Digital technology and the film industry

1. Production
One of the increasingly important aspects of film is the special effects, this leads many hollywood producers to do the entire post-production of there films in britain even if it was filmed elsewhere. The reason for this is that Britain has become one of the best countries in the world for producing computer generated images. Most big films now have the option to film the shots on digital cameras which provide easier editing and better quality shots during cinema presentation. Most films chose not to shot on digital cameras because of distribution problems (see distribution). Over time the process of film making has become more creative because the directors now have the technology to create effects that can portray something that would have been imposible in the past.
2. Distribution
The distribution problem of digital camera is simply that most cinemas do not have the upgraded projectors that are needed to play these films. As the cinema industry has declined most cinemas have lost the ability to afford to update there projectors. While the film idustry may be better of upgrading to digital technology the main problem is deciding who pays for the improvments. Most films are now accesible over the internet and whilst this increases the popularity of broadband technology it also costs the film industry a lot of money. Digital technology has the ability to reduce the costs of distribution because it has no physical film prints and they cost around 1000 dollars each to produce which can quickly add up.
3. Exhibition
Lord Puttnam has said that in order for the film industry to survive it has to embrace new digital technology. He warned that if it did not it would face the same fate as the music industry that approached digital technology with a head in the sand attitude and has lost a lot of money because of it. As piracy can now be performed on the internet it is easier for the film industry to lose money and it is therefore important that producers make there films readily availible to the general public. The cinema expierience has changed because it is now so expensive to go to the cinema and they are still losing money which is costing us more. As it is now becoming cheaper to buy a DVD than see a movie it seems that the film industry has come under threat.

source: http://www.cass.city.ac.uk/media/stories/story_43_45816_36139.html