Digital screen network

1). What is the digital screen network?

It is a £12 million investment, a national lottery investment which equips 240 screens in 210 cinemas across the uk with digital projection technology which gives the audiences a greater choice of film.

2). How can it help independent producers and exhibitors like picture house?

It will help independent producers and exhibitors like picture house because it enables them to distribute a vaster amount of films across their screens, which will therefore increase their audience numbers. It also increases the amount of times that one film is shown and enables them to show a greater selection of films which appeals to a wide variety of people and specialized films that are not generic hollywood films.

3). What will it mean for audiences?

It will mean that audiences get the chance to watch a wider variety of films, such as critically acclaimed films. It also means that film distribution can be increased as it is cheaper to reproduce the films as they are digital as opposed to 35 mm film, which is very expensive to reproduce.

4). How does your local area benefit?

My local area benefits from this as two out of the three cinemas in the city have one digital screen each. One of the cinemas is independent and one is mainstream. This benefits my local area, because it enables local people to be able to watch specialized films, which are of interest to the local people it also will increase the number of people who use those particular cinemas, because films are shown more often, therefore helping the entertainment industry and the local economy.

5). How does it impact on your film consumption?

The use of digital screen technology impacts my individual film consumption, as it offers a wider variety of times for me to watch the film, it also allows me to be able to see independent films that i may not have otherwise been able to watch.

6). What will this technology also provide to cinemas?

The technology will increase the amount of people who use the cinema, therefore increasing its profits, it will also bring the cinema a wider audience base and have a more varied audience.

7). What can you suggest this might mean for other technologies?

This may mean that other technologies are not used as often as they had been previously before digital screening came around, therefore people may not use the non-digital screening cinemas anymore, because of the lack of films and amount of times each individual film is screened.

Other technologies will benefit from the use of digital because; of the way in which we can watch films because of digital technology such as; HD dvd players, 3D technology, Blu-ray dvds and dvd players. You can also download films off websites such as itunes and you can directly put them on to your computer, ipod or iphone, you can also watch films televsion on your mobile phone because of the internet and iplayers and on-demand services from televsion broadcasters.