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

 
 
 
  International Edition No. 28 - year 3 - 26 February 2008

***

Dear readers,

following our appointment in Berlin and the presentation of the Yearbook, whose main figures are published alongside this article, we now approach 9 April, the date on which the fifth edition of DigiTraining Plus begins, in which MEDIA Salles provides European exhibitors with the tools for understanding the evolution of digital cinema and its implications for the industry. A novelty in 2008 is the course venue: for the first time we shall be in London, the ideal context for gaining a “direct” knowledge of the various aspects of the digital transition. Great Britain boasts the largest number of digital screens in Europe: 272 at the end of 2007. It can also be considered a laboratory in terms of the business strategies adopted and the way in which content, both cinematographic and alternative, is presented to the public, thanks to the digitalization of distribution and projection.
For this reason, as well as an overview of the state of the art in digital cinema, the focus of the course will be on the analysis of business models. In this connection, we are particularly grateful to the companies that have offered their collaboration and to the UK Film Council, thanks to whose initiative and financial support DSN, the Digital Screen Network was established.
Contributions by experts and professional players will be of prime importance, as will the visits to a variety of different cinemas, all, however, equipped with digital technology, so that participants can gain first-hand experience of this new type of movie theatre and compare opinions with their colleagues.
In this connection, the current issue publishes a foretaste of the contribution by Paul Corcoran, who manages two “purely digital” cinemas, visits to which are certain to provide one of the highlights of the course.

Jens Rykaer
President of MEDIA Salles

(Per leggere il testo in italiano cliccare qui)
 

The fifth edition of the training course “DigiTraining Plus: European Cinemas Experiencing New Technologies” begins on 9 April.
A message to European exhibitors from Mads Egmont Christensen, course moderator.

It has been a great pleasure for me to moderate the four previous DigiTraining Plus events, which thanks to the hospitality of Barco took place at their high-quality production plant in Belgium.
This obviously provided the course organisers, as well as those attending the course, with a constant state-of-the-art overview of the technical aspects related to Digital Cinema, thus securing the bases for understanding and discussing the practical changes that European exhibitors are facing within their fields of business.

(Click here to read the whole article)

A visit to the “Purely digital cinema”
In its 2008 edition, DigiTraining Plus concentrates on the practical experiences of exhibitors who have adopted digital technology.

In connection with this, MEDIA Salles is particularly happy to announce a visit to the Kino Digital in Hawkhurst, Kent, UK a cinema with no 35mm projectors at all.
 
“Purely digital cinema”, is how the exhibitor, Paul Corcoran defines it and it is he who will guide participants in discovering this innovative concept. Here, he gives us some advance details of how the adventure began.

“The first Kino Digital, a single screen installation (91 seats) into a village hall in Hawkhurst, Kent, opened in mid February, 2006, almost exactly 2 years ago.

The cinema was built as a very high quality prototype, specifically to test the concept of a totally digital cinema. It has never had an analogue projector.

(Click here to read the whole article)

Advance news from the speakers at the DigiTraining Plus course 2008
Tom Cotton, Technicolor

"The digital cinema landscape has been changing rapidly since the publication of the DCI specifications in 2005. There has been technological change over this period, and also technological development as the industry learns about the practicalities and challenges of a digital cinema network. Perhaps of greater impact than the technological advances has been the evolution of the business models over the past 2-3yrs. The Virtual Print Fee model has become generally accepted as the model for digital cinema deployment. However, acceptance of the model is merely the starting point, rather than the end point of the discussion. During my presentation I will look to explore the challenges that are faced on the parts of all stakeholders in the digital cinema supply chain, and provide some suggestions and conclusions for how - through analysing each stakeholder's perspective - we can identify a path to advancing the deployment of digital cinema throughout Europe."

JUST IN CASE: If the e-mail you have sent to infocinema@mediasalles.it bounces back, please use this temporary address:

mediasalles@alice.it

CINEMA-GOING IN EUROPE:
DROP IN EUROPEAN AUDIENCES, BUT WITH EXCEPTIONS.
THE SLOW GROWTH OF MULTIPLEXES IN EUROPE CONTINUES.
ALMOST 6,000 DIGITAL SCREENS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.

A tendency to decline, but not everywhere: this sums up the 2007 trend as regards cinema audiences. The exact opposite of 2006, where the plus sign was the general rule, although, there again, with some exceptions.

This is the picture that emerges from the data collected by MEDIA Salles who, as last year, have anticipated the announcement of the 2007 figures on cinema-going in Europe to the Berlin Festival, during the presentation of the “European Cinema Yearbook – 2007 final edition”, which took place today, 15 February.

