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This topic comprises 5 pages: 1 2 3 4 5
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Author
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Topic: Doesn't this just suck?
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Michael Cunningham
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 186
From: Anchorage, AK
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 07-27-2000 04:18 PM
Yes, mid-June was the date we all had to switch over to the Pepsi-girl Policy Trailer. It features the same little girl from the t.v. commercials who does the Robert Deniro "impression" (voice-over actually), pissed off because the bartender only had Coke. In this trailer, she reads off a list of the theatre rules(i.e. no smoking, pick up your trash, etc.) in a deep, John Wayne-like voice and cowboy costume in an old time saloon. Highly annoying and lasts about 2 minutes, insane for a Policy Trailer. As for pre-movie ads, they can be tolerable if few and entertaining. Some good one's that come to mind are the M & M's line (Buy a bag!, I am an athletic supporter...) and Rice Krispies Treats (the statue girlfriend that the dog eats). These were funny the first couple times, but were packed in with so many others (we currently have a list of four ads we must use before the first preview trailer) that the entire thing was still highly irritating. As to freshness of ads, not to mention that the companies would have to print new ones every couple of weeks, I would have to change them all out every couple of weeks, ick!-Mike
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William Hooper
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1879
From: Mobile, AL USA
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 07-28-2000 02:03 AM
I was going to wait until Scream hit the dollar movie house, because the audiences there are more fun for low comedy, but went with some friends to last weekend to see it at a first run house.The audiences are already annoyed by the ads. Big sighs on about the second commercial; big, exasperated profanity from some guy in the back when the 2nd low-res 1.37 national ad came up, & agreeing laughter from the rest of the house. Restless, annoyed, pushed out of movie theater cushy-seat relaxation - it sounded like the dollar movies, but grumpy instead of fun. Not that it will make any difference. When advertising greed starts killing attendance numbers, corporate will just say that people don't (go to movies, in this case) like they used to & cut operating costs more.
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John Wilson
Film God
Posts: 5438
From: Sydney, Australia.
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 07-28-2000 03:17 AM
A lot of times companies end up with the short straw and just dive in to get it over and done with. Pretty soon, the other cinema companies will start advertising in this manner also so there'll be no choice...if you want to go to the movies, you have to put up with some advertising. Ads are everywhere nowadays and a large white screen with a captive audience is just too good an opportunity to pass up.We've been having screen advertising, both slide and film for nearly thirty years here. Folks are just used to it. They may not like it and I may not like running them, but they are a revenue earner for the companies and that's the bottom line. Digital conversion to film from video is getting pretty darn acceptable these days. You can still go WOW at a 35mm shot ad, but in a block of ads where there is no ad shot in 35mm, it's a far cry from the early transfers in the late seventies/early eighties. We are moving away from slide advertising though. One company here (and I believe others will follow) doesn't sell slide advertising, but instead transfers stills to film and so the stills desolve and flip and do 'exciting' things which, though still lame, beat a 35mm slide any old day of the week. Didn't Disney say they wouldn't allow theatres to screen their product in theatres which had paid advertising a while back? (This never happened here of course, because they wouldn't have had their films screened anywhere had that been enforced). I feel sorry for you guys who are just starting out on this road, but it's unfortunately a sign of the times...dollars...dollars...dollars...and that's about it.
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John Pytlak
Film God
Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000
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posted 07-28-2000 09:04 AM
From "Screen Digest" http://www.screendigest.com/timeline.htm 26 May 2000 "Technicolor Entertainment (www.technicolor.com) announces $60m rolling stock cinema advertising deal with Loews Cineplex, only days after parent company Carlon acquires Screenvision"
22 May 2000 "Carlton Communication acquires Screenvisionc, largest US on-screen cinema advertiser in US, as part of expanding UK cinema advertising business (Carlton Screen Advertising) to US, estimated to have $1bn cinema advertising potential. E-cinema technology likely to be used." ------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
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John Walsh
Film God
Posts: 2490
From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way
Registered: Oct 1999
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posted 07-28-2000 09:07 AM
Almost everything that the on-screen advertisers promised would not happen, has happened.First they said the ads would be high-quality, both in content and production. At our theater chain, it took less than a year for the ads to go from decent quality to poorly transferred TV crap. Apparently, none of the people who make or transfer ads know the difference between 1.85 and 1.33, not to mention color quality, focus and resolution, and audio levels. There was not supposed to be any more than three ads at a time. Now we have six. When I pointed this out to a Screenvision guy, he said I can't include the "anti-drug" and "Navy" ads, since they don't consiter PSA's to be an "ad." So, they say they only added one. Lastly, we did start the pre-show ads early, but then word came down from "Mount High" that the ads would be "more effective" (read: more people in the audience) if the there was no indication of any pre-show. So now we start at the time mentioned in the papers or the recording- "... to maximise our captive audience, and realize our maximum potential!"
