08 December, 2011

Ridley Scott on How to See Movies

Since I quoted Terry Gilliam yesterday, I'll quote Ridley Scott today from an article at HuffPo:

"In my view, the only way to see a film remains the way the filmmaker intended: inside a large movie theater with great sound and pristine picture."

Absolutely goddamn right.

Reading this reminded me of a brief conversation I had with Wisconsin Film Festival director Meg Hamel last year. I had asked her if she would consider screening a film I cannot remember at this year's festival. She said that she probably wouldn't because the movie would be out on DVD by the time of the festival.

First, as Scott notes, seeing a movie on DVD is not the optimal experience. There is no home theatre system that can compare to a huge screen and a great surround sound system in a theatre. If a festival is about celebrating movies, then it should also be about seeing them as the filmmakers intend.

Plus it ignores the fact that the festival screens restorations of classic films that are available on DVD already and, I believe, local productions that have been for sale as well.

But I'm also sympathetic to Hamel's plight of having to juggle many considerations when programming the WFF. The thing is, gone are the days when all movies have strictly staggered releases on various media. More and more movies are available on-demand on cable concurrently with a theatrical run. DVD/BluRay release dates are also moving closer to theatrical runs and I've seen smaller, independent movies out on DVD at the same time it is getting a roadshowing.

There are many ways for a movie to reach an audience - cinemas, on-demand, cable channels like HBO, streaming services, DVD - and the idea that a movie starts in the cinema, wears out its welcome, and then moves on to the next outlet is quickly becoming outdated. Hopefully Hamel and the other WFF organizers will relegate DVD availability lower on their list of criteria for inclusion in the WFF to allow great films to be screened here in Madison in the way that the filmmaker intended.

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