04.09.09
Transformers director demands digital
The Potsdamer Platz was the backdrop for the German premiere of Transformers – Revenge of the Fallen to which Paramount Pictures Germany invited more than 1,000 guests. The showing was held at CineStar cinemas in Berlin at the Potsdamer Platz.
Also present were the two of the stars, Shia LaBeouf (Sam Witwicky) and Megan Fox (Mikaela Banes), as well as the director, Michael Bay. Bay, who is famous for his impressive action blockbusters, is known in movie circles as a critical observer and was, according to Paramount Pictures Germany, the one who specifically requested a digital showing.
The team around the general manager of Paramount Pictures Germany, Sven Sturm, digitally equipped three movie theatres; the sold-out, large premiere Cinema 8, Cinema 2 (which already had a digital Christie projector) and Cinema 3.
Fans, waiting in the cinemas, were able to watch what was happening on the red carpet via the so-called Red Carpet TV and its own transmission van.
For this premiere, Paramount Pictures' general manager, Sven Sturm, was counting on the team from Film Ton Technik (FTT), a company based in Düsseldorf (Germany). Jürgen Kölling, FTT service engineer for digital technology, was responsible for this project. He tackled the project together with the zweiB company from Munich.
Egon Gräfen, FTT's managing director, welcomed the renewed co-operation with Paramount, saying: "Live events are always a special challenge for technology, since everything must function spot-on. For this reason we are particularly happy that Paramount trusted us again with this project and that the co-operation with zweiB company has worked out so perfectly."
A Christie CP2000-XB projector, and another CP2000-S for backup, were used in the large auditorium. This housed a screen measuring 17.69 x 7.40m, with the projector located at a distance of 26.8m. The material was streamed from a Doremi digital cinema server.
Cinema 3 also had a 2K DLP cinema projector, the Christie CP2000-X. Here, the content was streamed from a Dolby Digital cinema server. Both projectors were installed on special risers, which were made for zweiB. They are equipped with rollers, so that installation and adjustments are made easier when they are used for temporary assignments.