digital technology and the film industry.

1) For this question, i referred to the bbc website where i found out about how distribution of films is changing due to the new technologies available.
Traditionally, film makers used film 'rolls' which were negatives and had to be sent to a laboratory at thr end of the day to be used, this inconvenient technique has been replaced by digital cameras which allow the films to be downloaded onto a computer and watched throughout the day quickly and easily.
Film rolls have to be edited on a 'workplate' using a mechanical editing machine which is difficult because the picture frames can't be located easily. Using digital technology, it is possible to use the computer to 'trim' the film and edit it however necessary using different softwares such as CGI. Also, digital technology alllows the picture frames to be combined with a soundtrack easily.
Difital technologies allow the director to view the film right after it is shot so that he can decide whether or not he needs to shoot it again.
Digital projection systems are the latest thing. The release copy of the movie is delivered on a hard drive, sporting 100 gigabytes of the latest Hollywood fare, a digitally scanned copy of the master film print. Once clipped into place the movie is simply uploaded to a server and is one button-push away from being digitally projected. The big advantage of digital projection is the picture quality.

2) Once a film has been completed, it has to be sent to the studio where a licensing agreement is made with the distribution company. This company decide how many copies to make and shows it to prospective buyers. The buyer then sends the movie to a cinema a few days before it's opening date.
This process is changing rapidly not only to make it more profitable fo the distribution company, but also to promote the fiolm more. Recently, companies like Buena Vista have been taken over by larger companies like Disney who then send the film to the cinema themselves so as to avoid the'middle man'. Some distribution companies merge with production companies so they can work together on films like Star Wars and share the profits.

These are a couple of admission summaries throughout cinemas:

Cinema admissions for January08 stood at 13.5m, down 3.6% year on year.
• The average weekly admissions figure for January was 3.04m.
• Continuing its success into January, I Am Legend was the biggest film of the month taking £18m.
• P.S. I Love You starring Hilary Swank was in second place with £8.9m, it tells the story about marriage, friendship and how a love so strong can turn the finality of death into a new beginning for life.
• In third position was St.Trinian's , the story of the an anarchical school for uncontrollable girls with £6.5m.
• Released on 25 January, Sweeney Todd featuring Johnny Depp and Sacha Baren Cohen was in 4 th place with £6.3m.
• In fifth place the real world and the animated world collide in Enchanted which took £5.7m.

Cinema admissions for January07 stood at 14.0m down 0.2% year on year.
• The average weekly admissions figure for January was 3.15m.
• Night at the Museum featuring Ben Stiller hit the number one spot in January taking £12.5m.
• The Pursuit of Happyness was in second place with £7.6m, starring Will Smith.
• Rocky returned to the big screen in January 2007, taking his place in the ring for the last time. The film was the 3 rd top performer of the month.
• In fourth place was the film telling the Story of Beatrix Potter, Miss Potter, starring Ewan McGregor and Rennee Zellweger.
• Casino Royale continued to do well into January 2007 featuring as the fifth biggest film of the month.

I found these two summaries on an advertising company's website called Pearl And Dean. It clearly shows the decline in cinema admissions over the period of just a year. This decline may be

3) Prices for Cinema tickets are increasing, and prices for home cinema systems are reducing. This fact is resulting in people wanting to watch films at home rather than going out to the cinema. Film pirates make an estimated £300million profit a year according to the Federation Sgainst Copyright Theft. (FACT)
This illegal activity is fast replacing the cinema industry and many believe that if this is to be avoided, films should be legally availabe at the same time for download as they are at the cinema. Filmakers object to this notion because they want their films to be experienced in the cinema befoe they are availabe on 'the small screen'.