Dear readers,
it is not
by coincidence that this newsletter is reaching you today, on Europe
Day. So much time has gone by since that 9 May 1950, when the declaration
by the French Minister Schuman laid the foundations for what was to
become the European Union, and yet the building of Europe as a communal
home for an increasing number of citizens still requires a good deal
of energy in the most varied of sectors.
We, too, at MEDIA Salles, thanks to the support of the MEDIA Programme
and the Italian Government, are part of this undertaking, in that very
special field of the cinema, which is simultaneously an economic activity
and an expression of culture.
Our initiatives in these few weeks, which the issue you are reading
focuses on, mean to contribute, from the special perspective of the
cinema, to reaching the objectives of the EU as it is today. On the
DigiTraining Plus course, which has just been concluded in London and
which was devoted to the new technologies for distribution and projection,
the keywords were in fact knowledge and innovation; its objective is
to provide professional players in the cinema industry, particularly
exhibitors, with the tools for operating in a context that is increasingly
competitive and sensitive to technological evolution. The event MEDIA
Salles is taking part in during the Cannes Festival, thanks to their
collaboration with “Schermi di Qualità”, places the
emphasis on films as the vehicles of cultural and economic exchange
between European countries. The first international presentation of
the Italian circuit which, on the strength of its almost 700 screens,
places European films in the limelight, and the traditional appointment
on La Croisette, in which MEDIA Salles informs journalists and representatives
of the industry and institutions on the trends in cinema-going, join
forces to give visibility to Europe’s cinemas and productions.
In the hope of meeting you in Cannes on 20 May at the
Espace Italia, I hope you will enjoy your reading.
Jens Rykaer
President of MEDIA Salles
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THOSE WHO COMMUNICATE WIN IN
DIGITAL SCREENING
by Laura Carniel
The way in which movie theatres
communicate their offer to the public is now widely recognized
as being a vital element for their competitive success and exhibitors
pay increasing attention to the image the public has of their
cinema. “Communication” is thus becoming one of
the key words in the world of digital cinema. Communicating
digital screening is not just about making known a technological
innovation but also about offering a whole new viewing experience.
Exhibitors are becoming increasingly aware that technology is
not an end in itself and on its own is insufficient to create
a competitive edge. What the public is told and, above all,
how it is told is therefore becoming of fundamental importance:
it is not enough to have a good product and new technology;
you must know how to communicate this in a distinct and appealing
way.
What are the mechanisms to concentrate on? The means of cinematographic
promotion remain more or less the same, whilst what changes
is the message: less focus on films and the cinema’s promotional
offers and more on technological innovation and the quality
of the digital image. And when it comes to digital screening
it is precisely the quality that becomes the hub around which
the exhibitor’s work rotates: digital technology is taken
on board because it offers better quality of projection, becoming
a “pledge of quality” to the public and the vehicle
of a unique experience in theatrical viewing.
The Italian scenario
This is the main result to emerge from the first research carried
out in Italy on the digitalization of movie theatres. Arising
out of collaboration with the MEDIA Salles association, the
research, which covers the whole country, had a dual objective.
From the exhibitors’ point of view, to examine the impact
of digital technology on the distinguishing features of the
offer, on the company’s main business results and on the
modes and tools used in the field of promotion. From the spectators’
point of view, to analyze their perceptions and attitudes in
relation to digital screening and its impact on the overall
cinema viewing experience.
Following 2005, which recorded a considerable increase in the
numbers of the country’s digital cinemas, the Italian
scenario appears to have been somewhat static over the past
few years, slowed down by two main problems: the huge costs
of adopting and maintaining the technology and the scarcity
of titles distributed in digital format on the Italian market.
The results of the research show that only a small number of
exhibitors manage to obtain public financing for the adoption
of digital technology (47.4% of exhibitors state that they bought
the equipment themselves). For most of them, it appears that
it is difficult or impossible for them to update their offer
technologically.
Technological innovation
or cinema viewing experience?
In addition, the research shows the tendency of Italian exhibitors
to consider functional and technological features as being central
to the differentiation of the cinema’s offer, to the detriment
of factors related more to the spectator’s overall experience
and entertainment. The attention paid nowadays, especially in
America and in general in multiplexes or megaplexes, to the
added value of the leisure-experience and entertainment of spectators
has no real counterpart on the Italian scenario, either amongst
theatres or amongst audiences at digital screenings, who do
not seem to attribute any particular importance to these side
features of the theatre’s offer.
Greater attention should nonetheless be devoted to the spectator,
who must be accompanied in all phases of his contact with the
cinema and its offer. In connection with this it is of vital
importance for the theatre to offer the digital spectator an
experience that is as involving and as unique as possible, exploiting
not so much peripheral aspects linked to social relations, leisure,
differentiation of the entertainment offer (e.g. localization
of the movie theatre in a context of entertainment, close to
pubs, restaurants, disco clubs, etc.), but rather those related
to the aesthetic experience connected to the superior and incomparable
quality of digital viewing and the overall experience, including
the many additional services that allow theatres to assume a
truly distinctive position in the minds of their audiences (e.g.
services related to access, availability, provision of information,
merchandising).
