In mid-2019, the GSCA Member Services Committee conducted an extensive survey to understand how giant screen theaters structure their operations. The survey included questions about ticket prices, programming, attendance, capture rates, advertising and marketing budgets, staffing, concessions, and much, much more. The results are of value not only to theaters but to filmmakers and distributors as well so the entire industry can better understand how programming is constructed and what theaters need to be successful.

Amazon Adventure was funded in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), Innovations in Development project. The centerpiece of the project, the Amazon Adventure film, is a 45-minute giant screen film produced by SK Films. The film is based on the true story of Henry Bates’ 11-year journey through the Amazon in the 1850s, focusing on his quest as a young man to find evidence of species change. The project also included a live stage presentation for use at informal science education institutions and educational resources.

All NSF-funded projects require formative and summative evaluations by an independent firm. Knight Williams Inc. conducted the evaluation for this project. The summative evaluation of both the immediate and longer-term impacts of the film on a general audience of adults was based on viewers of Amazon Adventure at giant screen theaters at Pacific Science Center in Seattle, WA; Museum of Discovery & Science in Fort Lauderdale, FL; Discovery Place in Charlotte, NC; and Museum of Science in Boston, MA.

Click here for further background on the research

Click here to download the full NSF summative evaluation report

In 2014 the GSCA conducted an in-depth study of more than 5,000 theater-goers from 36 venues in 12 countries to gain information on them and gauge their thoughts on the giant screen industry, theater experience, film content and more. Topline findings were delivered at the 2014 GSCA International Conference in Toronto and the final results were released in October. Log in with your member user name and password to access the full results report, the PowerPoint presentation with the topline findings that was presented at the GSCA conference in Toronto, and an audio recording of the Toronto presentation. Copyright © Giant Screen Cinema Association, 2014. All rights reserved.

Doing research on giant screen that addresses funders’ questions takes time and money. As it is not always possible to find the two, we must look to research that complements the industry in order to draw conclusions about the impact of the films. In 2015, Price, Lee, Kasal and Aguilera published the article Comparing Short-and Long-Term Learning Effects between Stereoscopic and Two-Dimensional Film at a Planetarium. The authors kindly allowed the article to be available to GSCA members. Please note that for copyright issues, we have been given permission to post the article without formatting or tables inserted. The information for the tables mentioned within the study appears at the end of the document.

In 2015, the GSCA Lifelong Learning Committee and the Research Task Force joined together to consider the question of the value of ancillary educational materials that are produced to accompany giant screen films and to understand how these materials were selected and developed, and the expectations for their use among the GSCA membership. We developed two matched surveys that included both multiple choice and open-ended questions. The Research Task Force survey was designed to understand how giant screen producers/distributors decide what ancillary materials to produce and their goals for the use of these materials; the Lifelong Learning Committee survey focused on the theater members to gauge their use and perceptions of the materials produced to accompany films. Click here for a blog post about the results. Click the link below for the results that Mary Nucci, Rutgers University, presented at the GSCA 2015 International Conference and Trade Show in San Francisco.

The final report from the Setting the Agenda for Giant Screen Research Workshop (which includes the evaluation report (Appendix G) from Knight-Williams Inc.) is now available and has also been posted to the Museum Screens CoP for review and comment. This report, renamed A Roadmap for Giant Screen Research, is intended to be used to provide direction for research in giant screen, not set direction. It is hoped that GSCA members will help to disseminate the report, provide comment and critique, and support and promote research on giant screen. Click here to download the report.

In 2015, the GSCA Research Task Force conducted a theater programming survey to capture usage and attitudes regarding various types of content that giant screen theaters have programmed in the recent past and plan to program in the near future. The results are of value of producers and distributors to learn insights about their theater customers, and theaters are able to see how their profile and perspectives compare to their peers. Click on the link below to download a PDF of the presentation Paul Fraser of Blaze Digital Cinema Works presented at the GSCA 2015 Filmmaker Symposium.

In 2015, GSCA conducted a survey of all its member theaters to gather data on ticket prices and strategies. The results were presented by Paul Fraser of Blaze Digital Cinema Works at the GSCA 2015 International Conference and Trade Show in San Francisco. Click on the link below to download a PDF of his presentation.

In February 2014, Paul Fraser of Blaze Digital Cinema Works, with cooperation from IMERSA and GSCA, conducted a survey of dome theaters. The survey had two goals: 1) capture the similarities and differences between the world's larger permanent fulldome theaters and the giant screen film dome theaters, and 2) to better understand the potential for convergence of these two sectors. The results of that survey, and a companion article interpreting the results (first published in the LF Examiner), are available below once you have logged in with your GSCA member user name and password.

In May/June  2013, GSCA conducted a survey of current, lapsed, and prospective members to guide the GSCA’s future direction, by assessing:

• Perceptions of the GSCA and the value it provides
• Opinions about the future direction of the association
• Opportunities for the GSCA to enhance the value it provides
• Opportunities to grow by engaging lapsed or prospective members

The questionnaire content was developed through a collaborative process that included:

• Focused discussion groups and the Future Directions session facilitated by Principled Innovations at the March 2013 Film Expo in Galveston.
• One-on-one stakeholder interviews conducted by Isurus and Friendly Giant Marketing with nine current and lapsed members representing all industry segments.
• Review of the survey questionnaire by GSCA staff and members of the Marketing and Member Services Subcommittee.

The first non-brand-specific international research program in the giant screen theater and film industry’s history, the GSTA’s Consumer Research Program, conducted in summer 2003, included both a viewer research study and a general population study in which current viewers, lapsed viewers, and nonviewers were interviewed. In 2004, key results and recommendations about how to use them to benefit the giant screen theater and film industry were shared through a series of articles written by Mary Kaye Kennedy for the The Big Frame. The full report and the series of articles that appeared in The Big Frame can be downloaded once you log in.

Does the current financial model for the production and exhibition of educational films work adequately for all involved? In order to answer this complex question, especially as it relates to the “for all involved” aspect, in 2001 the Giant Screen Theater Association (GSTA) commissioned a study to examine in detail the financial/business model of the industry.