Luke Freeman

I’ve been doing an essay on Digital Cinema, there is some pretty interesting stuff out there and how it is probably going to affect us… I would really love to see cinemas start to screen more alternative content (e.g. live concerts and independent films!!!) and I look forward to the idea that small independent cinemas might pop up with interesting content (Mac Uni already screens stuff in one of their lecture halls).

Its a long read and not quite an interesting journaistic style, but I’ll leave it here for future reference.

The rise of digital independence

The introduction of digital technology arguably represents the most exhaustive technical and social changes in the history of cinema, greater than both sound and colour (Ford 2005). In analysing who benefits from the proliferation of digital cinema, it is helpful to review it in the context of the traditional film making process and then to define digital cinema in regard to this. Developments in digital media are having a significant impact on the spectrum of cinema production (filming, editing and effects) and distribution (printing, shipping and screening). This results in both positive and negative ramifications that can be addressed in relation to a number of recent Australian films with digital processes.

The world of cinema began to change with the advent of films like the original “Star Wars“ (Associated Press 2005) which pioneered and developed digital editing and rendering techniques. This explosion has led not only to digital film industry but also the proliferation of technologies as video games, DVDs and video podcasts (Manovich 2007). Digital technology has also allowed the possibility of interactivity (e.g. alternate endings on DVDs), however this essay will instead focus on the feature/short film productions which are designed to be projected in a theatre.