I suppose that back in the day films were shipped in physical form, but how does that work nowadays?
Google Drive link to mp4 file seems unlikely
In: 441
A few years ago I worked at fedex and they were sent as drives in little pelican cases. Not sure now.
Okay, imagine a movie is like a fun story with pictures that people make on a special computer. After they finish making it, they save it on a special thing called a “Digital Cinema Package” or DCP. It’s like a magical box that holds the movie. Then, they put this box on a journey to the cinemas using a tough case called a “Peli 1300 flight case.”
On top of the case, there are important stickers that tell the cinemas about the movie. They say how the pictures look, how the sound sounds, and how long the movie will play. It also has phone numbers in case there are any problems. Sometimes, the case looks a bit worn because it traveled a lot, like going to different festivals.
Inside the case, there’s another special box called a “CRU DX115 caddy,” which holds a little computer. This computer has all the pictures and sounds of the movie, like a memory box. It uses a 500gb hard drive to store everything. This computer speaks a special language called “Linux formatted in EXT3.”
When the movie arrives at the cinema, they use the “Move Dock,” which is like a docking station, to connect the little computer to their big movie server. It’s like how you connect your toys to a big toy box. Sometimes, the little computer can fit right into the server, and the movie starts playing right away!
But in some cinemas, the little computer doesn’t fit directly into the server, so they use the “Move Dock” as a bridge to connect them with special cables. It’s like when you use a bridge to cross a river.
That way, everyone in the cinema can watch the movie and have a great time!
They are sent encrypted over the Internet as Digital Cinema Packages (DCP), a DCP is a collection of files that includes the main feature, trailers, subtitles, and other necessary data for proper playback. It is the standardized format used in digital cinema projection.
Most theaters today are digital and will require DCP format.
The pictures and the little caddy are written in a special code which cannot be decoded unless you have a guide to the code. This guide to the code is unique for every copy of the movie. The guide to the code is either put on a usb stick and sent separately to the caddy or sent electronically via a secure private network to the movie theatre where it is plugged into the movie projector. The movie server can then send the encoded pictures and sounds to the movie projector which decodes them to play back the actual pictures and sounds in the theatre.
some film is still shipped in physical form! quite a lot of film is still shot analog aswell. inception and La La Land for example where both shot on analog film as main format
All the answers here are correct.
Not really eli5 but…
They are called DCP’s and each one varies in size depending on a load of factors. Generally between 100 to 200gb. Trailers around 5/6gb. How they are sent all depends on the theatre, what they have installed, what contracts they have in place with distributors and what contracts distributors have with content delivery partners.
Some will have electronic delivery systems which are managed by a distributor / 3rd party. This is literally sent to the cinema over an internet line (can be as fast or slow as it is – can take days, but they start them early if needed / available). Film maker gives files to distributor – distributor sends to the NAS installed at the cinema (or direct to TMS in some instances) – NAS then pushes to TMS (or TMS pulls file from NAS depending on configuration).
Those who don’t have that will have them sent via hdd which are then either ingested directly into the server for that screen. Or a central server (TMS – Theatre Management System) which then pings the movie out to whatever auditorium needs it (software can do nearly all of this automatically).
Which option is chosen all depends on costs and who pays and also sometimes how long they have (if electronic will take a few days, it’s can be quicker to send to cinema via courier) In some instances cinema will have to pay delivery fee. Other times distributor pays it.
Physical deliveries of trailers will also be dvd or usb stick as they need to be sent we’ll before the film is ready to be sent to cinema.
Also sometimes DCP’s do come in via email attachment or Google drive/Dropbox/wetransfer link (a certain major company use this method). These are not usually the main film (some small distributors might try though!) but more often a subtitled version file (vf) that cannot be used without the main version of the film.
Also KDM’s (key delivery messages – keys to unlock the film) are sent via email. Some cinemas have a system to take the key from email and auto upload to the TMS.
Eli5 – Every option is available and used. Common: internet & HDD. Uncommon and not liked: Google drive/Dropbox/ wetransfer link.
[https://images.app.goo.gl/ijQbUekzZ1DP4PiH7](https://images.app.goo.gl/ijQbUekzZ1DP4PiH7)
Reading Dolby’s spec sheet will probably give you a pretty good idea: [https://www.dolby.com/uploadedFiles/Assets/US/Doc/Professional/DSS200_Specifications.pdf](https://www.dolby.com/uploadedFiles/Assets/US/Doc/Professional/DSS200_Specifications.pdf)
Wow reading the comments make me realize how old I am. We used to get cans shipped UPS or Fed Ex with 5 or 6 reels of film in them. Then you got to put the film together onto a huge platter and watch it at 3 in the morning to make sure you put it together right.
In some movies in Brazil, it comes through satellites directly from the distributors (without using the internet).
More details here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MegXc19cujI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MegXc19cujI)
(It is possible to activate subtitles and auto-translate to english. The translation seems good enough)
How many theaters get Oppenheimer 70mm format just alone in the U.S. I read it 11 miles long and weighs 600 pounds.
Latest Answers