What will happen after RED delivers…?

[Mark L. Pederson]

The Writers Guild contract is up in October of this year. The SAG and DGA contracts expire next spring. The prevailing wisdom is that the WGA will either walk immediately (unlikely) or get a contract extension (or just agree to work under the current contract) until the SAG and DGA negotiations begin. But all three are looking for significant gains on residuals paid for non-broadcast, non-theatrical distribution (read: DVD and downloads), and the AMPTP has no intention of giving it to them. Studios and television networks are in the middle of stockpiling product in anticipation of possible strikes, that's why numerous television series have been given extended orders this season (for example, the show "Heroes" is making 30 episodes). None of this looks particularly good.

Thanks Mike for saving me the explanation.

For the record, I know guys on the negotiating commities ... and they are 100% convinced it's gonna get very, very UGLY.

 

[Ace]

Well you never done a 4k scan have you? How about a 6k scan?

I've actually done plenty of 8k scans off 35mm film using drum scanners. To be honest, anything beyond 4k and your just resolving a finer grid of salt crystals as grain comes into play. But anyhow, That wasn't even the point. I said WE (viewers in cinemas) dont get to see anywhere near that amount of detail. Unless its projected in 4K off a 6K scan downsampled to a 4K DI ofcourse.

 

[SovietDiesel]

Just ask the photographers who use to shoot film.... shoot what?
The editors who cut film... cut what?!
The film projectionist... the what?!@

Honestly, you're not going to see film as an exhibition format going anywhere for a while. Digital projectors are extremely uncommon and extremely expensive for commercial exhibition, and most commercial theaters wouldn't be able to afford that sort of change.

I predict that 4k resolution cameras like RED and its competition will impact film production fairly quickly (longer than 5 years, but maybe within a decade); I can't imagine it'll "kill" film, but I can definitely see 35mm being a format for "prestige" films only in short order.

However, regardless of the media used for production, I'd bet good money that even things shot with RED and edited digitally will be printed to film for distribution for the foreseeable future. The logistics of a mass-scale industrial change like overhauling every theater on the planet, installing digital projectors, and establishing a new standardized digital medium for film distribution are too mind-boggling for it to happen anytime soon. Unless Stalin comes back and initiates another 5-year plan.