Looks like Microsoft has cut a deal to provide digital projection to 53 movie theatres using Windows Media technology.
I’m certainly no fan of MS, but digital projection in general is a Good Thing in that it reduces the barrier to entry for independent filmmakers — and Windows Media, being a relatively public codec, should lower that bar further. (One could imagine Microsoft cutting deals with makers of editing tools to allow you to export your masterpiece directly into a theater-ready WM file.) While digital has already revolutionized filmmaking on the creation end, the distribution end is still stubbornly analog, and hence expensive — try pricing out sometime how much it costs to strike a single 35mm print of a feature-length film sometime and you’ll see what I mean. End-to-end digital should make it possible for theater owners to open up a little more to independent films, which ought to be good for everybody.
Posted by Jason Lefkowitz at April 04, 2003Ant's Eye View is edited by Jason Lefkowitz, a consultant and Web developer in Alexandria, Virginia. Got a question, comment, or concern? Let me hear it!
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