Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1504875
Tech CONTINUED FROM PAGE 41 each DCP, we felt we could retain our artistic integrity by maintaining a mix that we all believed in, and reassure the exhibitors so they'd feel comfortable enough to play the film properly." While this type of artist statement isn't uncommon, Mangini noted, "I don't think a lot of filmmakers are even aware that cinemas are playing their movies below reference. We can do better as a creative community by being aware of what's going to happen in the cinema." Babcock agreed, "It's important for exhibitors to have relationships with the filmmakers. Part of a solution is having directors be aware of this issue, and having them very publicly ask theaters to play it at reference level. Hopefully, that kind of pressure and having people being aware of this issue will help." Exhibitors that choose to play films below reference level should be aware of how that affects the mix and the audience's experience. "We're at the mercy of the exhibitors to care enough to make sure that all the rooms are playing properly and that all the staff is trained. Maybe a projectionist training program is a solution? Maybe the studios or the guilds would sponsor a program for projectionist certification, so that projectionists have to go through training before they're hired, to understand why things need to be set the way they are. That's important," said Lamberti. Another solution is room standardiza- tion — having theaters more closely mimic the mixing environment. "You're mixing for the room in the hopes that, in a prop- erly-calibrated theater, it's going to play very similarly. We're making our creative decisions based on that. Dolby and IMAX have developed a relationship with theater chains and have high standards. They're part of the process of building a theater or retrofitting a theater, and they tend to do it right. Dolby and IMAX have some control, from a distance, of how a theater sounds," said Babcock, who did the IMAX mix for "Halloween Ends." I M AX u s e s i n - t h e ate r ca m e ra s a n d microphones to automatically calibrate the projector and sound system between each show. Babcock added, "If a speaker goes out in an AMC Dolby Cinema theater, the system will phone home and say, 'Hey, a speaker's gone out.' That is part of the solution, hav- ing communication between the theater's playback system and a quality control hub. You know those are going to be calibrated as much as they can be, so they're going to play at reference level, and you're going to see the picture correctly. I only hope that other theaters recognize the benefit of giving the audience a great experience." But asking that every exhibitor retrofit their theaters to meet a specific standard is a tall order. "Exhibitors are the ones who would have to bear the cost of improvement, but they're in such bad shape financially right now coming out of the pandemic. How do you convince them to make sure their theaters are up to spec?" asked Lamberti. Kiser added, "There's no way a theater in Garrard County, Kentucky (population 17,000) is recalibrating their room every day, or can even afford to do that, because how many tickets are they actually selling?" C o u l d o n e f u t u re s o l u t i o n b e ro o m mapping software that will automatically recalibrate the theater's speakers to repro- duce the sound as it was on the dub stage? "I think that's ultimately where it should probably go. Let's take that part of it off the projectionist's plate and make it a part of the film delivery. So when the film first gets played, that tone mapping or calibration map is run for a particular film. It's embed- ded in the DCP. Then that information gets sent to the speakers' calibration software and it's played as intended. That's probably the best solution and probably something that everybody could get on board with," said Lamberti. He also noted that getting filmmakers and exhibitors to agree on the best technol- ogy to make that happen will be no easy feat. Lamberti said, "You're talking about doing research. You'll have to do focus groups to find out what levels are best for the majori- ty. If the unions are driving it, you could get people on board with that very easily. But when you start bringing all the other com- ponents in, how do you make that happen? There are a lot of moving parts." 'WHAT PAYS THE BILLS' W h i l e t h i s a r t i c l e o f f e r s u p m o r e questions than solutions, it's done in the hope that a serious discussion will happen between the filmmakers and the exhibitors. As Babcock stated, "The future of going to theaters is not completely set in stone, and I feel like there's an opportunity here to do something about it. Playing movies the way they're supposed to be heard and seen makes each screening an 'event,' helping to ensure the future of going to a theater." "It needs to get figured out because it's been an issue for a long time. It's going to take all parties to come to the table and be part of the solution, exhibitors included," added Lamberti. Kiser, speaking from the indie side of the film industry, concluded, "At the end of the day, how long do these movies play in theaters and then how long do they live on in streaming? They're available on stream- ing forever. For the indie film industry, the theater is a blessing, but I have to get the film prepared for streaming because that's what pays the bills." ■ Jennifer Walden is a freelance writer specializing in post-production technology. CORRECTION A story about "Beef" in the Q2 issue misspelled the name of Lee Sung "Sonny" Jin. CineMontage regrets the error. 53 F A L L Q 3 I S S U E