That's the surprising message from Sony's digital cinema group and National Theatre Live, after the two staged the world's first 4K live to cinema event.
Even as patrons were filling the New London Theatre for another sold out showing of Michael Morpurgo's award-winning stage play War Horse, wannabe theatre goers were filing into the Curzon Chelsea cinema to watch a live transmission of the same show.
6 comments:
I didn't know about 4K technology before- is it just a really really high resolution of video? If so, I'm not sure if it's going to "change live events forever"- just because it's super high quality isn't going to bring in audience members that wouldn't go anyway. I know I'd love to go to a screening of "War Horse", no matter whether it was a normal stream or not. I'm also not so sure about the necessity of it being live- it makes sense for events like the Super Bowl that only happen once, but I don't see why they couldn't film War Horse once and then show it at more convenient times in order to attract more audiences.
I know The Hobbit was filmed in 4K, but I didn't know much more about the technology before reading this. I think it's really cool that the first live event to be streamed in 4K was a live theatrical event. At first I thought that this article was going to be about the use of 4K media in the performance of War Horse but it was still interesting. Even though it does seem grandiose, I like their motivation for democratization of content.
I've heard of multiple instances were a live performance was filmed and then shown on a larger scale in theaters around the nation. I'm not sure how the experience would be that different if the performance was shown in 4k, but I think the same issues stand in non 4k and 4k experiences. It is nice that more people can see the performance now that it is being shown nationwide, but I think the experience is intrinsically different and I would still rather see the show live than on a screen. In conclusion, I'm not sure how 4k video will make that much of a difference in viewing experience than standard video formats.
I would definitely be interested in attending a showing like this. Coming from a family that doesn't really enjoy traveling, I have not had the opportunity to see many shows that people have raved about. I've heard tons about War Horse would love to see the performance and would love to pay less money for a ticket than I would if I saw it live. It also just reminds me of the Sound of Music showing.
Most recorded versions of live theater just don't get the same feeling across as the actual live performances do. They are usually from a static position and are grainy and low quality. What Sony is proposing is a multi-camera set up in very high resolution. This would make it more like watching a movie than theater but it would be a much better viewing experience.
I do wonder how much of a difference 4K will make to theater, however, I do know that 4K will make just as much of a difference the 1080p will. So, at first not much, but then as people can start affording it, it'll make a much bigger difference and then just become standard. It'll be a weird day when people say the 1080p isn't clear enough. All of this being said, I think it'll make Movies, Sporting events, and video games much better. Theater, we'll see. Perhaps showings at movie theaters will bring it to more audiences, albeit with a movie like feel to it, like Hunter said.
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