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Topic: Another digital disaster

Martin McCaffery
Film God

Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99

posted 09-30-2012 07:55 PM

http://popdose.com/no-concessions-digital-disaster-at-the-new-york-film-festival

quote:
No Concessions: Digital Disaster at the New York Film Festival
BOB CASHILL SEPTEMBER 30, 2012
The New York Film Festival, which got underway last Friday, celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. I’ve attended every year since 1994. I’ve seen dozens of movies there–some extraordinary, many good, some run-of-the-mill, a few terrible. I wondered where Brian De Palma’s Passion, screened on Saturday, would fit in.

I’m still wondering. In what was for me an unprecedented event in my decades of festivalgoing, the screening was cancelled. Why? Three words: Digital Cinema Package, or DCP.

What is DCP? It’s heralded as the future of cinema projection, but really it’s the present; chances are your local multiplex has gone DCP, as your local independently owned theater or repertory house struggles to find a way to pay for it as celluloid goes up in smoke. The brave new world of digital projection comes with pitfalls, however. Like, if the system malfunctions, and no one can get a grip on what went wrong, you’re fucked like the fucking Diaz brothers, as the Film Society of Lincoln Center learned the hard way last night.

If you follow the festival at all you’ve been reading a lot about how Richard Pena, its programming director, is bowing out after 25 years of distinguished service. “I bet he wishes he retired last year,” grumbled a fellow patron as we all exited Alice Tully Hall after more than an hour of waiting. It had been a trying day: apparently a DCP of a Mexican film shown in the afternoon, Here and There, was plagued by intermittent subtitles that were here and there for half an hour until the problem was fixed. That was nothing compared to this utter fiasco, however. Has a festival presentation ever been cancelled due to a mechanical glitch? Not in the film cans days that I can recall.

Poor Pena–he’s a good guy (I interviewed him for Newsweek.com in 2001) and there he was, having to face not only a disappointed crowd but Brian De Palma, who’s not exactly Mary Sunshine. (I interviewed him for Cineaste about his last film, Redacted, which played without incident at the festival in 2007.) From my balcony seat I could see the filmmaker growing progressively more baleful, and when he was escorted from his box I knew we would not be seeing his movie. It can’t have been pretty backstage: “See this? I left my trademark safari jacket at home and put on a suit and tie for this thing! I was goddamned cheerful in my opening remarks, too!”

Whatever the case, it was a humiliation. Pena, who had to keep coming onstage to deliver the worsening news, said that the DCP has been tested without incident minutes before showtime, but minus a code had somehow locked down. Minus someone who could fix the code that was it for the evening. That’s not the movies we knew and loved; that’s a plot contrivance on an episode of 24. Maybe they should rename Digital Cinema Package HAL, in honor of 2001‘s errant computer.

After a half hour or so of waiting Pena announced that audience members who couldn’t stay could get refunds at the boxoffice. Only 10-15% seemed to. Which was touching; we wanted to see the movie and were willing to put up with the inconvenience. (I watched the French-made Love Crime, the basis of Passion, the other night and wanted to know, like, what was up with the masks? And the chokehold?) But it was out of Pena’s hands, or De Palma’s hands, or any human hands. It was a glitch in the machine, a hiccup in the software. And with that the 50th anniversary of the New York Film Festival was tainted.

Watch this space for actual festival reviews, if technology doesn’t bungle further screenings. Too bad they can’t project film at a film festival anymore.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 09-30-2012 08:16 PM

With almost 40,000 screens in the U.S., and over 30,000 of them digital, there's NO WAY every single one of them is going to project a perfect performance every single showing. It doesn't matter if they're in a film festival or not, or projecting film or not.

I guess there's going to be a major news article every time
there's a digital breakdown. Oh well, it beats more political "news."

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 09-30-2012 09:29 PM

Aren't film festivals and film societies supposed to have professionals on staff for just this reason?

Isn't the Film Society of Lincoln Center supposed to be one of the biggies?

