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Digital Cinema is a relatively new
phenomena. It can be broken into two parts, Production
including post production and Distribution / Exhibition.
Production Whilst there is a trend towards Digital Camera capture the mainstream movies are still shot on 35mm Film. Pioneers such as George Lucas have shot major features using Digital Cameras. Where Digital technology is really causing a stir is in the effects and post production areas. Television has had many advanced tools at its disposal for many years, these tools were until recently not good enough for use on major features. The advent of new Digital Intermediate tools has changed the situation. TV commercials used very sophisticated secondary colour correction systems with the ability to isolate and change individual colours in a scene. Film traditionally used a simple three light process where a skilled operator could match the overall image to the director wishes but could not manipulate colours within the scene. |
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Special effects have been achieved for some time by scanning the camera negatives at high resolution 2048 x 1556 pixels then storing the images as a file. The Computer graphics process then takes the file and integrates it into the CGI shot, or in fact the CGI may be completely synthetic. The result was recorded back to Film and the negative produced cut into the movie as normal. The advent of Digital Intermediate brings the opportunity to edit and secondary colour grade the whole movie whilst it is in the Digital Domain. The finished file can then be either prepared for Digital Cinema Distribution or written back to negative stock to facilitate film distribution. A major benefit is the ability to write many negatives of equal quality so improving the quality of the Film seen in the Cinema. |
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Distribution As mentioned above the Digital files can be written back to Film for traditional Distribution. For Digital distribution a Digital Source Master is prepared, this is then encrypted and packaged for delivery by Satellite or Data tape. Digital Cinema Initiatives a coalition of seven, now six studio’s has written a very thorough requirements specification for Digital Cinema Distribution - www.dcimovies.com |
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