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Author
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Topic: Not in the industry, but want to have an event: Where to start?
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Paul England
Film Handler
Posts: 5
From: Tokyo, Shibuya, Japan
Registered: Jan 2014
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posted 02-18-2014 01:37 AM
Hi
Totally new to this forum, and am glad to have been allowed. This is definitely going to be a long post, but please do note I'm quite serious about this multi-hurdle challenge.
I currently reside in Japan, and have for most of my adult life. I will finish year 15 (out of 17... egads) at the end of 2014, at which time I will move to the San Francisco Bay Area. My only connection with feature films is going to see them in the theaters here. (I shoot street photography w/ film cameras though so I got that going for me). Anywho, enough about me, and more about why I'm here.
There is a group that works with an indie theater (or it might be the theater) that has a festival once or twice a year which roughly translates to "Explosion Movie Festival". The explosion part comes from the auxiliary sound system provided. It is substantial to say the least. You can get an idea by going to that festival's main page and scrolling down a bit. It's really, really loud. The theater holds around 250 people and the speakers are about 8 feet tall, to give you an idea. For the record, that theater is closing down in the summer. ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
One movie they've played a few times (and always sells out) is Akira from 1988. While it has garnered a lot of hype worldwide, it definitely has more love in it's home country. What puts it in my Top 5 (if not Top 1) is the infusion of the soundtrack with the movie. The soundtrack itself, as well as hand-painted animation [making it a relic, in today's market] have aged amazingly well. Thus, I feel the quintessential viewing experience is through this absurdly loud sound system.
So, why am I rambling about this? I would like to see this model emulated in California. The aforementioned movie would be the first one of a series, ideally, but I have ideas for subsequent ones as well. There are, however, caveats:
1) I have absolutely no idea how the industry works. The closest thing I'm familiar with is bringing in small musical talent for a tour of a region. Promoter acts a proxy for venues. Contracts are signed. Artist plays in said venues. Does such a thing work in the "classic movies in theaters" business? I see some theaters in Cali allow you to rent the theater to screen "your" movie. This is definitely not my movie though. I assume the theaters have a relationship with one or many distributors, meaning they would really have to do like... all of the work, no? What if I wanted to take on the roll of promotion, and a bit of the financial responsibility? Would a theater be more interested? Laugh me out of the ticket booth?
2) Attaining the print. There are at least 3 versions of this movie on film for the western market and I'm praying for a 4th. The first two are a dub, and a subtitled version from around 1989, for it's initial release. In 2001, it got the digital remastering treatment (in Japan as well) and for the western releases, Pioneer ponied up for a new dub which is vastly superior to the 1989 dub. However, having said that, even the 2001 dub is not going to cut it for the event I have envisioned. So, not only will there be the task of finding a distributor with any print, I'm hoping to see if there's a digital remastered subtitled print. If not, then I'd opt for the 1989 subtitled print. I've seen the film in the theater 3 times in 2013 alone.
I do know Streamline owned the rights to it which lapsed according to Wikipedia. Supposedly Ganeon Entertainment had the rights as of 2001, and they went belly up as well. :-/ The Wikipedia link has 4 companies as the current license holder... one based in my home state of Texas. Perhaps I should don my cownboy boots and just stroll up and ask next time I'm visiting my mom.
3) The sound system. This hurdle speaks for itself. Costs aside, I can't imagine too many theater managers being thrilled about bringing in a sound system that will make some patrons want to wear ear plugs. But, I'm going to note it as an integral part of the experience. Feel free to chime in with a "you're nuts" or "good idea" as you deem fit!
I don't have a ton of pull in California, but I have a handful of people in social media that could help spread the word. My guess is that with the right films, this event wouldn't need too much pushing to gain traction. Not for 200 people, anyway. The other shoe-in is Blade Runner, which I'm convinced could sell out a small theater very easily. In fact it might be the ideal show to start the event off with.
I think that's enough for now. I won't even be relocating for a few months, but I would like to get a rough idea of if this is even possible or not.
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Scott Norwood
Film God
Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 02-18-2014 09:19 AM
Don't restrict yourself to movie theatres. There are many venues (colleges, live performing-arts theatres, etc.) that show films occasionally that might be more interesting locations and/or cheaper to rent than a multiplex auditorium, especially if you can do your screenings on an "off" night (e.g. Monday/Tuesday).
You need to find a venue and figure out what type of film and/or video projection capability it has. Then, either have that venue book the film or call up the film distributor yourself. This works best if you have an organization with a name (e.g. "Blah Blah Film Society"). Figure on spending $250-500 for film rental plus $100 shipping for a 35mm print. Shipping might be less for D-cinema. Also, plan on the distributor taking 35% of your boxoffice take if it exceeds the guaranteed amount (the $250-500 mentioned above). In some cases, you will be classified as a "nontheatrical" exhibitor and will need to book (in most cases) through a nontheatrical distributor, e.g. Swank Motion Pictures and/or Criterion Pictures, depending on who owns the rights for the films that you want to show.