One of those big guys took such a hit for lack of getting a working key for the movie?

While it certainly is fun to laugh at digital video when it doesn't work, I think the main lesson to be learned here is that, after all the hype about "perfect digital movies" that we've heard about so long, the shine is starting to wear off and people are starting to see it for what it is: Technology that is vulnerable to malfunction just as anything is.

People have been lulled into a sense of complacency and think that digital movies happen as if by magic.

The lesson to be learned is that, if Lincoln Center can get caught flat footed, anybody can.

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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 09-30-2012 09:35 PM

I think the writer blows this out of proportion.

By way of comparison, film's early days were far more disastrous. (Nitrate)

And film still has occasional failures.

With it being such a high-profile event, with the filmmaker being present, I'm surprised there weren't backup measures in place. Why was a KDM required for this? Did nobody check the expiration date of the KDM?

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Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-01-2012 07:50 AM

We actually got a defective key for something that played in the Boston "Film" Festival this year (the second festival where I have worked where there was no actual film in the entire festival). For some reason, we got two different keys, one of which looked good, but did not work, and the other of which worked fine.

Part of the problem is that the keys for this type of screening are produced to be good for a very short time window--not much more than the screening itself. That makes it difficult to verify if the key is good. The fact that I was unfamiliar with key management in general and the Doremi server UI specifically did not help matters, either.

I am not overly concerned about this sort of issue, and expect that it will work itself out over time, as everyone becomes more familiar with the system and as distributors realize the importance of providing valid keys with reasonable time limits.

(What's with the swapping of the order of the film forum and the TV forum in the forum list?)

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Carsten Kurz
Film God

Posts: 4340
From: Cologne, NRW, Germany
Registered: Aug 2009

posted 10-01-2012 09:38 AM

Maybe it's my lack of native language, but DO we actually know what exactly was the problem there? Was it actually an expired key between the test and the presentation?

If it was, then the question would be - did they check the expiration date beforehand? Or was some show schedule shifted and this was overseen?

Depending on time of day and issuer, in many cases it is possible to receive a key by email in very little time.

- Carsten

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Edward Havens
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 614
From: Los Angeles, CA
Registered: Mar 2008

posted 10-01-2012 09:48 AM

Overblown hyperbole from someone with an axe to grind.

A disaster is when a tsunami kills 230,000 people.
A movie that can't be projected because of a technical glitch is a minor inconvenience.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-01-2012 11:40 AM

Well you do have to consider the source. Any piece of news that contains this type of writing:

quote:
you’re fucked like the fucking Diaz brothers

can't exactly be taken seriously.

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Martin McCaffery
Film God

Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-01-2012 01:34 PM

Hey, it's show-biz. Hyperbole is the native language [Wink]

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Graham Ritchie
Film Handler

Posts: 54
From: Christchurch, New Zealand
Registered: Apr 2009

posted 10-01-2012 01:46 PM

Good morning gentleman...I am a "HAL 9000" computer..........

If you'd like to hear it, I can sing for you.

Daisy Daisy, give me your answer do. I'm half crazy all for the love of you. I can't afford a carriage. But you'll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two.

Wait..Someone is coming....I'm afraid I'm afraid my mind is going I can feel it zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz [Big Grin]

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 10-01-2012 02:11 PM

This article would be fairly judged as so-called overblown hyperbole if not for the fact "digital cinema" has been hyped for years as being perfect. If the proponents of this stuff are going to sell it as being perfect the average movie goer is going to expect it to be perfect. They're going to feel that way since that is how the technology has been sold to them.

The other problem is there should be no such thing as a PREVENTABLE technical gaffe of this magnitude taking place at such a high profile event as the New York Film Festival. Even I wouldn't care much at all if a digital video show failed to play at either one of the first run theaters here in little old Lawton-Fort Sill, Oklahoma. There's no excuse for that kind of thing to be happening at the friggin' New York Film Festival, especially when the movie's director is sitting in the audience. This is just as bad as a restaurant serving a major company executive or head of state a steak dinner with a cockroach sitting in the middle of it.

