This is a trick question because I was referring to the physical length of the film not how long it takes to watch it.
Your average film is about 12,000 feet of film and weighs about 60 pounds. 24 frames per second adds up quick. Each film is shipped on usually 6 small reels of about 2000 feet. Our projectionists then splice them together to make the film all in one. (see picture). Once we are done playing the film we break it down onto the smaller reels and send it back to the warehouse.
We had an interesting incident a few months ago. One of our projectionsts had a little bit of a mishap and we ended up with 6000 feet of film on the floor! When this happens it gets all twisted and tangled. Picture 6000 feet of tangled up Christmas tree lights or rope. Luckily the film had finished it's run, I had to cut it into about 100 pieces and put it back together like a jigsaw puzzle. Took me until 6 am to fix it.
2 comments:
Nothing at all like a DVD connected to an LCD projector. How does quality compare between the two formats?
For now 35 mm is better than anything but the most expensive Digital Projectors for a big screen presentation. 35 mm is going to be replaced by digital projection sooner or later. Whether it is sooner or later is one of the big questions in Hollywood these days. The quality of the Digital Cinema projectors has gone up and the prices have come down almost to the point the changeover can start to happen. One problem is who's going to pay for it. Digital Cinema projectors are still going to be about $100,000. Normally the theatres buy their own equipment but it's the studios that will save millions by not having to make thousands of 35 prints and ship them.
I have seen some Digital Projectors that are pretty amazing but look best on still images. They don't handle fast motion very well and human faces tend to look a little strange. CGI looks good though.
Digital Cinema has some benefits. Film can get scratched or damaged. There won't be a problem with a shortage of prints. Sometimes in the past Western Film had to wait to play a movie only becuase there wasn't enough prints.
I'm also hoping some older movies will be available. Some movies we would like to play in the midnight series aren't available on film, such as Pink Floyd: The Wall. There's no prints left in Canada. Also, Raiders of the Lost Ark, there is a print but it's so damaged I won't play it.
Older films may or may not be available. It depends on the format the Digital Projectors play. It's not going to be as easy as playing a DVD. There isn't enough resolution. I believe the current models use something like 5 DVDs per movie.
If anyone is interested the studios created a company to come up with standards for Digital Cinema (to avoid the Beta vs VHS type of situation). The specifications are at http://www.dcimovies.com/ The full specs are 178 pages long!
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