Communicating digital
screening: the importance of the medium and the message
As regards the communicative aspect of the cinema’s offer, generally
indicated by exhibitors as a very important factor in increasing
the theatre’s competitive edge, this assumes a special nature
when applied to the field of digital screening. Apart from the
classical means of promotion, websites seem to be particularly
widespread (used by 78.9% of respondents); however, if we look
at the media that make most impact on the public, we discover
that websites are amongst the media least used by spectators
as a source of information on digital screenings (only used
in 14.9% of cases).
Instead, it can be seen that the lion’s share derives from commercials
screened in non-digital cinemas (advertising in cinemas is identified
by as many as 32.7% of spectators as their source of information
on digital screenings).
(Click
here to read the whole article)
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For the first time a comprehensive research
on digitalization in the Italian cinemas
The first research on the digitalization of Italian cinemas
has been carried out by Laura Carniel as part of her graduation
thesis on “Digital Cinema: the role of communication
between technological innovation and the cinema-going experience”.
Supervised by Professor Rossella Gambetti of the Catholic University
of the Sacred Heart in Milan, the research followed a dual path
of investigation involving both exhibitors and audiences:
-
The research involving exhibitors
was carried out by issuing online or telephonic structured
questionnaires with closed or semi-closed answers, taking
into consideration the whole panorama of Italian exhibition
companies equipped with digital and electronic projection
technology (40 exhibitors, i.e. all the Italian cinemas fitted
with DLP Cinema projectors and those belonging to the Microcinema
and Digima circuits). The number of digital screens represented
by the respondents in this study, which covers a total of
46 digital screens, amounts to 67.6% of the total number of
the country’s digital and electronic screens (in particular
32 screens with DLP Cinema technology are represented and
14 electronic theatres );
-
The audience survey was addressed
to a sample of spectators at the Arcadia cinema in Melzo,
who were directly contacted on Sunday 27 January 2008, giving
a total of 101 respondents.
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WOMEN IN DIGITAL CINEMA
Sara Crimeni
Digima, Italy
When
Elisabetta Brunella of MEDIA Salles asked me to write an article about
Digital Cinema, from my point of view and what my sensations were, the
first words that came to mind were transition and opening
of a new era. Working in this sector, we have the clear sensation
that, after many years of “technological stagnation”, something
of great importance is about to happen in Italian cinemas, thanks to
the evolution in the equipment, the working methods and the way we are
now considering these new movie theatres.
They are the same sensations and
changes that encouraged me to take up this challenge of working with
Digima, a company active in the electronic and digital cinema field
since 2005, which has the objective of advancing film and theatrical
shows (lyrics, theatre, concerts, dance) in digital movie cinemas or
halls such as municipalities and cultural communities. Digima has created
and patented a technological platform for the booking, transmission
and final projection in movie houses via high-speed internet access
and has made arrangements with Italian distributors to provide the digital
contents.
Collaborating as sales manager with the
dynamic team at Digima, my primary objective is to advertise the Digima
brand, make its image known throughout Italy and expand its network
of digital cinemas. There are many tools I use to accomplish this, which
can be summed up as follows:
- Direct meetings with the target audience for
demonstration of the Digima system
- Management of marketing and communication of
the Digima brand through direct market campaigns, coordination with
the press and management of the content on Digima’s portal
- Organization of events and informative meetings
with exhibitors, distributors and producers.
I believe it’s extremely important to
hold these encounters/events with exhibitors, in which the transitional
phase mentioned above can inevitably be a phase of confusion with much
information provided, not all of which is correct. It is for this reason
that we have decided to organize a Road Show Digima in Italy, for all
of 2008 (roughly 2 stages per month) in which, with the help of experts
in the sector and direct experience with exhibitors, we will spread
the technical information and concepts clearly and comprehensively.
(Click here to read the whole
article)
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Cannes Film Festival 2008: European films and European
cinemas in the forefront
In 2007-2008, over 6 million tickets were
sold for Italian and European quality films in cinemas belonging to
“Schermi di Qualità” (Quality Screens), the initiative
by AGIS – the Italian General Association for Showbusiness –
supported by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs - General Directorship
for the Cinema and by ARCUS SpA.
The first presentation on the international
scene of the results of “Schermi di Qualità” will
take place at Cannes Film Festival,
Tuesday 20 May, from 2.30 pm to 4 pm
Espace Italia, Palais Stéphanie
and will be accompanied by a taste of Italian specialities.