Venue rentals can be all over the map. You can generally expect to pay for venue manager, projectionist, and janitor. Sometimes, you will also need to pay for ushers and stagehands as well, especially if the venue needs to be converted from a stage house to a movie theatre and back. In some cases, you may be able to provide your own volunteers or employees to do some of these jobs.
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Paul England
Film Handler
Posts: 5
From: Tokyo, Shibuya, Japan
Registered: Jan 2014
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posted 02-18-2014 08:18 PM
Cheers for the replies, guys.
quote: Brad Miller
tell them you want the volume raised a few points and you'll get that awful viewing experience you are seeking.
For the record, the average theater's sound system is not going to cut it. I've spent the majority of my life after age 18 in clubs, DJing, and simply around loud audio in general. I actually saw the digital reprint (which is 5.1) in an average theater with the sound amped way louder than normal. It was louder than normal, but the experience was definitely not the same. It also needs to be tuned by someone that knows what they're doing. I've heard a system at a particular venue sound divine... and like garbage.
quote: Brad Miller
(Odds are it will be digital in some form, not film...as film is all but gone in the US.)
Hmm... okay. Have most movies seen the conversion? I would have assumed they'd just let older movies be and not bother with making a digital version, as they're screened so irregularly. Sounds like I don't have to bother knowing though if the place handles it.
quote: Scott Norwood
In some cases, you will be classified as a "nontheatrical" exhibitor and will need to book (in most cases) through a nontheatrical distributor, e.g. Swank Motion Pictures and/or Criterion Pictures, depending on who owns the rights for the films that you want to show.
I guess that's the tricky part. Can I assume that not every theater will be able to acquire something I want to show? Will the average venue (theater, college, or whatever have you) be able to deal with any other distributor?
Anyway, I think you guys have mainly answered my questions, so thanks. $500 base cut off seems doable to me. I'm sure I could get 25 acquaintances in for $10 which seems close to halfway of breaking even. Not doing it for the cash, which of course helps. I was expecting a much larger financial hurdle to be honest.
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Mike Blakesley
Film God
Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 02-18-2014 11:02 PM
quote: Paul England
Have most movies seen the conversion? I would have assumed they'd just let older movies be and not bother with making a digital version, as they're screened so irregularly.
Some studios are better at converting their older films than others. Paramount and Fox, in particular, have a wide variety of their "classic" titles converted. If you were looking for a "plain Jane" type movie that was not much of a hit, forget it. The one studio that's pretty much doing nothing with most of their classics for mainstream theatrical use, sadly, is Disney, which is nothing new...you couldn't get those movies in 35mm either.
Also --- in that "$500" figure, remember that you're only talking about print rental there, most likely. The venue would probably charge you some kind of rental too, especially if you're taking over an auditorium that might otherwise have a regular show playing in it.
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Dave Macaulay
Film God
Posts: 2321
From: Toronto, Canada
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 02-21-2014 11:16 AM
You will probably want to use the blu-ray "anniversary edition", the sound is quite good and there are English and original Japanese tracks. I haven't heard of an Akira DCP (digital cinema package), and if it exists it would almost 100% definitely be made from the blu-ray master anyway.
If you do this in a cinema, sound will be an issue: the blu-ray Dolby Tru-HD will not be decoded by any cinema equipment I know of and is probably superior to a basic Dolby Digital 5.1 track - which is decoded by some cinema scalers or sound processors. If you are using a cinema projector with an HDMI input (an IMB system) the sound will be decoded to 6 channel in the projector - how, I don't know - but you can split the audio out of the HDMI and process it externally.
Any cinema projector (OK, not some early ones which are still in service) will play a blu-ray at 1080P which is essentially identical to 2K cinema resolution. The main difference is image encoding - blu-ray uses a progressive encoding where you can get multiframe pixellation distortion when a glitch loses some image data, the image is screwed until a full key farame is found (the frequency of key frames is adjustable in encoding, and more = higher data rate). A dirty disk or other problem gives you a lot of odd looking image problems with blocky or scrambled pixellation for a second or so.
D-Cinema encodes each frame image individually so any small glitch will only screw up one frame. They can still use a high compression/low data rate encoding and give you crappy image quality though, as can be done on a blu-ray.
I think you would be best renting a "live" theatre and setting up a screen if you want to have a rock concert type sound system. A cinema might go along with it, but the space for such speakers would be very limited and you will still have to do the same wiring etc. A digital/video projector is quiet enough to have in the house on a riser, especially considering you want concert sound levels.
Renting a cinema projector is not easy - maybe not possible - but renting a projector that will do an excellent job from a blu-ray is easy in any large city. These are used all the time for trade shows and music shows, check with AV equipment rental houses. The only thing these projectors can't do is show theatrical movies from the DCPs used in cinemas because the projector doesn't have the necessary (and expensive) security and decryption stuff that digital cinema systems require.
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