Reg. Trib. Milano n. 418 del 02.07.2007
Direttore responsabile: Elisabetta Brunella

 
 
 
  International Edition No. 66 - year 6 - 22 April 2011 

***
 

Dear Readers,

from the results obtained by MEDIA Salles in 34 countries, it can be seen that at the beginning of 2011 Europe crossed the 10,000 threshold for digital screens. This means that slightly fewer than one third of the Continent’s theatres have switched to the new technology and that one of the most radical changes in the history of the cinema and of cinemas is now underway. MEDIA Salles has always kept a close watch on the process of digitalization, offering those working in the sector all the information needed to evaluate risks and opportunities. In 2004 we began offering the first pan-European training event – when the number of digital screens in the whole of the Continent amounted to just around thirty – and we continue to do so today: on 29 June the eighth edition of the course “DigiTraining Plus” will open in Helsinki, during which, this year, two sessions will be held in Tallinn. The crossing from Helsinki to the Estonian capital is not a casual choice: whilst it is true that one third of theatres have shifted to digital, it is just as true that the two thirds that have not taken this step do not wish to be excluded from the transition. Finding business models that will allow independent theatres and arthouses, as well as those operating on smaller markets, to tackle the digital revolution is one of the most demanding challenges: on our course, in Tallinn itself, this is what we shall be discussing!

Jens Rykaer
President of MEDIA Salles

 
(Per leggere il testo in italiano cliccare qui)

 

EUROPE’S DIGITAL SCREENS
CONTINUE TO GROW:
OVER 10,000 AT THE START OF 2011

Over 10,000 in Europe’s movie theatres: this is the figure for digital projectors using DLP Cinema TM or SXRD technology, according to the estimates elaborated by MEDIA Salles from the first results at the start of 2011.
 
From the figures announced by Elisabetta Brunella, Secretary General of MEDIA Salles, during Eurocinema Expo that took place in Cracow in February, it is evident that the growth in digital installations recorded in 2009 and continuing in the first half of 2010 has not halted over the past six months. On the contrary, the six leading European markets (respectively France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, Italy, Spain) count a total of 6,907 digital screens with a 52% increase compared to 30 June 2010 (when there were 4,543) and 118% compared to 1st January 2010 (3,174). Projections for the whole of Europe show that at 1st January 2011 there were around 10,100 digital projectors, i.e. slightly less than 30% of the world total, estimated at almost 36,000 units.

(Click here to read the whole article)

 

SAVE THE DATE

The eighth edition of the
“DigiTraining Plus:
European Cinemas
Experiencing
New Technologies”
course will take place
  
in Helsinki and Tallinn
 
from 29 June to 3 July 2011

Deadline for registration: 23 May 2011

Further information is published on our website,
at the page dedicated to the course:
http://www.mediasalles.it/training/training.htm

Focus on the Speakers

Michael Karagosian
MKPE Founder and President


(click the photo to read the biography)
 
John Fithian
NATO President


(click the photo to read the biography)
Steve Perrin
Chief Executive Digital Partnership LLP - UK

(click the photo to read the biography)

 
WOMEN IN DIGITAL CINEMA
Digital Cinema: A Flexible Medium for Corporate Communication
Myriam Dassonville, Corporate Communication Manager - Kinepolis

The advent of digital cinema not only meant a tremendous advance in quality for the viewer. As a communication channel, this new medium offers specific opportunities which today are used only to a limited degree. The possibilities of digital cinema as a communication medium hold plenty of opportunities for the future, and this applies to my own department – Corporate Communication – as well.

Until a few years ago, we in Corporate Communication had to make do with what we today call the ‘conventional’ communication channels: printed media, analogue audiovisual messages etc. As the digitalization trend grew apace, we all eagerly jumped onto the bandwagon of electronic media. The volume of corporate communication messages which are transmitted by electronic means nowadays has taken on remarkable proportions.

With the extension of digitalization to the film medium, and since most of our Kinepolis theatres are equipped with the appropriate technology, a world of new digital communication possibilities has opened up. Both internal and external target audiences can now be reached. Digitalization not only stands for quality, but for flexibility as well, both in terms of the subject matter of the communication and the target audiences we have in mind.

The wide range of internal communication efforts can be extended to the theatres. A message from the CEO is no longer only disseminated over the Intranet. Today we bring our CEO to the big screen where he can address all colleagues in all Kinepolis theatres in all countries in a totally different context than on the small PC screen. Other internal communications, too, or even certain training courses, can be presented in a simple and flexible manner by audiovisual means in our own cinema halls, in digital quality.

For external target audiences, cinema appears to present an ideal medium. Viewers are accustomed to seeing commercials and informative messages before the film starts. Awareness campaigns, such as those on the prevention and sorting of waste, or informative clips, for example on the use of 3D spectacles, can easily be fitted into the programming by digital means. Commercials, too, are heading for a new future. They will be easily adaptable to the kind of audience that may be expected in the cinema for a particular film shown.

