Re: technical question about movies
Sam, on host 24.62.250.124
Monday, June 20, 2005, at 18:27:56
technical question about movies posted by Howard on Monday, June 20, 2005, at 17:07:39:
> Do movie theaters still show movies on projectors with 35 or 70 mm film?
Most theaters still use 35mm. There is a lot of pressure for and against converting theaters over to digital projectors, which cost a fortune for the theaters and result in huge savings for the studios that would otherwise have to ship out expensive 35mm prints.
Contrary to widespread assumptions, digital does not look better than film does. It's improving, of course, and may look comparable to film in time, though some believe that it never will due to the subconscious impact of the way film vs. digital projects a series of frames. Film displays an entire frame at once, blinks, then displays the next entire frame; digital projects a frame one line at a time, then paints over the frame one line at a time with the next. The claim I've heard put forth is that viewing a movie the way film is projected has the subconscious effect of revving up the brain, while digital does just the opposite. I lack the technical and personal expertise to validate these claims, but I tend to believe them. Among others things, I understand well how assumptions are made when you throw around terms like "digital" that aren't necessarily accurate.
70mm, by the way, is almost completely forgotten now. I don't think there are many 70mm projectors still in commercial use, which is too bad, because it looks great.
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