Laura LeeFILM DISTRIBUTION

AND HOW IT WORKS

Digital cinematography is the process of capturing motion pictures as digital images, as opposed to the historical use of motion picture fi lm. Digital capture may occur on video tape, hard disks, flash memory, or other media which can record digital data through the use of a digital movie camera or video camera. As digital technology has improved, this practice has become increasingly common. Many mainstream Hollywood movies now are shot partly or fully digitally.Many vendors have brought products to market, including traditional fi lm camera vendors like Arri and Panavision, as well as new vendors like RED, Silicon Imaging, Vision Research and companies which have traditionally focused on consumer and broadcast video equipment, like Sony and Panasonic.

WHAT IS DIGITAL CINEMATOGRAPHY?

Beg in n in g i n th e l a te 1980s , S o n y b eg an marke t i n g th e co n cep t o f " e l ec t ro n i c c i n ematog rap h y , " u t i l i z i n g i t s ana log u e So n y HDVS p ro fes s i o n a l v i d eo cameras . Th e eff o r t met w i th ve ry l i t t l e s u cces s . However , th i s l ed to on e o f th e ea r l i e s t d ig i ta l l y s h o t f ea tu re m ov ies J u l i a an d J u l i a t o b e p ro d uc ed i n 1987 . I n 1998 , w i th th e i n t rod u c t i on o f HD CA M reco rd e r s an d 1920 × 1080 p i xe l d ig i ta l p ro fes s i on a l v i d eo cam eras b as ed o n CCD tec h no log y , th e i dea , n ow re - b ran d ed as "d ig i t a l c i nematog rap h y , " b eg an to g a in t r ac t i o n i n th e marke t . c i t a t i on n eed ed ] S h o t an d re l eas ed i n 1998 , Th e L as t B road c as t i s b e l i eved b y so me to b e th e fi r s t f ea tu re - l en g th v id eo sh o t an d ed i ted en t i re l y o n c on s u mer- l eve l d ig i ta l eq u ip men t .I n May 1999 Geo rg e Lu cas ch a l l en g ed th e s up remacy o f th e mo v ie - mak in g med iu m o f fi lm fo r th e fi r s t t im e b y i n c lu d in g f o o tag e fi lmed w i th h ig h - d efi n i t i o n d ig i t a l cameras i n S ta r War s E p i s od e I : T h e Ph an tom Men ace . T h e d ig i ta l f o o tag e b len d ed s eamles s l y w i th th e f oo tag e s h o t o n fi lm an d h e an n o u nc ed l a te r th a t yea r h e wou ld fi lm i t s s eq u e l s en t i re l y on d ig i ta l v i deo . A l s o i n 1999 , d ig i ta l p ro j ec to r s were i n s ta l l ed i n f ou r th ea t re ' s f o r th e s h ow in g o f T he Ph an to m Men ace . I n M ay 2001 On ce U p on a T ime i n Mex i co b ecame th e fi r s t we l l kn own mo v ie to be s ho t i n 24 f r ame-p e r- s ec on d h ig h -d efi n i t i o n d ig i ta l v i d eo , p a r t i a l l y d eve lop ed b y Geo rg e Luc as u s i n g a So n y HD W- F900 cam era , f o l l o w in g Rob e r t Ro d r i gu ez ' s i n t rod u c t i on to th e camera a t Lu cas ' r an ch wh i l s t ed i t i n g th e s ou n d fo r S p y K id s . I n May 2002 S ta r War s E p i s o d e I I : A t tac k o f th e C lon es was re l eas ed h av in g a l so b een s h o t u s in g a S on y HD W- F900 camera . Two l e s s e r- kn own mov ies , V id oc q (2001 ) an d Ru s s ian A rk (2002 ) , h ad a l so p rev io u s l y b een s h o t w i th the s ame c amera , th e l a t te r n o tab ly co ns i s t i ng o f a s i n g le l o n g take .To d ay , cameras f ro m co mp an ies l i ke S on y , Pan as on i c , J V C an d Can on o ff er a va r i e ty o f c h o i ces f o r s h oo t i n g h ig h - d efi n i t i on v id eo . At th e h ig h -en d o f t he marke t , t h e re has b een an emerg en ce o f cameras a imed s p ec ifi c a l l y a t th e d ig i ta l c i n em a marke t . Th es e c ameras f ro m S on y , V i s i on Res ea rch , A rr i , S i l i c o n I mag ing , Pan av i s i o n , G ras s Va l l ey an d Red o ff er res o lu t i on an d d yn am ic r an g e th a t exceed s th a t o f t r ad i t i on a l v i d eo c ameras , wh i c h a re d es ign ed fo r th e l im i ted n eed s o f b roadc as t te l ev i s i o n .I n 2009 , S lu md og M i l l i o n a i re b ecame the fi r s t mo v ie s h o t ma in l y i n d ig i ta l t o b e award ed the Acad emy Award f o r Bes t C in ematog rap h y an d th e h ig h es t g ro s s in g mo v ie i n th e h i s to ry o f c i nema , Ava ta r , n o t on l y was sh o t on d ig i ta l cameras as we l l , b u t a l s o mad e th e ma in revenu es a t th e b ox offi c e n o l o n ge r b y fi lm , b u t d ig i t a l p ro j ec t i on .I n l a te 2013 , Pa ramou n t b ecame th e fi r s t m a jo r s tu d io t o d i s t r i b u te mo v ies to thea t re ' s i n d ig i ta l f o rma t e l im in a t i n g 35mm fi lm en t i re l y. A nc h o rman 2 was th e l a s t Pa ramou n t p ro du c t i on to i n c lu d e a 35mm fi lm ve r s i on , wh i l e Th e Wo l f o f Wa l l S t ree t was th e fi r s t ma jo r mov ie d i s t r i b u ted en t i re l y d ig i ta l l y.

