4 The Guardian | Monday 8 June 2009 The Guardian | Monday 8 June 2009 5 Film in focus Digital/TV Free for all? The digital dilemma

The relentless advance and a lot more engaging. Studios have embraced the internet and digital for film Restoration Keeping the Red Shoes red Beating piracy The French take a hard line of technology has had a promotion, adding alternative reality profound impact on film- games and online quizzes to the standard fare of big-voice trailers to get audiences Restoration is the new buzz word in the most beautiful Technicolour film film’s famous ballet sequence, a tribute The British government has recognised making – but not all the new involved with films before they are even movies, but although the word suggests ever made” – but before the $500,000 to the quality of the restoration. The that illegal file sharing on the internet ‘We don’t want to be possibilities help the industry released. only nostalgia, it is modern digital restoration work the colours were faded restoration process is not simple and is eating into the UK’s £6bn audiovisual suing fans. We want technology that is behind this latest trend almost beyond recognition. it’s not inexpensive – and a three-strip production sector in a big way: in 2007 The next dimension to return the greatest films of all time to “The result (of the restoration) is negative like that used for The Red Shoes alone digital piracy accounted for over to be steering them Kate Bulkley And then, of course, there is 3D. The pristine condition for today’s audiences. stunning and not too digital-looking,” is the most costly. £150m in lost revenue, according to an Cannes Film Festival’s decision to open The Red Shoes, the 1948 film by says Fiona Maxwell, director of operations ITV, which owns of The Red Shoes, IPSOS study. Some six million UK citizens toward legitimate with Disney/Pixar’s animated 3D film Up Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, at ITV Global Entertainment, which co- plans to issue both a new DVD and a Blu- are illegally downloading. While the newest 3D film technology is is significant. “I think 3D is a phenomenal has been the most high profile recent funded the restoration work with the Ray disc, as well as digital and new 35mm The government says it would like services’ heralded as a great breakthrough, the moment for film,” says Rhidian Davis, restoration, with Martin Scorsese as Hollywood Foreign Press Association, versions of the film. to curb piracy by some 80% by 2011: online pirates are also ramping up their curator of public programmes at the BFI. the main man pushing the project. The The Film Foundation and Louis B Mayer “The days of 35mm as the principle its interim Digital Britain Report put will require at least a couple of changes activities. Just as Martin Scorsese uses “It’s been associated with gimmicks and African Queen, Humphrey Bogart and Foundation. The work was carried out carrier medium for film are over,” forward the idea of creating a new Digital to current law, not least of which is cutting-edge digital technology to lov- the crazy experience of the B-movie, but Katharine Hepburn’s 1951 triumph, is one by the UCLA Film & Television Archive in says Rhidian Davis, curator of public Rights Agency to coordinate between the freedom of individual expression ingly restore great film classics like The that is changing.” of the next on the restoration list, along association with the British Film Institute programmes at the BFI. “But at the same industry players from the music, film and enshrined in the Human Rights Act. Red Shoes, racketeers are doing much the Davis points out that some 16 3D films with The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. (BFI) and Janus Films. “Great care was time, the specific qualities of the 35mm television businesses and internet service “You could make the case that internet same. There is growing concern about the are coming out this year, from Bolt to A sell-out crowd at the recent Cannes taken to keep the filmic look and at print are becoming more valued by the providers (ISPs) to find technical solutions connectivity is a right under the rules cracks in film’s traditional business model Monsters & Aliens and, probably most Film Festival attended the premiere of every stage of the two-and-a-half-year art world and the experience of watching to block illegal downloading. Industry of freedom of expression,” says Scott in an increasingly digital world. Fox even significantly, James Cameron’s $200m the restored version of The Red Shoes, restoring process Scorsese and editor film on celluloid will become a rarer and critics say this does not go far enough. Singer, an intellectual property partner called in the FBI to investigate when Avatar, to be released in December. underlining just how much interest Thelma Schoonmaker (Michael Powell’s more fetish-ised experience. This is fine Meanwhile, France’s parliament has at Denton Wilde Sapte. “And a law like X-Men Origins: Wolverine was leaked from “Cameron understands probably more there is among the film community widow) approved the colour grading.” for a place like the BFI because people passed the toughest law yet in Europe. the French one would also bump up the “secure” studio, in one of the biggest than any other director that there’s a for rejuvenating classics of the genre. At Cannes, the audience broke into will want to see old films on real celluloid It would force ISPs to target persistent against data protection laws.” shocks in cinema history. The stolen ver- synergy to the coming together of games Scorsese has called The Red Shoes “truly spontaneous applause on seeing the – and that’s what we can offer.”KB illegal file sharers to the point of cutting Singer adds that a three-strike