the balance of power -- at least somewhat --
between Hollywood and independent filmmakers?
It doesn't seem likely. Unlike the Internet, which allows
independent musicians and garage media operations, for
instance, to reach audiences directly, most observers say
digital networks will not remove the middlemen from
movie distribution; theaters would still be the main
vehicle by which most people see first-run films. Mike
Levi, president of Digital Projection, predicts that
"Hollywood will continue to dominate what's in
theaters."
But ultimately, falling prices for digital projectors and
the growth of high-bandwidth data links will make
obtaining movies much more affordable. And that, in
turn, could expand opportunities for struggling directors
to exhibit their work.
Independent filmmaker Lance Weiler has already seen
the possibilities of the digital future. On a shoestring
budget, he co-directed "The Last Broadcast," a
feature-length horror film shot with digital cameras and
edited on a borrowed PC. But to bring the finished
product to the public, instead of looking for a traditional
film distributor, Mr. Weiler and his co-director, Stefan
Avalos, explored the possibility of digital distribution.
They found willing partners in Digital Projection and
CyberStar, a Mountain View, Calif., subsidiary of Loral
Space & Communications Ltd., which donated projection
equipment and satellite services to beam "The Last
Broadcast" to theaters in five U.S. cities last October.
The deal allowed Messrs. Weiler and Avalos to reach
an audience, and the companies to showcase their
equipment. But does providing more venues guarantee
there will be more good movies?
With digital technology, "making films will become
easier," Mr. Weiler says. "I'm not sure that we'll make
better films, but it will be easier."
-- Mr. Wingfield is a staff reporter for The Wall Street
Journal Interactive Edition in San Francisco. |