The Yearbook - containing the “Berlin Special” with advance news of 2007 – can be consulted online at the MEDIA Salles website : http://www.mediasalles.it/yearbook.htm

(Click here to read the whole article)

(Per leggere il testo in italiano cliccare qui)

Be updated on the present state and future prospects of digital screening with the fifth edition of the MEDIA Salles’ training course
for European cinema exhibitors.

Application deadline: 3 March 2008

European Cinemas Experiencing New Technologies
London (Great Britain, 9-13 April 2008)

Main topics:
- The present state of the European and international market
for digital screening
- Overview of technologies
- Exhibition and Distribution
- Digital cinema economics
- Market potential

The course will also offer:
- visit to cinemas equipped with digital projector
- European case studies

Download the application form
(Versione italiana)

cliccare qui per la presentazione in italiano

Now in its fifth edition, DigiTraining Plus moves this year to the United Kingdom, the European market that has proved to be most dynamic up to the present in adopting digital screening.
 
A new venue but a constant objective: to offer professional players in Europe thorough and detailed training on which to base their choices and business strategies in dealing with the digital transition.

European Cinemas Experiencing New Technologies
Course programme
updated 09 April 2008
Wednesday, 9 April
Thursday, 10 April Friday, 11 April Saturday, 12 April Sunday, 13 April
 

At Curzon Cinema, Soho
Transfer by metro (Leicester Square), departing from hotel no later than 8.30 am

9 am
The reality of running a digital cinema within the DSN scheme: technical and operational aspects, including distribution, by Fiona Deans and Nicola Gaddes, Arts Alliance Media

Visit of the cinema led by Mick Stephen, technical manager of Curzon Cinemas
 
Business models, part I: Arts Alliance Media, by Fiona Deans

At Odeon Surrey Quays
Transfer by metro (Canada Water), departing from hotel no later than 8.45 am

9.30 am
What benefits does digital cinema bring to exhibitors?
Practical experience of running a digital test on all screens of a digiplex by Richard East, General Manager of Odeon Surrey Quays

10.45 am
Coffee break (visit to the projection booth)

11.15 am
How to obtain additional revenue thanks to digital cinema? - Part 1
Significant experience in United States: the activity of Emerging Pictures, by Giovanni Cozzi

11.45 am
Question & answers session

12 pm
The world of 3D, by Matt Cowan, RealD
3D screen (demo)

At Kino Cinemas, Hawkhurst, West Kent
Transfer by private bus, departing at 7.30 am

9.45 am
How to manage and programme a “purely digital cinema”
by Paul Corcoran

10.45 am
Screening of a selection of upcoming European digital movies by XDC

 

At Ibis London Euston St Pancras

9.15 am
Course evaluation
 
11 am
Course closure

Participants are free for lunch 12 pm
Cold lunch
At Curzon Cinema, Soho
1.15 pm
Lunch
At
Frankie & Benny's
Surrey Quays Road, London
12 pm
Lunch
At The Royal Oak Pub, Hawkhurst
 
At Ibis Euston St Pancras Hotel

3 pm
Welcome coffee and
Registration
 
3.30 pm
Opening of the course
Your host: Jens Rykaer, President of MEDIA Salles

3.45 pm
Welcome speech by Agnieszka Moody, Director of MEDIA Desk UK
 
UK cinema exhibition - challenges and opportunities, by Phil Clapp, CEO of the UK Cinema Exhibitors' Association
 
4.30 pm
Presentation of the course, by Mads Egmont Christensen, moderator
 
Digital screens: how many and where?
by Elisabetta Brunella, Secretary General of MEDIA Salles

5.30 pm
Coffee break

6.00 pm
What do we talk about when we talk about digital cinema?
by Dave Monk, European Digital Cinema Forum

7.45 pm
Presentation of who 's who


At ICA - Institute of Contemporary Arts
Transfer on foot

2 pm
Welcome speech by Mark Adams, Director of Cinema of the ICA

2.15 pm
The UK Film Council 's Digital Screen Network and the opportunity of digital cinema, by Alex Stolz, UK Film Council
 
3.30 pm
Questions & answers session on digital contents - film distribution.
With the participation of Anna Godas, Dogwoof Pictures and Sara Frain, Metrodome

4 pm
Coffee break
 
4.30 pm
Business models, Part 2: Technicolor, by Tom Cotton

Return to Ibis Euston St Pancras Hotel
Transfer by metro (Euston)

3.30 pm
Challenges to copyright in the digital world, by Charlotte McMillan, SJ Berwin

