040 REPORT
EM Gloria Metropol Cinema, Stuttgart, Germany
from the set to the theatre. During his research Holman was shocked to discover the state of most commercial cinemas, finding that most commercial theatres had not seen significant technological improvements since World War II. Viewing angles were poor, inadequate light levels, distorted images, and the quality of sound systems and auditorium acoustics made it difficult to hear the dialogue, let alone experience the filmmaker’s vision. Lucasfilm began receiving requests from visiting commercial theatre owners and Hollywood studio executives to incorporate THX’s performance standards into their cinema auditoriums and aging mixing rooms. Realising that this could change the way moviegoers experienced feature films, Lucas and the THX team designed a certification program to go beyond the walls of Lucasfilm. Thus, THX was born, and made available to movie audiences to coincide with the release of Lucas’ next film, Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi in 1983. The list continues to be updated with newly certified equipment by THX engineers. List seen here:
http://www.thx.com/professional/sound-engineer/approved-equip- ment-lists
Does THX have training programmes that benefit large cinema theatre installers?
THX does provide cinema training programs. However, they are unlike THX’s con- sumer training programs on home theatre set-up and calibration. The cinema training is specific to cinema technicians and focuses on specific testing gear. The trainings are meant to maintain the standards and quality of a cinema after it is THX Certified.
How has digital impacted the professional cinema market? Digital allows cinema professionals to have consistent control of quality entertain- ment. With film, projection quality dwindles over time and audio is affected by com- pression, but with digital, visual presentations and audio are consistently delivered time and time again the way the director intended. In a digital world, quality can also be constantly being monitored by the Network Operation Centers (NOCs). With information being fed back to the NOC, all information including projector, audio and
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content, can be monitored so any issue or degradation can be addressed and does not go unnoticed.
With developments in 3D and 4D, is the cinema in a good place just now? As we look at this from a historical perspective first, film has been around for 100 years and cinemas have used this same medium with limited innovation and little variation to translate the artist’s intent. Now as cinemas start the move towards digi- tal innovations, including the delivery of 3D content, the industry is truly at the ground floor in terms of ways directors and producers can push content development and, at the end, enhance the entertainment experience. For instance, most content is now developed at 24 frames per second, but recently content creators are coming up with new ways to experiment with higher frame-rate productions. Through this, con- tent creators are finding unique avenues to tell their story and enhance the consumer experience. Right now and with continued innovations, yes cinemas are in a good place, but only through upholding quality standards will they be able to meet and exceed consumer demands and translate the true director’s intent to the consumer.
What does the future hold for cinema and for THX? The future for the cinema industry is filled with endless possibilities. We have seen the movement from black and white to colour, from 2D to 3D and will continue to see innovations in which content creators can deliver entertainment, as well as the types of entertainment cinemas are delivering to consumers (e.g. concerts, sports games, musical performances). Digital technology will continue to be at the forefront of the cinema industry as it is just now starting to be applied like never before. And because of this, the industry is poised and ready to take advantage of the evolu- tionally digital world and how to best translate the content creator’s intent to the consumer. As THX and the industry continue to see these technologies grow and become increasingly demanded by consumers, we will continue to work together to improve cinema designs, electronics used, and provide innovations to ensure the best entertainment experience possible.
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