Digital cinema will create new communication channels and efforts. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that in the future press conferences will be held digitally in several theatres simultaneously. By broadening the product offer Kinepolis constantly attracts new stakeholders, such as senior citizens, minority groups, sports and music enthusiasts. The flexibility offered by digital cinema makes it highly likely that our future communication efforts will focus far more specifically on these different target audiences. Everyone who comes to one of our theatres will, more than ever before, feel in touch with a targeted communication which is released to the right audience swiftly, cost effectively and in digital quality.
 

 
All different, all digital
by Elisabetta Brunella

This column hosts portraits of cinemas in Europe and the rest of the world which are quite different from one another but have in common the fact that they have all adopted digital projection.

Country

Site

Town

Company

Number of digital
projectors

Projector

Resolution

Server

No. of 3D screens

Supplier of 3D technology

EE

Coca Cola Plaza

Tallinn

Forum Cinemas

5

Barco/Christie

2K

Dolby

2

XpanD

 

Coca Cola Plaza - Tallinn

The “DigiTraining Plus” course that MEDIA Salles will organize from 29 June to 3 July 2011 in Helsinki and Tallinn foresees a visit to the Coca Cola Plaza.

An ancient Hanseatic town, Tallinn boasts a fine medieval city centre: this is what the tourist guides tell you. In fact, the capital of Estonia offers far more than the vestiges of a glorious past. Visitors who wish to have the experience of being in an authentic laboratory of contemporary architecture can start from the Rotermann: a harbour-side neighbourhood with factories and warehouses dating from the time of the Tsars, now the site of offices and shops which have taken up residence in the renovated versions of these ancient brick buildings. Prominent amongst them is the combination of an unadorned, two-storey parallelepiped with three truncated pyramids made of glass and steel on the roof: not the most commonly used way of gaining precious cubic metres and international fame at the same time. It is precisely here that a cinema is to be found which is the first in the world to bear the name of the cinemagoer’s drink par excellence: the Coca Cola Plaza. Now approaching its tenth anniversary – it was inaugurated on 10 March 2001 – this city multiplex is equipped with eleven screens, seats a total of 1,967 spectators, and is housed in a modern, multi-storey building that also acts as a covered walkway between two important streets in the centre of Tallinn – not a negligible feature at a latitude where temperatures remain below zero for much of the year. Even those who do not have the time or the inclination to watch a film can stop en passant at one of the cinema’s bars – specialized in fruit smoothies – taste the pizza of the day at Basilik’s, the Italian-style restaurant, or stock up on sweets at the candy shop, which offers quickly served and authentic Illy coffee. On the ground floor those who, instead, come here to watch a film will find not only the inevitable box-office but also fully-fledged wardrobe facilities which make it possible to get rid of overcoats and bags (and perhaps snow galoshes, too). Ample video-screens provide information on programming and special initiatives, should the spectator not be well-informed enough already, thanks to the app. that Forum Cinemas – the exhibitor and distributor which manages the Coca Cola Plaza – makes available to potential clients (those interested in viewing it will find the link below), whilst a series of escalators transport spectators to the theatres laid out on several different floors. Of these, five screens are equipped for digital projection and 3D, using XpanD technology, and also offer the musts of alternative content, such as the football World Cup or the Metropolitan’s opera season. The flower in the buttonhole of the Coca Cola Plaza - Forum Cinemas’ most important complex, in other words the Estonian equivalent of Finnkino – is the VIP suite, a theatre with 40 luxury armchair seats destined for clients who wish to enjoy special comfort and special treatment. The suite – bearing the “A. LeCoq” brand name, that of Estonia’s most famous beer, is linked to the Lounge of the same name, a hospitable and exclusive salon with an admirably stocked bar and a smoking area. If a film costs 5 euro on the “lower floors”, or 6.50 in 3D, up here prices can reach 20 euro for the New York opera. From the lounge – we are on the fifth floor here – a sweeping glass window offers spectacular views of Tallinn’s city centre. Whoever prefers a more romantic panorama to that of daring twentyfirst century architecture, need only look straight ahead: the medieval towers and gothic spires are right there, almost near enough to touch.

Elisabetta Brunella
Secretary General of MEDIA Salles

This article has been published in the "Giornale dello Spettacolo" no. 5, 18 March 2011
 
(Per leggere il testo in italiano cliccare qui)
 

 
MEDIA Salles’ contacts and address

MEDIA Salles
Piazza Luigi di Savoia, 24 – 20124 Milano - Italy
Tel.: +39.02.67397823– Fax: +39.02.6690410
E-mail: infocinema@mediasalles.it
Sito web: www.mediasalles.it