What is Screen Watch? Each week, we post a collection of images, trailers, videos, and articles on the film industry as it relates to the Ambler and County Theaters. Do you have something that you think we will find interesting or should be included? Email it to ccollier@renewtheaters.org.

A hard drive (above) containing a DCI-compliant version of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. This is how  commercial films are being distributed instead of on 35mm and why we need to switch to digital projection.

Interview with Stewart Craig, Oscar nominee for Art Direction for Harry Potter.

Uggie takes a publicity tour

Why are there Nine Best Picture Nominees? An explanation of how the votes are tallied.

Leonard Maltin on movie promotions.

Digital conversion is spreading across Europe.

The Astor theater talks about their Digital concerns.

A Brief History of Title Design from Ian Albinson.

Movie Title Sequences from 99% Invisible by Roman Mars

The Artist blooper reel.

Uggie at the Golden Globes.

The Iron Lady is causing a stir in Britian as many remember Thatcher in different ways.

David Bordwell’s musings on Digital Cinema.

A Guide to Understanding Tinker Tailor

As 35mm Film Dies, How Do Revival Theaters Cope? in The Atlantic

Thanks to Shane Jenkins and John Toner for sharing articles for this week’s post. Have an article you think we should share? Send it to ccollier@renewtheaters.org.

After the jump is the list of nominated films that played on our screens this past year.

THE ARTIST: 10 Nominations
Actor In a Leading Role | Actress In a Supporting Role | Art Direction | Best Picture | Cinematography | Costume Design | Directing | Film Editing | Music (Original Score) | Writing (Original Screenplay)

MONYBALL: 6 Nominations
Actor In a Leading Role | Actor In a Supporting Role | Best Picture | Film Editing | Sound Mixing | Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

 THE DESCENDANTS: 5 Nominations
Actor In a Leading Role | Best Picture | Directing | Film Editing Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS: 4 Nominations
Art Direction | Best Picture | Directing | Writing (Original Screenplay)

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY: 3 Nominations
Actor In a Leading Role | Music (Original Score) | Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

THE TREE OF LIFE: 3 Nominations
Best Picture | Cinematography | Directing

MY WEEK WITH MARILYN: 2 Nominations
Actor In a Supporting Role | Actress In a Leading Role

THE IRON LADY: 2 Nominations
Actress In a Leading Role | Makeup

BEGINNERS: 1 Nomination
Actor In a Supporting Role

DRIVE: 1 Nomination
Sound Editing

THE IDES OF MARCH: 1 Nomination
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

JANE EYRE: 1 Nomination
Costume Design

MARGIN CALL: 1 Nomination
Writing (Original Screenplay)

ANONYMOUS: 1 Nominations
Costume Design

Want to know more: Check out the full list of Academy Award Nominated films. Speaking of the Oscars, join us Sunday, February 26th and celebrate the Ambler and the top movies of 2011. We will be celebrating with incredible food & drink, live music, and most importantly: the Academy Awards on all three screens in stunning HD. Purchase your tickets today!

Share your thoughts with us about the nominations. Who was overlooked? Who was rightfully selected? Are you excited for this year’s Oscar ceremony?

Harry Potter will now be starting at 10:00am instead of 11:00. This is for both the Ambler screening on Saturday, February 4th and the County screening on Saturday, March 17th.

Over a decade ago, three Wizards burst onto the silver screen in what would be the first of eight Harry Potter films. We are excited to bring this first installment back to theaters as part of our Saturday Family Matinee series. But due to some scheduling issues – and the fact that Chris Columbus did not feel the need to cut anything in order to make his big-screen adaptation – we have had to shift the screenings of Harry Potter one hour earlier than our normal Matinee start time.

Costumes are encouraged for both screenings and outfits will be rewarded with free popcorn. Depending on how many participants we have, we might even divide up the theater into seating by Hogwarts house. We welcome any ideas you might have to make these screenings more fun and interactive. Please share any thoughts or suggestions below in the comments section.

This is the third time that John and I have attended the Art House Convergence. This year was the most inspiring and informational trip that we have made. Over the course of four days we met other theater operators with organizations that range in size from single-screen storefronts to cutting-edge, big city facilities. We talked with independent distributors and filmmakers. We met with innovative programmers, customer service experts, education specialists, and equipment representatives.

The Philadelphia area was very strongly represented with not only the Ambler and County Theaters present, but also the Bryn Mawr Film Institute, Cinema 16:9 (Lansdowne), ArtsQuest (Bethlehem), The Colonial Theatre (Phoenixville), and The Civic Theatre of Allentown. We were excited to make stronger friendships with our other local film family and look forward to working together to continue to bring the best films and events to the Greater Philadelphia region.

John Toner addressing the audience of the Digital Cinema Panel. Photo by Chuck Foxen.

The biggest topic of conversation was the Digital Cinema Initiative that needs to be addressed by all of our organizations. Because of the incredible support that we have received from all of our members and fans, we arrived ahead of the rest of the pack in terms of our Digital knowledge and were able to share information and lead the discussion about the digital conversion. John was a panelist in one session on discussing digital conversion and was thanked by many other conference attendees for being a clear voice in the face of this difficult and tumultuous challenge. We learned a great deal from our colleagues and feel confident that we will not only weather this storm, but use it to our advantage to continue to bring you the best films with the best possible presentation.

