A long-winded blogpost/essay about the future of cinema as I see it.

Tyler Cowen of Marginal Revolution posed an interesting question recently, Why are all movies the same price?

Well, not the same price in all cases. Before 6 p.m. is cheaper, there are numerous dollar theaters, and not all films allow for discount coupons. Nonetheless a multiplex will charge the same ($9.50 in my case) for the number one movie and for a flop. Nor is the price more expensive for Saturday night, or during the summer when demand is higher. Can any economic model predict these results?

This was of course of interest to me and is a subject that I've been considering recently so I posted the following comment there.

I'm a cinema manager in the UK and there are variations in prices at our cinema throughout the week depending upon the day and time of a screening.

We haven't tried varying the price for different movies but film distributors are very resistant to any change and wield a lot of power over us. There are actually very few distributors so if one of them decided to not supply us with their movies we would suffer a lot more than they would.

It's true that most of our profits come from concessions we now seem to be in the popcorn and soft drink business with the movie being an extra on top.

I despair of this sometimes, I think the way things will go is that the movie will be free for purchasers of popcorn. The movie companies will use the theatre release of a movie as a method of marketing for DVD sales and the cinemas will use the movie as a lure for popcorn sales.

Which ties in neatly with the following article from the Washington Post.

An Ever-Shorter Leap From Theater to DVD

"I'll wait for the DVD."

It's the discriminating moviegoer's mantra, one repeated every time we can't muster the motivation to catch the latest Hollywood offering in theaters. But in many cases that waiting game has changed, as movies make the leap from silver screen to small screen faster than ever before.

These days the turnaround time from cineplex to DVD is 4 1/2 months, on average, with movies becoming available for rental and sale on the same day... It's no secret that movie studios, which generally earn more money from home video than box office returns, are eager to capitalize on DVD dollars as soon as they can.

The world has changed around the cinema industry and I don't believe it hasn't moved enough to accommodate the changes. There has been a gradual decrease in admissions over the decades with brief upsurges such as with the introduction of multiplexes and the general upgrading of older cinemas with modern facilities such as Dolby Digital sound, but the general trend has been downwards.

The response to falling numbers has been to increase the prices so that they far outstrip the rise in inflation. In real terms the price of cinema admission is many times what it was, to the extent that parents are not bringing their children to the cinema nearly as much as they used to.

The prevailing trend in the business of movie companies is that they make most of their income from the DVD release of movies instead of the theatrical release. The millions of dollars that is put into marketing a movie for it's theatrical release is equally marketing the DVD release if the gap between the two is only a few months.

We should embrace this trend and slash the price of cinema tickets as neither the movie distributors nor the cinema are making much money from the box office receipts. The theatrical release would become yet another marketing tool for the sale of DVDs for the movie companies and a way of attracting customers into the building for popcorn sales and the like for the cinemas.

I would even go so far as to have no charge at all for children under 10 years of age as this would encourage parents to bring their children to the cinema more often as it would no longer cost them 'an arm and a leg'. I think if children get into the habit of going to the cinema at a young age they will be more likely to continue to do it as adults.

I think we need a diversification in the cinema model as well as in the movies. Cinemagoers range from those who just want to waste a couple of hours and pop in as they pass by to those who make it a part of a night out, the classic 'dinner and a movie' date. To accomodate this we need a range from no-frills establishments to a more upmarket movie theatre with a bar and restaurant.

A major change is coming to cinemas in any case with the major investments into digital projection.

In the UK The Film Council, and in the US maverick billionaire Mark Cuban.

What effect it will have remains to be seen, I hope that it will lead to a revolution in the cinema business model but at the very least it will cut costs.

The present system requires a length of film of around about 2 miles (or 3.5km) for the average movie as movie projectors run at a speed of 90 feet per minute. That is a hell of a lot of film and so it costs thousands of dollars to produce each one, plus if you consider that most big Hollywood movies typically open in thousands of screens in the US it can cost millions of dollars just to get your movie physically to each cinema and in front of the audience.

This is the reason why the UK release date of American movies is months later because we get the movie prints that were used in the US after it has finished screening there, it's cheaper to ship used prints here than it is to produce new copies.

With digital projectors the cost of distribution comes way down as each copy can then be made far more cheaply and delivered on a DVD-like disc or via the internet. Whilst it merely cuts costs for the big players in the industry the move towards digital projection also opens up the market for the smaller independent filmmakers who can then supply their movie to all the cinemas that wish to take it.

Currently if there are only a small number of prints of a certain movie cinemas will have to wait until a print becomes available and then may end up not taking the movie at all if the delay is too long. Thus the filmmaker has lost potential income just because the cost of making enough prints to satisfy the demand is prohibitive. There is no profit in spending a few thousand pounds to get a movie to a particular cinema if there is only enough audience to make a thousand pounds profit there, but if the cost is less than £100 it becomes a viable option.

