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PROSPECTS
AND STRATEGIES OF EDCF Mr Wilkinson, EDCF was founded
in 2000 mainly on the initiative of public institutions, particularly
in Northern Europe, and in fact its first President was Åse Kleveland,
then Head of the Swedish Film Institute. Today the President of EDCF is
a representative of one of the Continent’s leading cinema exhibitors’
associations. From the public sector to that of business: would you like
to comment on this shift? |
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Being interested in new technologies and how they would impact on cinema with the advent and the future potential of the D-cinema, I started with XDC in January 2006. By a long lead, XDC is the leading digital cinema service company in Europe. It offers technical and financial customized solutions to the cinema business and all the necessary related services distributors and exhibitors need to show motion pictures flawlessly and securely. |
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![]() The Finnish Film Foundation owns SES Auditorium Ltd which is located at the Foundation’s headquarters, in an old brick storehouse in Helsinki. There are 150 seats in the cinema. SES Auditorium is not used for commercial screenings. The auditorium can be rented and used as a meeting and congress facility. The Foundation also holds screenings of children’s films. Cultural film weeks are organized in co-operation with different embassies and cultural associations. However, our most important customers are Finnish film production and post production companies, who use the auditorium as a test screening venue. Our 35mm film projector is Cinemeccanica’s Victoria 5 with continuous speed control, and film gates and optics for 1:1,37, 1:1,66, 1:1,85 and cinemascope formats and the digital projector is JVC DLA-M2000LE. We have DTS and SRD digital sound systems. Our current technical film screening and audio equipment is good and up to date but we cannot yet offer our customers sufficient digital screening technique. We are therefore going to purchase new equipment that allows us to provide the Finnish film industry with the best possible service. Most future films in Finland are posted digitally but using RGB or YUV colour space and there are notable differences in different colour spaces, so simple preview would enable these problems to be avoided. There is also one 3D production in development in Finland. I had the opportunity to attend a digital 3D test screening which clearly indicated that the digital 3D technique opens a completely new field of possibilities outside the range of the traditional techniques. The old 35mm 3D horror and action movies gave us merely a vague idea of what kind of an experience a digitally made 3D can be. I look very much forward to meeting my colleagues and hearing and seeing the presentations of specialists in digital technique in Kuurne in March 2007. Riitta Haapiainen,
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![]() Matthieu Bakolas, |
![]() Finnkino is still expanding and we currently have several constructions going on in Finland and abroad. Last October we installed Finland’s first DCI-compliant Digital Cinema system in our flagship theatre, Tennispalatsi. At present, Finnkino wants to study the coming digital presentation technologies, and my role as Technical Manager, is to discover the technological practices of the trade. As I am based in the Tennispalatsi theatre, my work is both managing the projection technicalities and the technical crew, and being in charge of the direct customer service. This year our company is trying to run a pilot project using digital projection for alternative content. We do have almost daily use of our e-projectors in B-to-B–type special events for companies in addition to digital commercials, which we introduced in Finland at the start of 2007. In the Baltic we have had digital commercials for a few years now. Most likely in the future I will be concentrating more on the digitalization of our theatre network. Ville Lampolahti, |
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