“Schermi di Qualità”,
which gives Italian spectators the chance to come into contact with
quality European films, are to be found all over the country, both in
large cities and in small towns, in every Region, in single- and multi-screen
cinemas and multiplexes. To provide motivation for the films having
a longer and more prestigious stay on the screens, the Exhibitors’
Associations, ANEC, ACEC and FICE, belonging to the AGIS, thanks to
the support of the Ministry, have proposed an economic incentive for
cinemas willing to commit themselves on a regular basis. 687 screens
have become part of the scheme, bringing in the majority of spectators
for quality European films, both those with a high box-office (Elizabeth
- The Golden Age, Le grain et le mulet, Irina Palm, La Môme) and
niche productions (Le ferie di Licu, Salvador Puig Antich, Les amours
d'Astrée et de Céladon, Goodbye Bafana etc.).
On behalf of the Committee of Schermi
di Qualità, Paolo Protti, Vice-president of AGIS, will outline
the results. The Ministry of Cultural Affairs will be represented by
the General Directorship for the Cinema.
The presentation will allow producers and distributors of European quality
films to gain a better knowledge of the network of Italian exhibition
companies that promotes their products, with a view to planning joint
initiatives for the future also.
On this occasion MEDIA Salles
will take up the traditional appointment with the international cinema
community on La Croisette, by presenting the latest figures on cinema-going
in Europe in 2007.
Those who
are interested in participating at the event, to which an invitation
is required, are requested to contact us at the following email address:
schermidiqualita@mediasalles.it
To contact MEDIA Salles during the Cannes Film Festival:
cell: +39 349 2699141
+39 335 7225475
+39 349 2699348
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“DigiTraining Plus
– European Cinemas Experiencing New Technologies”
45 participants from 14 different countries
took part in the “DigiTraining Plus – European Cinemas Experiencing
New Technologies” course, organized by MEDIA Salles between 9 and
13 April. The new element in 2008 was the venue: after four editions in
Belgium, this time it was the turn of the United Kingdom, the European
country with the highest number of digital screens: almost 300.
Gaining a better knowledge of the objectives and ways of public funding
that have fostered this development and becoming acquainted with significant
private initiatives were some of the course objectives. The programme
included visits to cinemas which, like the Curzon Soho and the Kino Digital
in Hawkhurst (the latter fitted exclusively with digital projectors),
are counting on the new technologies to broaden their offer to the public,
backing European films and emerging film-making in particular.
The daily press releases of the “DigiTraining
Plus 2008” Course are the DGT online informer from no. 31 to no.
35 of 2008; you can reach them directly from the menu on the left side
of this page.
European films opt for digital
The “DigiTraining Plus 2008”
course (London, 9 – 13 April 2008) was an important opportunity
not only for gaining information on new developments in technologies for
digital cinema, but also for experiencing the quality of screening and
the entity of the European offer of films in digital format. In this respect,
the course participants were able, thanks to XDC, to watch some extracts
from successful European movies during their visit to the Kino Digital
in Hawkhurst, Kent. In particular, they were shown:
- Solstorm, by Leif Lindblom, Sweden
- Morgan Pålsson – Världsreporter, by Fredrik Boklund,
Sweden
- El Orfanato, by Juan Antonio Bayona, Spain
- Arn: Tempelriddaren, by Peter Flinth, Sweden
- Sous les Bombes, by Philippe Aractingi, France, Lebanon,
United Kingdom, Belgium
- Timboektoe, by Dave Schram, Netherlands
These are just some of the European
films distributed internationally in digital format too, which proves
that European cinema intends playing an active role in the digital shift.
The course participants were also able to watch the entire screening of
the film U23D at the BFI Imax in London and the documentary Shine a Light,
by Martin Scorsese, in digital format, at the Odeon Surrey Quays.
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Enrico di Mambro, AGIS - ANEC, ha scritto sul Giornale
dello Spettacolo un articolo sulla sua partecipazione al corso "DigiTraining
Plus 2008".
Per leggerlo cliccare qui
|
My
Brother is an Only Child – an international and digital success
After obtaining good audiences and reviews
in Italy, My Brother is an Only Child, Daniele Lucchetti’s latest
film, also came to UK screens on 4 April 2008, distributed by Revolver
Entertainment, winning immediate success with the best weekend average
per screen in its first week of programming and a box-office amounting
to £80,000.
This successful full-length feature film has also been released in digital
format and has been screened in 12 cinemas in the London area alone in
its first week on the screens. This mode of distribution is proof of growing
interest in the scheme launched by the UK Film Council which, using resources
from the National Lottery, has favoured the real shift to digital as regards
both distribution and exhibition. In this sense the United Kingdom distinguishes
itself from the rest of Europe, as has been highlighted by the course
“DigiTraining Plus 2008”, organized by MEDIA Salles in London
from 9 to 13 April. In his talk, Alex Stolz, representing the UK Film
Council, explained the project Digital Screen Network to participants
and stressed the opportunities for diversifying offer that derive from
it. In the strategy adopted by the UK Film Council, digital aims to give
greater visibility to independent productions, the so-called “speciality”
area, a category that includes foreign-language and art-house films.
Have a look at Alex Stolz’s
presentation here
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