Is 720p acceptable for cinema projection?

[RickyC]

Sound is the MUCH bigger issue. People will watch a film that looks pretty bad. They will instantly turn off a film that sounds bad.

Very true a 720p image is acceptable in theaters, but remember in theaters the sound systems play very clearly and loud, so a normal zoom recorder wont work. On your headphones it may sound good, but in theater you'll hear EVERYTHING. Even that PA talking to his mom on the phone under his breath

[KyleProhaska]

Yea 720p is fine. In my market (Christian market) lots of films were filmed on the Varicam in the last decade or so. Facing The Giants & Fireproof...both very popular (Fireproof bringing in 33mil at BO) was shot on 720p Varicam but they used the HDSDI out while shooting to uprez right to 1080 Prores on set. The image still looks like a 720p uprezzed image (looks really similar to the AF100) but when seeing it in a theater, it looked wonderful.

720p is just a pixel size...you can have very soft 720p footage and it won't look as great. Detailed/sharp 720p will look very different. Just because you have all those pixels doesn't mean the camera is using them well, that takes work

[sonofaresiii]

I guess I'm gonna be the sole outlier here-- yes, a good story is always better than good resolution, but for the GENERAL viewing public, lower resolution is going to subconsciously equal lower budget, which will almost always subconsciously equal worse movie. That's just how it is.

Sometimes the low budget stuff can scrape by if the story is really, really solid (Reservoir Dogs)... but 720p is asking a LOT for the general viewing public to accept as a legitimate movie.

and before i get flamed, please note that i said general viewing public (repeatedly) and am assuming commercial theatrical distribution. 48 hr. film competitions are a totally different story.

[jax_rox]

Yes, in a way you're right, at a festival for example it's not going to matter as much as that's almost what is expected, but if you were up there against summer blockbusters, people may wonder why they made the effort to see something in a theatre that they could've watched at the exact same quality at home for less.

But it really depends on your distribution. If you're asking because it's only ever going to be shown in a theatre at the premiere, then you'll be fine. If you're asking for the sake of festivals, the answer is it depends on the festival's rules. If you're asking because you want to release a high action summer blockbuster, but keep your costs down by shooting 720p, then it's going to be a different story.

[brynsank]

Is there a difference? Absolutely, especially when shot on DSLR as you mentioned (aliasing introduced by line skipping in the DSLRs is awful). Does it really matter? Well given that you are asking this question, I would say probably not. But most "low end DSLRs" that shoot 720p also shoot 1080p.