1.Production
The huge development in digital technology means that film directors now have the option of creating realism and verismilitude within the effects created using this new found knowledge. Not only does it enhance the realism in the shot, it creates a much more pleasurable experience for the consumer because of the drama and action created through digital technology such as CGI and digital manipulation. Films can now be modified in specific ways post production in order to add to the visceral pleasure and verismilitude of the shot. Digital manipulation allows directors to change parts of the shot, like the colours, lighting, etc. in order to add emotions or representations to the shot.

http://www.hero.ac.uk/uk/business/archives/2006/the_re_invention_of_cinema.cfm

I found the above article particularly interesting because it talks of the digital revolution that is occuring in the present and the sheer development and change that has occured in the film industry; not only in recent times but in the future. Digital technology has meant that cost of production is a lot cheaper from sometimes being millions to produce, to hundreds of thousands.


2. Distribution
How us today gain access to films because of the rise in digital technology, has caused huge impacts on cinema's and their revenue. Cinema profits have seriously decreased in recent years because of the number of ways in which people can obtain films, whether it be downloading illegally off the internet or purchasing pirate copies of films. Although the film quality isn't as good as the legal DVD or cinema-quality; its cheap and easy to get. This creates a kind of cycle..

consumers not being able to afford the high prices..
consumers getting pirate copies and downloads..
a decrease in profit for cinemas..
forcing cinemas to increase prices..
back to consumers not being able to afford tickets..
and so on..

I personally don't believe there is any way of this cycle ending because of the amount of methods becoming available to consumers to get so i believe its likely to spiral further and further until the amount of cinema's around begin to decrease even more than they already are. Personally, like many, I am sometimes tempted to wait until its out on DVD to buy the film because its usually cheaper to buy a DVD which you can watch multiple times than go to the cinema and pay more, to watch it once.