With the per movie costs coming down to a negligible level cinemas could then adopt far more flexible business models and take advantage of the long tail and show movies for as long as there is an audience for it instead of packing people in for the latest blockbuster before dumping it and moving onto the next.

New multiplex cinemas could be built with many smaller screens in addition to the few large ones in order to show the less mainstrean movies. We could even let the demand affect the supply directly and allow customers to make bookings over the internet many weeks or months in advance and actually show the movies that people wish to see by scheduling the most popular in the larger screens with the most number of performances. Customers would make an initial booking for a movie and then finalise it closer to the date with a specific performance they would like when a schedule has been created.

But who is Doctor Who?

7.09pm Shop Dummies Come to Life! [CONFIRMED FACT]

It's amazing what you can find by following random links at Everything2 and Wikipedia.

An 80 year-old's view on Racism

Locofocos

You may have seen the running vampire bats, Vampires Run: Bats on treadmills show high-speed gait

Now witness the oddity that is a running octopus.

Article

Direct link to video

The media storm surrounding the tragedy that is the Schiavo case has unleashed a swathe of black humour.

Daily Show Comments On The Schiavo Media Frenzy -- Video

The Terri Schiavo Status Firefox Plugin

and my favourite.
FOR SALE/BARTER: My body in Persistent Vegetative State... - $2

Dear loved-ones,
I make the following statement in a sound state of mind and of my own volition:

If I am rendered comatose and determined to be in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) for a period longer than one month and if no imminent cure is forthcoming, I do not wish to be kept alive by artificial means including but not limited to nourishment, hydration, etc.

However....

If, due to the absurd political state of affairs in this country, my persistent vegetative state and impending unplugging can be parlayed into some sort of political leverage, I wholly endorse using my predicament in whatever way possible for the purposes of passing legislation favorable to my general political and ethical outlook. Here is a list of top-tier causes I support and will continue to support, both while in my PVS and after my eventual death.

To help promote their new vacuum cleaner Dyson have created a deviously addictive game where you must navigate a ball through mazes into a hole. The ball moves along at a brisk pace and you just steer it right or left.

Like all great games it is simple to play but hard to master especially if you choose to change the settings for a yet even faster ball.

The Ball Game.

They also produced The Telescope Game, which I became addicted to a year or two ago.

Another of my current internet puzzle game addictions is RayRayParade.

Labels: Games

Freeway revolt is a random page from the Wikipedia.

The Freeway Revolt is the name given to public opposition against building freeways through San Francisco, California in the 1950s. It started in 1956 when the San Francisco Chronicle published a map (See image) made in 1947 or 1948 by the San Francisco Planning Department showing possible routes for freeways through the city, and by the construction of the Embarcadero Freeway.

It would have been an excellent name for a rock group in the seventies I think.

Magic Missile real life roleplaying goes a little too far.

I read IGDA Session: Burning Down The House - Game Developers Rant and found myself agreeing with most of what the developers are ranting about particularly the opening gambit of Warren Spector.

OK. I don’t feel very ranty actually. I tried to bail on this panel. But I have to say something so I want to say how this business is hopelessly broken. Haha. We’re doing pretty much everything wrong. This is at the root of much of what you’re gonna hear today. Games cost too much. They take too long to make. The whole concept of word of mouth, remember that? Holy cow it was nice.

I've mentioned before of my own disatisfaction with modern video games, now I love Halo 2 as much as the next guy or gal but was it worth the money? I finished the campaign surprisingly quickly in fact it caught me by surprise that I had finished it as the storyline isn't entirely completed it is left as a cliffhanger and I'm left waiting for the inevitable Halo 3.

But Halo 2 ain't just about the campaign there's the multiplayer mode which are fun as hell but are they really any different than in the original Halo, okay so it incorporates Xbox Live so you can play against people on the other side of the world, but is that any better than playing against someone who's in the same room.

But at least Halo 2 does have the multiplayer option so it has some longevity to it, most games now have adopted the narrative format i.e. you play the part of a character in a story, gameplay has become secondary to the narrative, but the trouble with that sort of game is that once the story is over the game stops being fun.

With the improvement in graphics technology video games have moved more and more towards being interactive films which is apparently what game buyers want or is it? Maybe now that I've hit 30 years of age I've become a curmudgeon that is out of touch telling the kids that video games were much better in my day even though the graphics were shite and blocky and only two dimensional.

I'm currently seeking video game satisfaction via a regression to my younger self by purchasing via eBay a Nintendo 64 Console and
Mario Kart 64 for a total of £28 including postage which is less than I'd pay for a game for my Xbox and yet hopefully I'd get as many hours of fun from it as I did years back when I played it at a mate's house. I've also considered a further regression by reliving my Sega Megadrive days and Sonic the Hedgehog in the form of the Sonic Mega Collection.

