Do Movie Theaters Still Use Film? Zooming Into Theater Technology

Watching moving images on a screen is indeed one of the most incredible experiences for us.

Movies are wonderful pieces of art that one can enjoy in a movie theater or at home.

It has become an entire industry that has legends working daily, creating masterpieces as part of their legacy.

Types Of Movie Projectors

These are the different types of film projectors that are used in movie theaters to successfully manage what is essentially a film projection.

To really understand movie theater projectors or even digital cinema projectors, we must understand what a projection system really is, and what showing movies in movie theaters means.

Put simply, to project something is to put it in front of a light source so that a dim image of the object put in front of the light source is seen when moved as a sort of animated picture.

A projector is a device that projects an image on a surface, and this projector is a tool for the image to be seen on a larger surface. Now that image is not limited to one frozen in time but can consist of a video that can be played in high definition.

The first projector is the cathode ray tube. The cathode ray tube is essentially used to control the brightness of the image that is projected on the screen.

This projector uses an electron gun that is used to shoot an electron from the tube, which in a series of reactions brings an image to the screen. The very way that this projector works becomes problematic as there is a lot of electricity that must be consumed in order to see a single movie.

Theaters would have to pay a lot of money for every movie that they show in their theaters.

Additionally, if you are thinking of using this format of the projector for your home theater, the electricity bill will cost a fortune. It is also large and difficult to move.

Another category of film projectors is the liquid crystal display, or the more popular term for it, LCD. It is also used as the screen for other electronic devices such as televisions, mobile phones, and laptop screens.

The third category of projectors that represent the modern form of invention is that of digital projectors. Digital projectors use digital light processing.

A digital projector works on the basis of using small mirrors that reflect light and display a digital image. It is this very principle that is used in the workings of a lot of digital cameras that are used all over the world.

Film Reels At The Movies

Movie theaters are one of the most popular places for the majority of people. What is the story behind how film reels are used in movie theater projectors and are they still in use today?

Film reels were perhaps the only way in which most theaters were able to project any form of motion picture. If you visit your local theater, they might have one of these old film reels laying around that you can see for yourself!

Since the early 2000s, the way a movie theater uses a projector has changed. Going to the cinema now will allow you to see a new format that is used in order to watch a movie.

The current format does not use film prints that are stored on a reel. The current format employs the use of digital cinema projectors. The digital format using digital movies in most movie theaters has made the use of films redundant.

It may be thought to be a blessing, as multiple films would have to be used over the course of a movie.

There would be a specific person who would have to switch these films as the length of a single film reel would almost never last for the duration of an entire movie. Digital cinema for movie theaters is very different.

Gone are the days of having to change reels for a single movie when multiple movies can now be stored on a single hard drive, making it very convenient for cinemas and theater chains around the world.

Using Film In Modern Movie-Making

We know that a lot of modern movies are shot digitally instead of the conventional prints of film, but is using film still a viable option for filmmakers today?

The world is now in an age where a device as simple as a smartphone can be used in order to create movies. The high-quality cameras that can be found in the back of most smartphones are, in fact, used by a lot of people to create home movies.

So how can celluloid film compete with the way that movies are filmed and created today?

The answer to that question contains several layers to understand. Firstly, it has become a matter of convenience for a lot of directors.

To edit a film reel, all you must do is splice and edit it in post-production. There is no necessity for adding different kinds of glamorous effects to what was shot in the movie. The simplicity and nature of using film are what make it a very convenient option to shoot.

Another reason why some directors stick to using film while shooting a movie is their own affinity for it. A lot of the directors that work in film-making today began their careers working with film. It is what they got their first experience of working in the field, and it is where they mastered the craft of film-making.

To them, moving to another format, which is shooting movies digitally, might be the equivalent of losing the authenticity of what they are recording.

Moreover, the lack of adding special effects is a plus point for these directors, as it encourages special effects that are created practically, instead of the largely popular usage of CGI for the majority of the movies that we see.

It makes the whole movie seem more realistic, something that the viewer is able to connect to more easily. It is best summarized by the ideology of Quentin Tarantino, and why he prefers to use film while shooting a movie.

The whole focus on shooting digitally puts an entire load of work on post-production. It takes away the effort that goes behind planning a specific scene in the movie, and it takes away the essential emotion that the director and the writer wish to convey through the very scene.

Elaborating on the reasoning of creating a more realistic effect, using film creates a color scheme that you cannot match digitally.

The bottom line is that this argument does not disqualify the usage of digital media to shoot a movie, but essentially boils down to things like budget and the genre of the movie.

Shooting a movie that has the necessity of CGI in genres such as space fiction, or a movie that has a tight budget, digital media seems like the perfect choice, but if you take these two out of the picture, shooting on celluloid film is equally as good.

Technology And Standards

Technology has made leaps and bounds in terms of how it improves the quality of our lives, but what have been the changes in the technology of watching a movie in a movie theater?

Technology has indeed changed the way we view movies. It has changed the way in which they are shot, giving directors different avenues of exploration. The resolution that is available for movie theaters has been improved dramatically.

Most movie theaters around the world generally use a 2K resolution. This is known as 2K digital image production. A more accurate description of this 2K resolution is 2048 x 1080, commonly referred to as 1080p. Most films that are shot are always edited at this resolution.

LED Screen For Digital Cinema

We have discussed the LCD projector, but what about an LED screen that can be used for digital cinema?

LED screens have become largely popularized for their different benefits and have been used for different pieces of technology, such as televisions. It should come as no surprise that an LED screen can be used for the screen in theaters.

It has been widely seen as theaters began opening again after the world came out of lockdown from a pandemic.

These LED screens used in theaters provide a very crisp image and a picture quality that cannot simply be matched by projectors. It also provides the added benefit of being a persuading factor since the majority of movies are released on streaming platforms.

It gets people to actually visit a movie theater to watch the movie on a huge LED screen with great picture quality.