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http://www.digitalcinemareport.com/node/598
December 15,2008-12-17
Nick Dager
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Editor’s Note: All of us at Digital Cinema Report wish you all the best for the holiday season and a healthy and successful New Year. Our next Report will launch on January 15th, 2009.
How ironic that one of the first truly high-profile glitches in these still early and often turbulent days of digital cinema would happen during the screening of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The movie, which was directed by David Fincher and stars Brad Pitt and Kate Blanchett tells the story of a man who lives his life backwards from old age through childhood. For film diehards the incident may have raised some deep hope that 35mm film could somehow magically reverse the aging process and have another century of life. Digital supporters surely groaned because Fincher has been one of digital cinema’s most outspoken and noteworthy proponents.
Both movie industry trade dailies had large stories about it but Variety’s headline in classic Variety style – “Button undone by digital dilemma” – seemed to sum up the prevailing mood in Hollywood.
According to Variety writers David S. Cohen and Anne Thompson, Paramount executives “were so eager to get the movie in front of guild and Academy members and key press that they weren't willing to wait another week for release prints. In any case, finicky director David Fincher preferred to showcase his technologically ambitious digital movie – which deploys complex visual effects to make Brad Pitt age backward – with a digital projector. The two trial runs during the day had gone smoothly.”
Variety’s account said the movie had a “peculiar green tint” to it that gave cinematographer Claudio Miranda a bad feeling.” “But about 25 minutes into the film,” as Carolyn Giardina wrote in the Hollywood Reporter, “the image froze, the film stopped and the house lights went up.”
The parties involved worked for a while to get the 2K projector and server operating correctly but after a time decided to cancel the screening. Fortunately, neither report included the names of the manufacturers of the projector or server. I say fortunately because I don’t think the technology was necessarily the problem. And, as every digital cinema manufacturer I’ve spoken with about this incident privately agreed, this could have happened to any of them. Several digital screenings of the movie went off without a problem, in theatres and screening rooms where the technology has been in place for some time. (More on that in a moment.) And, as both newspapers suggested, history is filled with high-profile screenings where the film projector or the film stock itself broke down. These things have happened without making news.
So why did this incident get so much attention? There are several reasons. First, this was one of Paramount’s initial efforts to promote its $150 million movie to the industry in its build up to the Academy Awards. Among other VIPs, top executives, the producers, Fincher, and the stars were all on hand. Second, many people in Hollywood don’t understand digital cinema technology as well as they should. Third, that’s in part due to the fact that digital cinema technology is still relatively new and, more to the point, there are many people in Hollywood who wish digital would simply go quietly away. There are a number of top directors and cinematographers who will probably never shoot a movie digitally and – witness Spielberg and last summer’s Indiana Jones installment – would much rather that their work only be seen on film.
A man I know has for almost three decades worked in the server division of National Cash Register, a company with its own history of making the technology transition from the 20th to the 21st century. He knows nothing about digital cinema but, obviously, his experience has taught him a lot about computer systems. Over Thanksgiving dinner I told him about the Benjamin Button incident and he smiled and nodded his head knowingly. He said it didn’t surprise him to hear that a digital system that sophisticated didn’t perform as expected because they generally require a lengthier shake out period.
Exhibitors are beginning to exploit the many alternative content options that are now available. In this issue alone we have a story about new live opera performances and live 3D NFL football games playing in movie theatres across the United States. In our next Report we’ll have the story of the NBA All Star game coming to a theatre near you.
The corporate powers that be in Hollywood need to understand digital cinema technology completely. Failure to immerse themselves totally in everything that digital cinema can and can’t be is critical if the major movie industry is going to survive let alone thrive. Given the industry’s history of rejecting every major new technology development from sync sound to the VCR, the odds would seem to be stacked against them.
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