The BBC are reporting that [Irish cinema is set to go digital](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4365875.stm) with the announcement that all cinemas in Ireland are to have their traditional film projectors replaced with digital projectors.
I would love to have some dates on the rollout of these kinds of things. Major directors like Michael Mann and George Lucas aside, ‘digital filmmaking’ has been relatively slow on the uptake. Perhaps this is the kind of kick in the ass it needs.
Personally, I’m thrilled at this. Aside from the technical issues, such as flickering and scratches and disjointed sound (which happened at the screening of Hotel Rwanda I saw in UGC – completely jarred me out of the movie), the major improvement I’m hoping this will bring is a quicker turnaround on movie releases here. Ireland traditionally has to wait in line to receive film reels as they do the rounds. For large films, such as the recent Hellboy or Incredibles, this wait can be as long as six months.
With digital filmmaking eliminating the needs for individual reels to be printed up, it eliminates that excuse.
Although I’m sure we’ll still have to wait in line to download the 1TB that will make up the movie.
As the Irish Film Board are involved perhaps dropping them a line to ask for more information would be a good idea?
I have endured some bad screenings recently, out of focus picture and bad audio. I’ve decided to complain every time I have a disappointing experience like that. The first time I did I spoke to a manager and questioned their dedication to quality. she assured me they considered it important but that they didn’t have the staff to inspect the quality of each screening and that they relied on customer complaints to fix problems, i.e. if there’s something bad about the film, get up and report it and it’ll be fixed.