"The old formats are dead! Long live the old formats!"

We have been awaiting the death of movies, film, flickers, the studios, for decades now, but looking at the boxoffice figures for 2009 we can see that it was yet another stellar year for the industry. The thing that continues to change is not the appetite of the movie going audience but how they "see" film, how they view movies not only in the theaters but at home as well. The 2009 holiday shopping season saw the rise, not only in the number of advertisments but in sheer tonnage moved out the door, of Blu-ray high definition movie players and large flatscreen tvs, showing once again that if you make quality goods affordable to the middle class, technology, and peoples tastes, will change.

I am happy, once again, for the change. I like to stay a trend or two behind the bulk of humanity. I like to catch up after the parade has passed and reap the benefits of the discard pile. Right now is a grand time to be a film collector. VHS tapes for fifty cents a throw, pawn shop DVD's going for little more than a buck, second hand hi-fi players for under ten dollars and used dvd players for less than the price of a movie ticket.


For the time being I am not too worried about the imminent demise of Hollywood Video or Blockbuster rental stores. I am not struggling with the high cost of retail films or outrageous ticket prices at the door. I have my own "movies on demand" system going on at home 24/7 and have hundreds of movie titles to choose from. Let it rain, let it pour. The Futon Cinema is always ready to screen something new or old, and baby, if I haven't watched it before, it's all new to me.

Action!

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Now you tell me!




"Film Projectors

In 2005, less than 100 movie screens in the United States used digital projectors. Now there are close to 16,000 digital cinema screens, with over 5,000 of them having stereoscopic (3-D) capabilities. Digital film projectors allow a cleaner and crisper viewing experience compared to traditional film projectors, which often makes the picture scratch or break. Movie studios are also pulling for the full digital revolution, as it saves them significant costs in making film prints and shipping them to and from the theaters in bulky metal containers. "

Excerpt from 11 Technologies in Danger of Going Extinct

And all I have to say is "Great! Now you tell just when I finally have a handle on threading that damn projector!

Action!

Full article below..oh yeah, say goodbye to your fax machine and e-book reader, too!

1 comment:

kd said...

yeah but I seem to remember in that meeting with the head honcho of the BI emporium in the brief days of what could ahve been an incredible partnership, head honcho dude was saying that true film aficionados want the reel to reel experience. There will still be a place for you. Acquire the skills, they are worthy!

even as I write this I hear the click click slap slap slap slap of a reel coming to its end...