Live orchestra, comedy specials, opera, sports and ballet. All incredibly versatile forms of art and entertainment, they all manage to fit neatly under the umbrella of the emerging art form known as event cinema. As more disciplines and art forms are integrated under the name of event cinema, the potential for growth becomes all the more exciting!
As an evolving art form, there’s a chance you may not have experienced an example of event cinema. Watching a traditional film in an enclosed theater is seen as the primary method of viewing – lights out, dark room, some consideration to the room’s acoustics and sound. The primary focus is on the projected image, along with sound played from the theater’s speakers.
Event cinema encourages organizers to modify that experience in unique ways. In one example, we at DTA Digital Cinema Projection were tasked with a presentation of 2001: A Space Odyssey. The visuals on our end involved a fairly straightforward projection with a high-quality DCI-compliant projector. For sound? The NY Philharmonic Orchestra played on-stage, right along with the accompanying scenes in the projected video. In other cases, events can be live streamed out to other cinemas around the world.
Aside from our many years of experience in digital cinema projection, we are often called on for these events for DCI-compliant machines. A digital cinema package projector (DCP) is often required for companies to safeguard their media in special ways — often, event organizers won’t know what a DCP machine is… Until a media company declares they need one!
In the end, event cinema doesn’t aim to replace the spectacle of these more traditional and longstanding forms of entertainment — rather, the experience adds another layer to performance. To learn more about the evolving art of event cinema (and how you can create projects of your own), check out the Event Cinema Association — we’ll also have more information to share as the year goes on!