Mapping Digital Cinema in the Kingdom: The Transition from Analog to Digital Technologies in the Thai Film Industry
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Abstract
This article aims to map and analyze the processes that lead to the conversion from analog machineries to digital technologies within the Thai film industry during the decades 2010-2020. The infrastructures and practices that define Thailand's contemporary digital film industry result from a series of transformations that occurred when analog film technologies were disposed of in favor of digital technologies. The first part of the research analyzes the role of local audiovisual infrastructures and leading players involved in the film industry, while the second and conclusive part of the study focuses on the disruptive changes that occurred after the digital turn and underlines the main consequences of it. Ultimately this study points out how the digital turn has been mainly managed by the local oligopolies of the exhibition sector and was caused by introducing a specific technology: DCP or Digital Cinema Package.
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