Post 4: The Interface

Technology has progressed a long way in the past couple decades. These advances have affected every industry in some way. The film industry has been affected a great deal by the many advances in every aspect of the movie-making process. From cameras and film to editing methods to movie theaters. The article I found for this week’s blog is about a brand new advancement in a local movie theater near you.
The article is about 5 Hollywood studios that have agreed to help pay for a $1 billion dollar upgrade for movie theaters across the U.S. and Canada. They will be aiding the local movie theaters to pay for the new technology hook-ups to set them up to be able to play 3D movies. There has been an increase in movies that are made to be shown in a 3D format. In the next year Disney is planning to release five movies in 3D.
These advancements in technology are helping cinema break away from the “imprisonments” that Manovich mentions in his book. The movie industry and technology are seeing that you can break the ties of normal movies by adding that third dimension to a movie theater. Manovich goes on to say that the perception seen in classic cinema was taken form Western painting. Movies are now stepping up and including the same three dimensions that paintings have always had to make them more unique and interesting.
As with anything else this is simply another tactic for the movie companies to make more money in the long run. Although they are spending the money now, it will all come back to them plus a whole lot more in the future. As Michael Lewis, the chief executive for RealD (the company responsible for 97% of the 3D add-ons in movie theaters) says, “this triples our footprint, we’re trying to work with everyone to get as many RealD screens out there as fast as possible.” If they already have 97% of the market, tripling that would greatly increase their company size.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/biztech/10/02/digital.movies.ap/index.html