A possible solution to this problem is the MMORPG which allows a player to participate in an unending narrative but I'm even burnt out on this type of game having achieved a relatively high level on Asheron's Call I lack the motivation to go through virtually the same experience on a newer version or a similar thing like World of Warcraft.

Labels: Games

Reuters: Cardinal Urges Catholics to Shun Da Vinci Code

The cardinal leading the Vatican's charge against The Da Vinci Code urged Catholics on Wednesday to shun it like rotten food and branded the bestseller "a sack full of lies" insulting the Christian faith.

In an interview with Reuters inside the Vatican, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone also said Catholic bookstores should take the thriller off their shelves and accused U.S. author Dan Brown of "deplorable" behavior.

"Don't buy this. Don't read this because this is rotten food," said Bertone, the highest ranking Catholic churchman to speak out against the blockbuster...

The central tenet of the book is that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children. Christians are taught that Jesus never married, was crucified and rose from the dead.

"We can't keep quiet about the truth when faced with all the lies and all the inventions in this book," Bertone said.

Lies and inventions eh? I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure that the book is a work of fiction, albeit one that many readers have taken as being based upon fact. Surely by expressing an opinion officially The Vatican is adding fuel to the fire of the 'truth' of the Da Vinci Code.

Sure shun the book but do it because it ain't a great piece of writing not because it is heretical. It is after all just a story...

or is it.

with a forklift. (movie-wmv)

I laughed so hard at this, it is a brilliantly gory black comedy short.

The traditional 7 spot ladybird is under threat from a foreign invader.

The Harlequin Ladybird

A new ladybird has arrived in Britain. But not just any ladybird: this is the harlequin ladybird, Harmonia axyridis, the most invasive ladybird on Earth.

The harlequin ladybird was introduced to North America in 1988, where it is now the most widespread ladybird species on the continent. It has already invaded much of of northwestern Europe, and arrived in Britain in summer 2004.

The distribution map on the left shows that it has spread rapidly throughout the southeast of England since its first sighting.

There are 46 species of ladybird (Coccinellidae) resident in Britain and the recent arrival of the harlequin ladybird has the potential to jeopardise many of these. The Harlequin Ladybird Survey will monitor its spread across Britain and assess its impact on native ladybirds.

Thanks to Jason Kottke I happened across the exquisite Japanese woodblock prints produced by David Bull.

Unusually he doesn't sell individual prints instead he insists that you subscribe to a series of prints which he will the despatch to you on a regular basis throughout the year. He explains why here.

This year's subscription is
The 'Hanga Treasure Chest', a series of 24 smaller prints at what I think is a very reasonable price.

For many years now I have made my new year card prints in the Japanese postcard size. Many of my collectors and fans have urged me to make 'more' of this type of print, and I think it's time to oblige!

The 'Hanga Treasure Chest' is a set of 24 woodblock prints of that size and general type which will be issued throughout 2005 at the rate of a new one every two weeks. Subscribers to the set will receive (together with the first print, and at no extra charge) an attractive storage box. The prints are mounted on cards, and enclosed by a paper wrapper that also contains a short descriptive explanatory piece ... ready to slip into the box for safe-keeping.

David Bull is not without his detractors though including those who accuse him of grave-robbing for producing prints of classical Japanese artworks.

If you don't have anything to say to the world as an artist on your own merit then maybe you should wait until you do instead of pawning off beautiful, old prints as your own just because the original artists can't defend their right to it.

Would the writer of this email accuse the director of a production of Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet of the same crime?
Should Shakespeare's plays be put aside and left to their own time?

New artistic works are invariably built upon the artistic works of the past in some form or another even if the links are too insubstantial to recognize. In addition if classic works are not republished or reintepreted then they get lost to history and our culture is worse off.

Without David Bull to reproduce these great Japanese works of the past then many would never get to see them.

So the Prevention of Terrorism Bill was finally passed and Alan Moore's V for Vendetta is looking ever more prescient. The controversy of the Bill is mainly concerned with the Control Orders which would allow suspected terrorists, whether a UK national or a non-UK national to have severe restrictions placed upon under the orders of the Home Secretary without trial.

Thanks to the truly excellent website They Work For You the entire epic commons debate is available in an easily read format with much background information. It is split up into a m umber of segments due to the bill being passed back and forth between the Houses of Commons and Lords as amendments to the Bill were suggested and considered.

9th March debates
Prevention of Terrorism Bill (Programme) (No. 3)
Orders of the Day — Prevention of Terrorism Bill
Clause 1 — Power to Make Control Orders

10th March debates
Prevention of Terrorism Bill Debate
Prevention of Terrorism Bill Debate
Prevention of Terrorism Bill Debate

Finally the Bill was agreed upon and given
Royal Assent.

