Saturday 27 April 2013

Lesson 5.3 UK Digital Screen Network - an AS Student's view

Starter:

What films are being screened - research & categorise

Mainstream
Independent
Foreign (subtitled)/
Specialist/Classics

Do they give their audience a diverse range of films?

Question - how is this impacted by the Digital Screen Network/Digital Distribution?





Digital screen network
1). What is the digital screen network?
It is a £12 million investment, a national lottery investment which equips 240 screens in 210 cinemas across the uk with digital projection technology which gives the audiences a greater choice of film.

2). How can it help independent producers and exhibitors like picture house?
It will help independent producers and exhibitors like picture house because it enables them to distribute a vaster amount of films across their screens, which will therefore increase their audience numbers. It also increases the amount of times that one film is shown and enables them to show a greater selection of films which appeals to a wide variety of people and specialized films that are not generic hollywood films.

3). What will it mean for audiences?
It will mean that audiences get the chance to watch a wider variety of films, such as critically acclaimed films. It also means that film distribution can be increased as it is cheaper to reproduce the films as they are digital as opposed to 35 mm film, which is very expensive to reproduce.

4). How does your local area benefit?
My local area benefits from this as two out of the three cinemas in the city have one digital screen each. One of the cinemas is independent and one is mainstream. This benefits my local area, because it enables local people to be able to watch specialized films, which are of interest to the local people it also will increase the number of people who use those particular cinemas, because films are shown more often, therefore helping the entertainment industry and the local economy.

5). How does it impact on your film consumption?
The use of digital screen technology impacts my individual film consumption, as it offers a wider variety of times for me to watch the film, it also allows me to be able to see independent films that i may not have otherwise been able to watch.

6). What will this technology also provide to cinemas?
The technology will increase the amount of people who use the cinema, therefore increasing its profits, it will also bring the cinema a wider audience base and have a more varied audience. 
 
Arguments from an AS student (at a rival 6th form college)
 
New digital cinema production affects the films and other products that cinema city and vue produce and distribute, because digital technology enables the cinemas to screen more films, because it is cheaper to use digital technology as opposed to a 35mm films reel, which is extremly costly and difficult to use. Digital technology also enables the cinema to screen 3D films, which widens the audience and gives them a unique selling point. The use of digital technology, enable the cinemas to exhibit a wider vairety and more screenings of each films, therefore increasing the audience and increasing profits that the cinemas and the films make. It affects how the audience consumes the product because it offers the audience a wider variety of films to watch and the experience of 3D and watching live streaming concerts and sporting matches at the cinema. 
 
This enable us to increase our individual consumption of films, because of the increasing ways in which we can access them, however this also has its disadvantages because it will decrease the conventional ways to watch a film and will decrease profits made by cinemas and film companies, therefore leading to a decrease in film making within the film industry. Piracy is has an effect on our consumption of films, because although it is exploiting the film company, directors and actors, however it increases people film consumption. Although it increases the amount of people who watch the film, it does not increase the profits that are made, because people are getting it on dvd or downloading the film illegally.

From my own personal viewpoint i believe that the digital cinema production is effecting the british film industry, in both good and bad ways. I think that the introduction of digital technology into cinemas, is a good point as it increases the amount of films and screenings you can show at a cinema, because they are cheap and easy to use as opposed to 35 mm film, which is expensive and was difficult to use. I also think that digital technology is better, because of the diversity and advancements that it has, which diversifies what the cinema has to offer to its audiences. Although, i think that the advancements in the media, could possibly decrease the amount of people who go to the cinema and also increase piracy, because of the variety of ways that you can play films.

 

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