4.15 pm
How to obtain additional revenue thanks to digital cinema? - Part 2
Alternative contents, with presentations by Christine Costello - More2Screen and Fabrice Testa - DDCinema

5 pm
Coffee break

5.30 pm
Business models, part 3: XDC, by Fabrice Testa and Bernard Collard in collaboration with Sound Associates, Jerry Murdoch

Return to Ibis Euston St Pancras Hotel
Departure at 1.30 pm

3.30 pm
The German debate on cinema digitalisation, by Detlef Rossmann, president of AG Kino

4.30 pm
An overview of significant digital experiences around Europe by:
- Silvana Molino, Microcinema, Italy
- Mathias Holtz, Folkets Hus och Parker, Sweden
- Benjamin Dauhrer, CineCitta, Germany
- Enrique Martínez del Molino, Yelmo Cines, Spain
- Massimiliano Giometti, Giometti Cinema, Italy

6.30 pm
Final statements

 
Opening dinner
At Ibis Euston St Pancras Hotel

Participants are free for dinner

9.20 pm
Beginning of the screening "U2-3D" at BFI IMAX (metro: Waterloo).
On request - reservation needed (according to availability)

Participants are free for dinner

8.40 pm
Beginning of the screening "Shine a light" at Odeon Surrey Quays
(metro: Canada Water)
On request - reservation needed (according to availability)

8 pm
Closing dinner
At Thistle Hotel, Euston (walking distance from Ibis Euston St Pancras Hotel)
 

Useful links for the course

- Hotel Ibis London Euston St Pancras:   www.ibishotel.com/ibis/fichehotel/gb/ibi/0921/fiche_hotel.shtml

- Arts Alliance Media: www.artsalliancemedia.com

- XDC: www.xdcinema.com

- Kino Digital Cinema: www.kinocinemas.co.uk/home.htm

- EDCF: www.edcf.net

Practical information for the course

The course will begin on 9 April 2008 at 3 p.m. at the Ibis London Euston Hotel in St Pancras (3 Cardington Street - NW1 2LW - London) and will close on 13 April at 11 a.m. at the same address.

Deadline for application: 3 March 2008
Fee: 550 Euro covering tuition, teaching material, accommodation.
Scholarships available on request.

WOMEN IN DIGITAL CINEMA
Frauke Feuer
Peacefulfish

When the lights go off, that’s when the magic begins. This anticipation of the roughly two hours that are to come filled with great emotions, stunning images and engaging stories, is one of my dearest moments of the cinema experience.

The experience of going to the cinema is at the core of a current project called “Digital Alfie” that I’m managing. The aim is to identify and select services for the cinema goer and the exhibitor that are digital and are empowered by digital cinema technology and that open up new sources of revenues as well as savings. What excites me about this project is that what sounds reasonable and promising in theory, will actually be put into practice and hence be truly evaluated. Testing concepts in real life settings has continued to fascinate me ever since I did an evaluation of an e-learning software on film language at a private school in London. No matter how thorough your research was or how clever the ideas, you’ll only know if it works once you go out there and make it happen.

(Click here to read the whole article)

Italian opera now coming to digital cinemas in the UK and Norway
In our previous issue we presented the US “tour” of a selection of works from the Scala in Milan, the Maggio Fiorentino and the Fenice in Venice. A European version of this programme has now been announced which, through Arts Alliance Media, will take in the United Kingdom and Norway, in collaboration with Nordic Digital Alliance in the latter case.
Amongst the British digital cinemas that will offer the “Italy’s Best Opera” initiative there are big chains such as Vue and theatres belonging to independent exhibitors, such as Kino Cinemas in Hawkhurst and Sevenoaks in Kent, complexes equipped exclusively with digital projectors (see the article in this issue). In Norway Italian opera will also feature in the programmes of the world’s first travelling digital cinema, “Bygdekinoen”.

The quotation from the New York Magazine that has been chosen by Arts Alliance Media to advertise the event is significant: “If I had to choose between paying $80 for a spot in an upper balcony and $22 to sit in the middle of the action, I just might make for the nearest multiplex”.

(Per leggere il testo in italiano cliccare qui)

New MEDIA Salles offices

On 30 June 2007 MEDIA Salles relocated its offices to the Milan headquarters of Agis, Italy’s entertainment industry association.
Our new address is:

MEDIA Salles
c/o Agis Lombarda
Piazza Luigi di Savoia, 24
I-20124 Milano

Tel. +39 02 6739781 Direct line +39 02 67397823
Fax +39 02 6690410
E-mail: infocinema@mediasalles.it
temporary address - February 2008: mediasalles@alice.it