THE HISTORY OF DIGITAL CINEMATOGRAPHY

Standard releaseThe standard release routine for a movie is regulated

by a business model called "release windows". The release windows system was fi rst conceived in the early 1980s, on the brink of the home entertainment market, as a strategy to keep diff erent instances of a movie from competing with each other, allowing the movie to take advantage of diff erent markets (cinema, home video, TV, etc.) at diff erent times.

In the standard drill, a movie is fi rst released through movie theatre's (theatrical window), then, after approximately 16 and a half weeks, it is released to DVD (entering its video window). After an additional number of months it is released to Pay TV and VOD services and approximately two years after its theatrical release date, it is made available for free-to-air TV.[citation needed]

HOW ARE FILMS DISTRIBUTED

Simultaneous release

A simultaneous release takes place when a movie is made avai lable on many media (c inema, DVD, internet. . . ) at the same t ime or with very l i tt le diff erence in t iming.Simultaneous releases bear great advantages to both consumers, who can chose the medium that most suits their needs, and production studios that only have to run one marketing campaign for al l re leases. The fl ip s ide, though, is that such distr ibution eff orts are often regarded as experimental and thus, do not receive substantial investment or promotion.

In the course of the years s imultaneous release approaches have gained both praise, with Mark Cuban claiming movies should s imultaneously be made avai lable on al l media al lowing viewers to choose whether to see it at home or at the theatre, and disapproval, with director M. Night Shyamalan claiming it could potential ly destroy the "magic" of movie going.Cinema owners can be aff ected seriously in case they have to share their opportunity window, special ly at the beginning of the movie l i fecycle, s ince, according to Disney, about 95% of al l box offi ce t ickets for a fi lm are sold within the fi rst 6 weeks after in it ial distr ibution.

Among relevant s imultaneous release attempts are Bubble (2006) by Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh, EMR (2005) by James Erskine & Danny McCullough and The Road to Guantanamo (2006).

HOW ARE FILMS DISTRIBUTED

Straight-to-video releaseStraight to video (or straight-to-DVD or straight-to-Blu-ray

depending on the medium upon which the movie is made available) release occurs when a movie is released on home video formats (such as VHS, DVD, etc.) without being released in theatre's fi rst, thereby not taking into consideration the "theatrical window".

As a result of strong DVD sales, STV releases also achieved higher success and have become a profi table market lately, especially for independent moviemakers and companies.

Internet ReleaseInternet research is stil l new when it comes to the fi lm

distribution platform. The volume of downloaded movies is diffi cult to fi nd but none compares to the even more problematical discovery of their origin.

HOW ARE FILMS DISTRIBUTED

Shr inking of the theatr ica l windowWhi le or ig ina l ly conceived for a s ix months durat ion, the theatr ica l window has

today been reduced to l i t t le more than four months. Movie studios have reportedly been pushing to shr ink the durat ion of the theatr ica l window in an attempt to make up for the substant ia l losses in the DVD market they 've been suff er ing f rom s ince the 2004 sa les peak.

These attempts have encountered the fi rm oppos i t ion of theatre owners , whose profi ts depend so le ly upon attendance and who, thus, benefi t f rom keeping the movie avai lable on the s i lver screen. In ear ly 2010, Disney announced i t would be putt ing out the DVD and Blu-ray vers ions o f Tim Burton's A l ice in Wonder land 14 weeks after the movie 's re lease date ( instead of the usual 17) in order to avo id compet i t ion f rom the 2010 Wor ld Cup. In response to such statements , theatre owners made threats not to show the movie on thei r screens, but later recons idered thei r pos i t ion before the movie was re leased.

Other s t rategies are a lso being deployed in order to make up for s low DVD sa les . Most major s tudios have cons idered making movies ava i lab le to VOD serv ices short ly a fter thei r theatr ica l re lease for a premium pr ice. In Ju ly 2010 Netfl ix secured a deal wi th Relat iv i ty Media in which the lat ter agreed to d is t r ibute a number of major movies to the aforement ioned VOD serv ice before Pay TV.

Makers of smal ler-budget movies are a lso putt ing to the test new re lease strategies . In 2009, the movie The House of the Devi l premiered on VOD systems on October 1, and received a l imi ted theatr ica l re lease one month later. In August 2010, i t was announced that the movie Freakonomics would be re leased on v ideo on demand serv ices on September 3, one month pr ior to i ts theatr ica l re lease. The Br i t i sh sc i -fi movie Monsters has a lso undergone the same re lease dr i l l .

HOW ARE FILMS DISTRIBUTED