rule sion was missing its score and many of the platforms and virtual digital worlds. But off their internet connection on their third also doesn’t address the central problem visual effects, and you could apparently the fact that he has chosen the big cin- breach of copyright rules. The law, passed of creative industries “haemorrhaging see Wolverine’s “fly wires” in some of the ema experience for Avatar shows he still P2P sharing sites have been greeted with blueprint for how the UK should embrace Right: Hugh Jackman, X-Men’s Wolverine in May but not yet signed into law, has money” from illegal downloads. He stunts. Star Hugh Jackman likened it to a believes in the big screen blockbuster to enthusiasm (see panel opposite). Kosse the online age expected this month. So was devastated that an unfinished become known as the “three-strike rule” proposes extending the powers of the “Ferrari without a paint job”. drive the narrative,” says Davis. says that as well as stopping pirates, the far, one of the safeguards for the indus- version of the film was stolen from the and is being heralded by studio bosses traditional collecting societies — like the But digital brings big benefits. Film- 3D is important to film-makers, not film industry needs to continue to work try has been the gut-busting amount of studio and then leaked across Europe as the best way forward. Performing Rights Society for music — as a makers are able to shoot very differently just because it allows for a more immer- to create robust online distribution mod- time it takes to download a feature film, But Richard Mullet, director of public more elegant solution. using digital equipment, because the cost sive experience but because it also gives els, in the same way that ITunes has found putting off many who have slower inter- “There is a complete change in the affairs at the British Phonographic It’s clear that the industry needs of “film” is not an issue. The galvanising cinema owners an incentive to upgrade its way around illegal music filesharing. net connections. economics of media going on. The cost Industry, which represents music labels, to create legitimate alternatives to effect of being able to see what you have their screens. At the end of last year only Otherwise, how does the film industry But slow connections are becoming of everything is falling on a massive scale, told The Media Show on BBC illegal sites and P2P file sharing. One shot straight away cannot be underesti- 310 of the UK’s 3,600 cinema screens were continue to fund its films? a thing of the past. The UK government and that is going to affect the film business Radio4 recently that a “major positive move may be the launch in the mated. “It is much cheaper to shoot in dig- digital, according to Screen Digest. But the But Kosse admits it’s difficult. “We are recently endorsed a key part of the interim as well,” says Adam Singer, chairman of criticism” of the interim UK later this year of Hulu, an online US ital because you don’t have the film stock numbers are due to rise appreciably this all dealing with the windowing struc- Digital Britain report that promises internet the British Screen Advisory Council. “At Digital Britain report is site backed by Fox, NBC Universal and costs, and with digital you can keep re- year because box office receipts for a 3D ture (for generating a film’s revenue) and connections to all UK homes of at least two the moment we are hearing a variation of that it recommends the Disney. It offers TV shows supported by taking until you get it right,” says Screen film are three times higher than for a 2D it’s necessary at this point, because the megabits (2Mbps) by 2012. In response early the National Trust theme: it’s all about industry “write to infringers and then advertising to online viewers. Digest magazine’s David Hancock. film. “We forecast that by the end of 2010 exhibitors have invested a huge amount last month, a Who’s Who of the UK creative preservation of the traditional ways of sue them”. In the UK, Lovefilm offers a streaming “Digital shooting is becoming more between 25% and 30% of all cinemas will of money in building cinemas around the industries (including the UK Film Council, doing things. “We don’t want to be suing fans,” service for many films and FindAnyFilm, a common, although there a lot of UK direc- be 3D-equipped,” says Hancock. world. That is their only way to get that Directors UK, the Film Distributors’ Asso- “But what we desperately need are he says. “We want to be steering them site that includes information on 30,000 tors are staying with 35mm because it is This is the upside of digital, but there money back — to get people into their cin- ciation, Equity and the Cinema Exhibitors’ conversations about innovation, because toward legitimate services.” films in the UK, was launched by the UK actually pretty easy to put it into digital is, of course, a catch. “The bad thing about emas,” says Kosse. Association) called for the government to preservation is only going to get us so far. The French law looks good Film Council earlier this year to try and afterwards.” online is piracy,” says David Kosse, presi- Lobbying by the UK creative industries require internet service providers (ISPs) Copyright 1.0 is not going to save us in a to rights holders. But to get steer film fans towards legitimacy, both Then there is film promotion, some- dent of Universal Pictures International. has intensified in the run-up to the pub- to issue sanctions against customers who copyright 2.0 age, because of the sheer something like that passed in the UK on- and offline.KB thing that digital has made a lot easier Recent moves in France to police online lication of the Digital Britain report, the repeatedly download illegal content. ease of people’s ability to copy.” America’s got talent

