(26 March 2008 10:20 pm)

MUMBAI: Innovation of digital cinema is likely to revamp the way content is produced and distributed in India. The incorporation of digital cinema will open Indian content to international market.

UFO Moviez CEO Rajesh Mishra pointed out while moderating the session 'Importance of Digital Cinema in India' on the second day at FICCI Frames 2008.

A number of major Hollywood studios have joined hands and formed the Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) body that has come up with standard formats for digital cinema content. India's economy is however, not yet ready to fully adopt the DCI norms for digital cinema.

According to Real Image director Senthil Kumar the biggest problem is piracy as the high quality of projections makes it easy to record using camcorders and pirate the movie.

Don Savant from IMAX who introduced the audience with the successes of IMAX at the digital cinema front stated that the major collections by the hit movies around the world came from the digital cinema.

Animation movies like Beowulf and live action VFX movies like Harry Potter and Spiderman recorded a major part of their box office collections through digital theatres around the world.

Ad Labs COO Patrick vons Sychowski said that "technical diversity" arise due to the differences in formats of the various digital cinema platforms across the country. The filmmakers have to get their films converted in all of the formats for their film to get released in all the digital theatres which increases the cost and discourages the industry to adopt digital cinema. He appealed to the industry to work together for establishment of digital cinema as a standard.

Speakers observed that digital cinema system cuts down the cost of releasing actual celluloid prints and also ensures release throughout the network at the same time cutting down the incentives of piracy. Also, the systems are not very bulky making it easy for exhibitors to adapt this new system.

The major advantage of digital cinemas will be to the animation industry. The content produced is mainly in the digital format. To release in India cinemas, they have to release physical prints. The evolution of digital cinema will cut down this step saving a lot of the producer's money which indeed can be used for improvement of the project.

A major challenge of digital cinema in India is the conversion cost. However, Tony Adamson from DLP Cinema Equipments presented some really encouraging facts about digital cinema like the running cost of a digital cinema theatre is much less than the existing system. Availability of alternate content like operas, sports events, news, programming for kids, classic movies etc also adds to the advantages of digital cinema. According to Adamson, half the screens around the world are likely to go digital by 2013.

Makrand Karanjikar from UFO Moviez explained how reliable delivery of content, short cycle of exhibition and high level of security are some of the key attributes of digital cinema. He concluded with his statement, "Let the market make the call for digital cinemas".