However both the Government and the Opposition are claiming victory due to the Bill being now greatly diminished from what the government wanted and yet it has now passed into law. Whoever claims rightful victory it would seem to me that it is the British public that have lost.

I have not yet been convinced of the necessity of the Prevention of Terrorism Bill 2005, the government is primarily argued for it's introduction to counter the threat of the 200 or so terrorists that are loose within our borders.

They fail to mention that of those 200 people most are only suspected of loose affiliation with terrorists i.e. funding or providing safe houses. Intelligence officials have estimated that perhaps only 30-40 individuals would be prepared to kill themselves or others.

In addition it must be said that the police and security services are doing their job in containing these 'terrorists'. They are clearly known individuals if we have accurate numbers and they are under surveillance. The fact that they have been in the country for years without having been arrested would be an indication that there is no evidence of wrongdoing. They may well have been trained at camps with Al-Qaeda but if they then do nothing at all with that training then they cannot really be considered as terrorists.

The BBC reports that the remaining foreign detainees at Belmarsh were released and that the Home Secretary was issuing control orders under his new powers for each of the former detainees.

The former detainees face bail conditions which include:

* Electronic tagging
* A night-time curfew from 1900 to 0700
* A ban on using mobile phones and the internet
* Obtaining permission from the Home Office if they wish to meet anyone outside their home
* Living at an address notified to the Home Office and police, who can search the property without warning
* No visitors unless the Home Office has been notified in advance, except for under-16s
* Notifying the Home Office of any intended departure from the UK, and the port of embarkation
* Bank account restrictions and sending monthly statements to the Home Office.

And finally at least we are aware that our civil liberties are being eroded unlike the Russian populace, if the newly retired chess genius Garry Kasparov's assessment is correct.

Labels: Security, Surveillance

when you just want to Whack your Boss, I don't personally as I quite like my boss. the customers on the other hand that's a whole other question, there's some that I can picture suffering death at my hands in a variety of ways.

The map of the London Underground we know and love was designed by Harry Beck in 1933, an electrical engineer he based the map upon the schematic of a circuit diagram.

But was Design's gain Geography's loss?

Is our image of London distorted by the Underground map?

In the ongoing low level battle between the cinema I work at and the local 'multiplex rival' they have finally struck a blow by offering OAPs on weekday evenings which is something we don't do as we only offer a discount before 6pm.

I've lost count of the number of complaints by OAPs who now aware of the difference are insisting we should give them a discount in the evening also or they might stop coming to see films here.

Stupid bloody old people don't realise that as our prices are across the board less than the 'multiplex rival' that we are the cheapest cinema for all but the few shows that take place in the evenings on weekdays. which are the shows leat attended by OAPs anyway as most of them come during the morning or afternoon.

It's not like they don't get a great deal from us already. We do two screenings a week especially for seniors where they get very cheap entry plus a free cup of tea and biscuit. Also they could for only £15 per year become members and get two free tickets plus have their precious discount at all times. It's not as if they can even claim to 'Have fought a World War for us and is this all the respect we get' as most of them would have been young children in the early 1940s.

Last night I watched Torture: Guantanamo Guidebook on Channel 4 and was shocked and appalled by it, more than I thought I would have been. I think having an introduction to each of the seven detainees rather than them being simply anonymous people I had more empathy for them than I had for the real detainees at Camp Delta in Cuba.

I'm really quite disturbed that people are suffering worse abuse than was depicted in the programme and have been for years with no end in sight no wonder the incidence of suicide is high or should I say incidence of 'Manipulative self-injurious behaviour' as the US Government has now termed it.

Even if I believed that the 'ends justified the means' this is wrong because I'm sure that the quality of information gained from the torture is far outweighed by the level of abuse required to extract it. Only a minority of detainees possibly had important information and after two years surely even those people no longer have information of any worth.

Interestingly whilst searching the internet for further information regarding this programme I discovered that one of the detainees is a professional kickboxer named Gary Turner who has written about his experiences here. He says that he found the experience uncomfortable but easy to get through.

I do really think that my sports training saw me through. Mental and physical strength. Discipline and fitness. Made it much easier to get through.

But thanks to my fight training, it was a surprisingly easy, although uncomfortable, thing to go through.

He goes on to say.

I too have no sympathy for the terrorists, only the innocents, who I feel real sorry for. I think I would have gone mad within a month. They've been there for years. Talking with the interrogators over dinner afterwards we were told of the real problem of Guantanamo Bay. That is resouces - all the interrogators can earn so much more in the corporate world, like them, therefore leave the army! They say that without doubt there are innocents at Guantanamo Bay, but they just aren't being processed due to lack of recourses...they're the ones I feel so sorry for.