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Author Topic: Theatrical Exhibition of DVDs Ryan Navaroli Film Handler Posts: 63 From: Athens, OH, USA Registered: Nov 2005 posted 09-05-2006 02:17 PM                        I was wondering if anyone has any insight or leads on how one goes about exhibiting DVDs legally. I have several projects (such as a classic horror movie marathon) where this would prove to be much easier and cost effective than attempting to locate 35mm prints. I thought I had once read that criterion has a general license that allows you to exhibit DVDs (maybe just ones from the Criterion collection). Anyway, like I said if anyone can help with this I would appreciate it. Oh, and what about internation films on DVD that don't have any type of distribution in America. Is it legal to show those without paying people (not that I want to stiff people). Thanks  |  IP: Logged Robert John Jeromson Master Film Handler Posts: 264 From: Auckland, New Zealand Registered: Jul 2004 posted 09-05-2006 03:56 PM                     Provided that you have the permission of the films distributor it isn't normally a problem. As with 35mm engagements DVD exhibition is normally subject to film hire.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 09-05-2006 04:57 PM                        quote: Ryan Navaroli Oh, and what about internation films on DVD that don't have any type of distribution in America. Is it legal to show those without paying people (not that I want to stiff people). You'd have to find out who holds the US theatrical rights and license your screening from them. Where you got the DVD from makes no legal difference. The only issue is that in a small number of cases, the versions of a film prepared for distribution in one country aren't the same as in another. Sometimes this is due to censorship, but usually it's due to rights issues. So for example, there are some British prints of The Big Sleep in which the scene with Lauren Bacall singing in the nightclub was completely cut, because the song's British publisher refused to license it to Warners for use in that territory. Were you, for argument's sake, to get hold of a copy of the British cut version, Warners probably wouldn't let you show it in the US because they'd prefer you to use the complete version. So if you are proposing to run theatrical screenings of a DVD obtained from overseas (or a film print, for that matter), it's important to tell the rights owner so that they're sure that they're legally allowed to license the screening for you. Cases like that are unusual, but by no means unheard of. Theatrical rights are separate from home video rights: sometimes the same distributor owns or controls both, but not always.  |  IP: Logged Brian Guckian Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 594 From: Dublin, Ireland Registered: Apr 2003 posted 09-05-2006 07:08 PM                     Are you in a position to even try to obtain 35mm prints? Remember that standard DVDs were never designed for large-screen projection. Certainly, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD (saw an excellent demonstration of the former just today) will change that, but for the moment it's SD rather than HD one is working with. The other thing is that mastering quality can vary enormously, as has been pointed out here before. For older material, your DVD may be coming off an old broadcast 1 inch, especially for older and cult material. And, the display devices out there can vary enormously in quality becasue unlike film, you're faced with different picture technologies (e.g. LCD, DLP) as well as different light levels, contrast ratios, colour balance, etc. Sure, the 35mm prints may be unavailable or so badly damaged they're unwatchable, and a good DVD setup on a fairly small screen (say 12ft) may be acceptable, but it is a compromise. (NB - I'm sure that if you do use DVD that you'll make this clear to the audience in your publicity. There are some serious problems over here where DVDs are being shown publicly but are being branded as "film screenings" and "cinema". A breach of consumer law IMHO, but when I sought an opinion from a Consumer Agency here they said that because film is a moving image, and DVD is a moving image, then film = DVD! Interesting...so that means apples are oranges, because apples are fruit and oranges are fruit...)  |  IP: Logged John Koutsoumis Master Film Handler Posts: 261 From: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Registered: Aug 2003 posted 09-05-2006 08:36 PM                     Well if one is promoting apples as oranges, sure there is a problem but if the same film is played on DVD or 35 it's still the same film. Quality of picture is a whole different thing and to a lot of people it won't matter. Well mastered DVD's can look amazing on a not too large screen. How about attempting to source films on formats such as Digital Betacam or the like. They provide better quality and are reliable. You just need the playback equipment. Locally here there is one art house cinema that does just that and then captures the film onto a hardrive (which compresses it) so the results are not all that good as opposed to screening straight off the digital tape. For both new and revival releases distributors have been enthusiastic about providing the films for this particular Cinema in digi-beta format. By no means am I encouraging that digital is an equal alternative to 35 or 70mm (even 16mm) but if it's the only way to show the films you want to show then it's worth looking in to.  |  IP: Logged Ryan Navaroli Film Handler Posts: 63 From: Athens, OH, USA Registered: Nov 2005 posted 09-05-2006 08:59 PM                        Does anyone know of say... a master list of offices for the various distribution companies where one could contact to arrange terms/ obtain exhibition rights? If not I'm sure I can track down said distributors, but wouldn't this just make the world that much easier. Thanks  |  IP: Logged Matt Fields Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 545 From: Ohio, United States Registered: Jun 2005 posted 09-05-2006 10:05 PM                     Why not have your booker contact the studios?  