make extended, high-quality movies like HBO doesn’t make television, The Sopranos without worrying about it makes extended, high- the three acts and 24 beats the studio demands. The stuff you get to do on HBO quality movies. So says Tom – it’s close to the reasons you became an Hanks, just one Hollywood actor in the first place.” The festival is hosting screenings of two A-lister drawn to the channel HBO programmes – both unfamiliar to the UK viewer: True Blood and In Treatment. Stephen Armstrong The first is a sensual, gothic vampire drama set in Louisiana from the pen of American Beauty and Six Feet Under’s Alan Ball. Television and film have always had an Another Oscar winner, Anna Pacquin, uneasy relationship. The launch of the stars as Sookie Stackhouse – a young virgin small screen may have decimated movie who falls for Stephen Moyer’s 153-year-old ­theatre ­audiences but, in the UK at least, bloodsucker at a time when vampires are the ­cinema industry depends heavily on out of the closet and demanding equal Write track: American Beauty writer TV money. So at first glance, it looks a little treatment. It airs on FX Channel in July Alan Ball tailors his work to HBO odd that the 63rd Edinburgh Film Festival and Channel 4 in the autumn. is doing the unheard-of: showcasing televi- “I specifically wrote it with HBO in mind fight – has proved very lucrative. The 2007 sion, particularly the work of the subscrip- because The Sopranos had just started air- Floyd Mayweather vs Ricky Hatton wel- tion service known as Home Box Office ing and it sort of restored my faith in tel- terweight title bout generated 850,000 (HBO). But on closer inspection, it makes a evision,” says Ball. “You do try to make pay-per-view buys and $47m (£30m) in little more sense. As the advertising slogan little movies; a little movie every week.” PPV revenue. Time Warner Cable – HBO’s has it: “This isn’t television: this is HBO.” True Blood fits neatly into HBO’s cin- parent company – increased revenues by “HBO’s work is incredibly cinematic,” ematic visual output – everything from 8% and operating income by 16% in the explains Diane Henderson, the festival’s the epic sweep of Band of Brothers to the third quarter of 2008. The BBC must look deputy artistic director. “I fell in love with intimate close-ups of The Sopranos could at those numbers and wince. the channel over the western series Dead- have been made for the big screen. “We’re fortunate to be a subscriber wood – Walter Hill directing a TV show! In Treatment falls into the latter camp, service,” says Lombardo. “I’m not selling And when you look at HBO’s cast and crew, although it has yet to be snapped up by a eyeballs to advertisers. So if I satisfy 20% you realise that’s where film and television UK broadcaster – surprising, given Gabriel or 10% of my audience with 10 different is really crossing over.” Byrne’s breathtaking lead as an analyst programmes, so that they’re all satisfied The Hollywood A-list agrees. “The battling with his own demons as much as by different shows, that’s fine. I’m not economy of making pictures has become those of his patients. Both shows are part looking for shows the way networks tend so prohibitive – I personally know of of a massive investment by the channel, at to do – ones that will attract the widest ­Academy Award-winning directors who a time when most broadcasters are halting array of viewers. The kind of shows we have gone in to pitch their next project expensive commissions in a desperately do have a very distinct point of view. We and have been told: ‘This studio doesn’t uncertain financial environment. supported The Wire for five years. It had a make adult pictures,’” says Tom Hanks. very small, but fiercely loyal, viewership. The Oscar-winning actor, whose ­domestic Comic timing That may have been the only show they box office totals come to more than $3.3bn, The station has also taken a stake in watched on the channel, but that was rea- now enjoys almost as much success as a ­Hollywood funny men Will Ferrell and son enough for them to get HBO.” ­producer. He ­produced Band of Broth- Judd Apatow’s website Funny Or Die – a Lombardo admits this will be a tough ers, John Adams and the ­forthcoming sort of “hot or not” arena for user-uploaded year. “You would be crazy not to think big-budget mini-series, The Pacific, for skits, and material from Apatow’s Frat so. Initially we thought how fortunate we the channel. “Actors, writers and direc- Pack buddies like Ben Stiller, Owen were not to be in an ad-supported business. tors are migrating to TV, where they can ­Wilson and Steve Carell. It has also inked Now, I think we’re braced to pivot if we ­development deals with Hanks, Steven need to pivot. That could have an impact Spielberg, Brit director Tom Hooper and on programme budgets. I hope it doesn’t, ‘The stuff you get to The Wire/Generation Kill’s David Simon. but we’re prepared if it does. To be seen, I It can afford to do all this, according to think, is the answer.” He speaks with the do on HBO – it’s close HBO’s west coast president Michael Lom- confidence of a man who can expect to take to the reasons you bardo, because of its subscription and pay- more than $50m (£32m) the next time two per-view (PPV) revenue – in particular, prizefighters slug it out in the ring. Given became an actor in boxing. Having pioneered the live satel- how valuable the boxing has proved, it’s lite feed for the Thriller in Manila in 1975, rather a shame poor old Channel 4 went so the first place’ Compelling evidence: could any channel but HBO – with its big-fight revenue stream – have produced The Wire ? the noble art – especially the pay-per-view big on televising horse racing, no?