The other highlights of the trip included Key Note addresses by Tim League, Founder and CEO of Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, and Ted Hope, Producer/Partner/Founder of Double Hope Films. Both of these esteemed speakers reminded us about our vital role to our communities and challenged us to be better citizens and exhibitors.

Both John and I came away with a number of new tools and ideas which we plan to put into practice in the very near future. We are especially looking forward to working closer with members of the community, local film experts, and colleagues in other theaters to constantly improve our mission of bringing you the best theatrical experience possible.

To learn more about the Art House Convergence, you can explore their website, Facebook page, or follow them on twitter. You can also look back through the #AHC12 hashtag posts on twitter to see all of the discussions that were held at the convergence itself.

[above] Universal Pictures celebrates its 100th Anniversary with restoration of 13 films and updated logo.

Three The Artist-related stories:

• Michel Hazanavicius responds to Kim Novack’s statements about the use of Vertigo theme in The Artist.
• Uggie the dog went on a British press tour.
• Michel Hazanavicius has talking about his next film which will be a WWII drama.

Interview with the cast and director of National Theatre’s new production Traveling Light.

The new trailer for the National Theatre’s upcoming production of Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors.

Oscar Update: New rules for Documentary Oscar nominees.

Oscar Update: The Academy also revised the Best Picture rules.

The official trailer for the 84th Academy Awards.

A list of memorable moments and images from the movies of 2011.

Three suggestions to the movie industry to lure adults back to the theaters.

Dudeism: A religion based on the philosophy of The Big Lebowski.

 Vitruvian Dude t-shirt from Fashionable Geek.

A letter from Raymond Chandler to Hitchcock about their strained relationship while making Strangers on a Train.

Thanks to Steve Goetz, Geoff Basset, Shane Jenkins, and John Toner for sharing articles for this week’s post. Have an article you think we should share? Send it to ccollier@renewtheaters.org.

There are still 2011 movies that have not made their way to the Ambler or County yet. But, with Award season in full swing, it is hard not to think back over the year and start comparing notes.

What were your favorite films of 2011? Post your list in the comments section below. Feel free to add your top five worst films if you like. We would love to know those as well. In case you forgot the movies that came out this year, here is the complete list of films released in 2011.

We will keep this post open until the end of the month, and then will condense all of the lists into one master Top Ten.

Saturday, January 21st
11:00 am

The Ambler Theater and The Ambler Area YMCA are coming together for another morning of fun and community support. The morning will feature a screening of Despicable Me, the animated tale of a criminal mastermind who uses a trio of orphan girls as pawns for a grand scheme, but finds their love is profoundly changing him for the better.

Bring a donation of a canned good, a winter hat, or gloves/mittens and get a free popcorn. Donations support the Ambler Food Cupboard.

Proceeds from the screening support the YMCA’s Strong Kids Campaign, which makes the Ambler Area Y accessible to all people and helps to empower the community to learn, grow and thrive.

Admission:
$4.50 individual
$10 for the whole family

I am excited to announce this new feature on our blog for 2012. Each week, we will post the best trailers, videos, reviews, and articles on the film industry as it relates to the Ambler and County Theaters. For this inaugural post, I wanted to wrap up 2011 and the changes to the industry that we will be exploring this coming year. It should be no surprise that the biggest topic of conversation is Digital Cinema. 

Pictured above: A graveyard of 35mm projectors and platters that have been removed to make room for digital. (Photo thanks to Steve Guttag.)

Considering that the vast majority of movie viewing is digital, including home viewing, why are filmmakers still shooting on film if virtually nobody will ever see it projected on film? - Filmmaker Jamie Stewart from IndieWire on how digital has changed cinematography.

Major manufacturers have ceased production of new motion picture film cameras; cinema as we once knew it is dead. – Matt Zoller Seitz in Salon on the end of production of 35mm film camera.

Roger Ebert opined on “The Sudden Death of Film“, discussing what will be lost at the end of the celluloid age.

Time Magazine’s Moneyland broke down 2011 at the Box Office reporting that it was the worst year since 1995. (Contrary to the big theaters around the County, we had a fantastic year. Thanks!)

IndieWire reported the box office hits from New Year’s weekend. The big winners: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Iron Lady.

Also from IndieWire: the top grossing indie films of 2011.

How digital will effect projectionists, by Temujin Doran projectionist at The Screen on the Green, London.

Derek Thompson mused about why all movie tickets cost the same.

New trailer for The Iron Lady

A Featurette on the Making of The Artist

Russ Fisher from SlashFilm breaks down some storyboards from The Tree of Life that show un-shot sequences featuring Cain and Abel.

And just for fun:

Michel Gondry’s low-fi recreation of Taxi Driver.

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Do you have an article, video, or news that you think we should share? Send it to ccollier@renewtheaters.org.

Thanks to Steve Goetz, Shane Jenkins, Mike Zankowski, and Brian Majeska for sharing articles for this week’s post.