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 09-06-2006 01:44 AM                        quote: Ryan Navaroli Does anyone know of say... a master list of offices for the various distribution companies where one could contact to arrange terms/ obtain exhibition rights? If one existed, then it would make my job as an archivist a hell of a lot easier! The advantage of using a booking agency is that they either know who has the rights you're interested in, or know who to ask. If not, you may end up having to do some detective work. For example, contact the publisher of the DVD and ask if they also have theatrical rights for your territory. If not, who did they license the DVD rights from? Then you ring those guys. And so on and so forth.  |  IP: Logged Tom Sauter Expert Film Handler Posts: 163 From: Buffalo, NY, USA Registered: Sep 2000 posted 09-06-2006 06:46 AM                        The distributors that come to mind, and whom I have obtained DVD rights from, are Kit Parker and Swank.  |  IP: Logged Paul Gordon Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 580 From: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Registered: Aug 2005 posted 09-06-2006 08:20 AM                        I would go with 16mm if you have the projector..its still going to look better then an average DVD with a ok video projector. There is still a load of 16mm prints floating around many you can't get on 35mm anymore or DVD. This company has a 111 page list of 16mm films that they rent. http://www.criterionpic.com/cpl/lcl_enghometable.html  |  IP: Logged Stephen Furley Film God Posts: 3059 From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England Registered: May 2002 posted 09-06-2006 09:33 AM                     quote: Paul Gordon I would go with 16mm if you have the projector..its still going to look better then an average DVD with a ok video projector. 16mm can look much better than DVD, or much worse. It depends on the projectors used, and the quality of the print available. Many of the available 16mm prints were made in the '70s and '80s, when quality was not always good, and many are now in poor condition. quote: Paul Gordon There is still a load of 16mm prints floating around many you can't get on 35mm anymore or DVD. This company has a 111 page list of 16mm films that they rent. Many 16mm libraries only had distribution rights for non-commercial exhibition. If booking a print for commercial purposes you need to make this very clear, and ensure that they are aware of this. 16mm is not often seen at its best.  |  IP: Logged Bill Enos Film God Posts: 2081 From: Richmond, Virginia, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 09-06-2006 11:58 AM                     DVD thru a high end projector with adequate light in flat is better than 16mm. Projected in full screen scope is another matter, the both are about the same. DVD will likely be in the correct format and have digital multi channel sound, the 16 at best can do AM radio quality mono. DVD runs a wide range of picture quality too. The original DVD release of Raiders of the Lost Ark looks pretty good, the "collectors edition" boxed set looks terrible on the full scope screen. The DVDs provided by Swank and others have not been as good as the ones bought retail. The distributor provided discs go directly to the feature without all the warning B.S. and menu screens though. I was incorrect about the boxed set, it was the collectors edition of Raiders We use DVDs for private screenings and frequently for midnights. Groups usually prefer to save the cost of print shipping. Midnighters are there for the group fun and we've asked about screening of DVDs, about 90% don't care, midnights are about the party atmosphere more than serious movie watching. On a couple of the occasions when we ran 16, there were lots of complaints about the square cut off picture and the crappy sound. One who bitched, when informed that 16mm was the only way his favorite was available said not to show it rather than do it that badly. [ 09-06-2006, 04:05 PM: Message edited by: Bill Enos ]  |  IP: Logged Mike Heenan Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1896 From: Scottsdale, AZ, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 09-06-2006 12:23 PM                     Umm I wasn't aware that the IJ trilogy was available individually before the collectors edition boxset?  |  IP: Logged George Roher Master Film Handler Posts: 266 From: Washington DC Registered: Jul 99 posted 09-06-2006 02:39 PM                     I personally hate running DVDs in a theatre. Picture quality issues aside, they are just so unreliable. Sometimes brand new discs won't play on certain players. And rental discs, discs from someone's home collection, or home-made DVDs from indie "filmmakers" are a real crapshoot. Too many times I've been given discs to play that look like someone has rubbed them with sandpaper and blown their nose on it. But it's digital so it must be perfect. I've had better luck and much less stress running 35mm prints that are many decades old.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-06-2006 02:49 PM                        Agreed, completely. DVDs are a crappy exhibiton format. My personal favorite was one which was a) in PAL, b) region-coded to something other than North America, c) opened with upwards of ten minutes of unskippable crap, and d) required navigating a series of menus in Chinese to turn on English subtitles (if I spoke Chinese, I wouldn't need to turn on subtitles, damnit!). Returning to the menu required sitting through the unskippable crap again. This was even more fun than it sounds because a) the person responsible for the show didn't tell me that the subtitles needed to be turned on, b) the DVD player was controlled by a Crestron unit that wasn't programmed for all of the functions necessary to navigate the menus, and c) the actual remote control for the DVD player, when I finally found it, did not have batteries. Yes, that was a truly memorable show. Give me 35mm, 16mm, Digi-Beta, Beta, or HDCAM any time over this junk.  |  IP: Logged

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