Maybe the writer is incorrect in blaming it all on the technology itself. Nevertheless it exposes problems many of us have known about it for years. The biggest problem is various decision makers placing far too much trust in the technology to work 100% perfect all of the time. These security keys with ridiculously short validity times is a clear symptom of that misplaced trust. They need to be going the other direction and "Murphy proof" the situation so something like a high profile show at the New York Film Festival won't be 100% hosed by a very simple problem.

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Tony Bandiera Jr
Film God

Posts: 3067
From: Moreland Idaho
Registered: Apr 2004

posted 10-01-2012 07:00 PM

I'm gonna disappoint my "fans" who were hoping I'd go on another D-Crapma rant here and say that it was not, in this case, the format's (DCP) fault....Bobby said it best here:

quote: Mr. Trajan
The biggest problem is various decision makers placing far too much trust in the technology to work 100% perfect all of the time. These security keys with ridiculously short validity times is a clear symptom of that misplaced trust.

Which is what it sounds like from here. Remember in the not-so-distant past when film cans came with padlocks on them? And many folks had to resort to cutting locks off or cancelling shows because the dumbasses at the studios didn't release the combination on time..or to the right person?

And even if you got the combos in time, I have heard of, and personally had, situations where the print was fucked up (wrong title, duplicate reels, etc.) which you didn't find until the powers that be decided it was ok for you to look at the film.

The other key point Bobby made, and the crux of my (former) D-Cinema hate, was the simple fact that everyone involved was forcing this down our throats as the "PERFECT SHOW EVERY TIME" medium. This, while the technology was (is) not perfected yet.

This and many other incidents has shown we have a long way to go on this...and I doubt it will ever be financially possible to get a perfect system with enough redundancy to totally eliminate lost shows.

It might be possible to get things to the reliability of a properly maintained film system with a competent projectionist..but we are a long way from that now.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-01-2012 07:26 PM

quote: Tony Bandiera Jr
not perfected yet

Whadaya mean "yet?" It'll NEVER be perfected. Techno-companies don't EVER perfect anything before they race on to the next thing. Even my oh-so-wonderful iPhone 4S has had to be rebooted several times since I've had it because it just....stopped working.

That's the problem with techno-stuff. It just doesn't work too much of the time. I liked the days when you could see, hear, or smell the problem and then fix it. With digital gear, you can't see anything and if you hear or smell something, you're probably just going to be buying a new whatever-it-is.

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Martin McCaffery
Film God

Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-01-2012 07:56 PM

quote: Tony Bandiera Jr
It might be possible to get things to the reliability of a properly maintained film system with a competent projectionist..but we are a long way from that now.

As Chapin Cutler at Boston Light & Sound likes to say "Digital is where film was in 1903."

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-01-2012 11:17 PM

Why can't they use dual factor encryption/passwords like is used on banking websites or secure VPNs?

You have to put in your username and password then through one means or another, such as a secure dongle or your cell phone, you receive a second password which is (supposedly) known only to you and the system. You must have both passwords to access. After the dual factor encryption expires (an hour, a day, a week, etc.) you have to get a new one.

As an example, for a digital movie system, you might get the regular KDM which authorizes you, as a theater, to play that movie. Then, you call, e-mail or use a dongle to receive the second part of the password which will authorize you to play that movie for a certain period of time.

Receive the KDM via the usual channels and upload it with your USB stick, just like you do now. Then, you have to type in an 8 character code using the keypad on the machine or server to activate the movie for a playdate or series of playdates.

In the above case, let's suppose the movie director or the technical director of the film festival had a dongle.

The theater already uploaded their KDM which authorizes them to play the movie. The director or TD pushes a button on his dongle and enters "p455w0rd" on the keypad. The movie is good to go.

For daily operation in theaters, there could be a 24/7 hotline (like Technicolor) where you can call to get your second key.

I don't know if this would really work in real life but, in theory, the "malfunction" at that festival would have been prevented by such a system.

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