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Stefan Scholz
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 223
From: Schoenberg, Germany
Registered: Sep 1999
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posted 07-29-2000 04:22 AM
I have been to a theatre owner's convention in Berlin last week. In general screen advertising in Europe is quite common for decades. I hate commercial ads within a movie show, as people pay for admission. Commercial advertising belongs to FREE TV, where people are intended to watch continous commercials with feature film inserts.
Our theatres are kept fre of commercial ads, except a concession logo. We screen 5 trailers. But all other theatres screen commercials for cigarettes, beers, liquors and lifestyle products upfront even young audiences.
I was invited to a Titanic show some years ago. It was birthday gift. The show was scheduled 8:15 pm. We were there on time, but it took to become 9:08 until the feature film started. (40 mins of commercials, 2 trailerettes, and ongoing ice-cream sales)
They also introduced an unneccessairy 15 min break prior to the berg scene, just to sell more concessions. The film was out 0:28, the last train home would have been 0:32, with 25 minutes of walking to the station.
The subway had stopped operation already, as we were there on Tuesday night.
As they do not offer ample parking, you're forced to use the train.
I was invited as a gift,... my friends payd US$ 12.50 for 40 min of commercials, and a feature showm with 4 fl at the giant screen, in gorgeously loud and distorted THX sound. (Why does nobody take the certify manual's point "listen to familiar program material" serious?)
What an experience at the competition. Since then I never visited a theatre again, except for professional work on site.
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Bruce McGee
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1776
From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular.
Registered: Aug 1999
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posted 07-29-2000 09:19 AM
Guys:
Wait until they start changing the commercials at the last minute. They say now that they wont, but they will. When they started running commercials in the local UA 7-plex was when I stopped going to the movies. I was sick of loud people, sticky floors, and indifferent theater people, ushers running their loud mouths during the credits like I was not even there, etc.During my final years in TV, I had to view EVERY commercial that came thru the station. Every advertiser had to have their spots running just so... Some came with instructions not to run their products in the same grouping with something else. I finally got out of TV, and mute the sound at home when commercials start during a show. I hate commercials. Theaters are shooting themselves in the foot by doing this. People like me used to go to theaters because there were no commercials other than the ones that promoted products at the snack bar. Prediction: Someday there will be intermissions cut into the features by saying: "The next segment of our feature is brought to you by..." I know. This is business. Well, business is causing the theaters to be no better than Television!!!!! End of rant, for now.
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Stefan Scholz
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 223
From: Schoenberg, Germany
Registered: Sep 1999
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posted 07-29-2000 01:36 PM
You won't block screen advertising, it's common business in Europe for decades, as said before.
During the convention, they were talking about a a more flexible systemnof commercial presentation using digital video with lower res (800x600) video projectors. Point was, to change ads by demand. On the other hand the clients want the hi-res film quality with digital sound. So the struggle is, affordable lo-res for flexibility today, or hi-res together with digital film projection
tomorrow.
One point in the "how to finance the digital projection thing" was MORE, CHEAPER, AND FLEXIBLE screen advertizing.
According to statistics published, theatres are grossing about 5% of their total gross income on screen advertising films. You could easily loose 10 % patrons by screening commercials, so ads will bring no benefits. On the other hand, globalization is the goal, therefore structures have to be identical, or?
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