People will think:

Why go to a local theatre and see 77 percent of a movie when I can get the DVD and see it all? Gee, didn't that used to be an advetising point of theatre vs. TV, and now it's the other way around in Huntsville.

Why listen to distorted, poor quality analog sound in a theatre when I can have Dolby Digital or DTS at home?

Since the theatre projector operators don't seem to know what they're doing a significant part of the time, why bother paying one third the price of a DVD to see a movie there? People I've talked to expect people running the place to know how to show movies properly; after all, it is a theatre's purpose for existing. When people slowly come to the realization that the people up there are just kids being paid rather poor wages and have never been properly trained, they'll say, "Well I can do better than that at home."

Theatres are not keeping up with available technology quickly enough to keep people satisfied. The chains were very unwise to go crazy building new theatres all over the place leaving them unable to maintain and update the theatres they already had.

I'm making a point to ask more of my friends if they go see movies often to see what they say. When I ask 10 different friends if they've seen a particulr great movie that has been out a couple of months (at the time) and 8 of them say no, that's a bad sign that people are staying away from theatres in droves. The most common complaints I hear are that ticket prices are too high and that there are too many problems with the presentations. Many tell me they can't read some of the opening and closing credits sometimes because the words go off the screen, although they don't know why it's happening. Many people notice sound problems more than image problems. Digital sound cutting out is a very common problem here.

Concerning "Shrek" at Hollywood 18, I wondered if the showings in other auditoriums were better than the misframed one I saw once (and almost twice), and found out that in the showing in another auditorium that several of my friends went to see, they had problems with the digital sound cutting out. I know now that two out of their three showings of "Shrek" on opening weekend had problems bad enough to make people wonder if they should go back, and I keep seeing these problems over and over in three different theatres.

If theatre chains don't get their act together soon and make these problems rarities rather than the norm, home theatre will win out.

Of course, seat kickers, talkers, cell phones, and crying babies and little kids are a real problem in some shows, and make some people want to watch movies at home.

I've read the posts I've made during the previous week and they're all quite negative. (Depressing, actually). I don't mean to sound so negative or have a negative attitude. I really do wish some sort of change would occur for the better in the theatre industry. The past weekend (Friday through Monday) at the theatres here really depressed me.

A "revival" of interest in showmanship and quality of presentation could only be caused by two things that I could think of:

1. Customers becoming educated and less apathetic and demanding better quality presentations and refusing to pay for poorly-presented or incompletely-presented movies.

2. Studios inspecting presentations and not allowing bad theatres to show their movies if their presentations are sub-par, and not allowing them to show their movies until the problems can be shown to have been remedied.

Maybe something good will happen soon. There needs to be a revolution in the movie exhibition industry if it is going to survive against home theatre, and DLP is not the answer, unless the resolution can be brought up to film standards.

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Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Info Site

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The big difficulty is matter of educating home theater users how to set up and use their equipment properly. Most people just plug in the hardware, set the speakers where-ever and just hit "play." This is a problem, but it is not like the home theater market is without lots of solutions. My home sound system is set up properly and it really sounds excellent.

Commercial theaters have the unfortunate difficulty of manipulating a lot more cubic area of air in a room. This is also why I contend normal seated auditoriums sound better than most stadium seated rooms. Those high ceilings and hundreds of extra feet of cubic air space do a lot to suck out much of the sound quality capability. In a really large house you can wind up with thin, muddy sound quality all messed up with echo if the right kinds of speakers and amplification are not chosen. In many instances, commercial theater builds just stick the same kind of speakers and amplifiers in all the auditoriums regardless of their size and cubic airspace.

Then you have these abominations of sound system design perpetrated by the likes of AMC Theaters where surround speakers are placed all up in the ceiling.

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You started a good one here! I'm new to film-tech, but not to the industry. Been involved for over 30 years part time. I recently retired from teaching and now have the pleasure of working as the projection operations manager at a local 13 screen multiplex on a full time basis.

The industry must do a better job of showmanship and presentation or we will all be on the outside looking in. I wish all operators were like the people who post threads and replys on this site, but the reality of the situation is that many in the industry are not like that.

I"m going to throw my two cents in here and say that Jerry's post most closely hit the nail on the head. Training is the first line of defense. Operators need to be trained by a competent person who has both the knowledge of the booth and the ability to relate it to others. You can not rely on training one operator and then having him/her train the next one. One person must train so that everyone else is on the same page, and the procedures learned must be followed by everyone. No exceptions!!

I've worked union and non-union and agree with the fact that you have to love the job if you are going to be any good at projection work. If you are lucky enough to find these people (and they do exist), then the next step is to properly supervise them. This requires constantly checking the quality of their work, retraining when necessary, and axing those who do not meet your standards.

Incentive is a must. In addition to providing adequate and fair pay, you need to constantly give a pat on the back and reward those who are doing a good job. We have a board in the booth with the number of days of scratchfree presentations listed, as well as the number of days without an interrupted show. The staff really gets into it, and there are incentives involved as the numbers grow.

Mistakes are a part of life. Is there one person who posts on this site who has not made one? Of course not. The goal is to learn from your mistakes. Those who do not should not last long in any booth.

Punish for damaged prints? That's okay, but the real punishment comes form the audience. In my many years of dealing with people who patronize our industry, I have learned that it is the dissatisfied customer who never says a word that is our most dangerous one. THEY ARE NEVER COMING BACK!

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I think the biggest reason for people stopping going out to movies is "other moviegoers."

My wife and I were on vacation in Florida last week, and decided to see a DLP of "Shrek" at the AMC Pleasure Island 24 in Downtown Disney. (I had never had a chance to see a digital cinema show yet.)

The presentation was flawless, in fact better than I expected. I was looking for some clue that I was looking at a non-film presentation (other than a lack of dust or scratches on the screen). There was none.

Also, the theatre was spotless; the people out front were friendly and polite to us.

The only problem with the evening was...you guessed it...other moviegoers. One woman in particular received FOUR calls on her cell phone during the movie, and instead of getting up and leaving during her calls, she sat there and yakked right in her seat.

Did I complain to management? Yep, on the third call. I told them what auditorium/row the offender was seated in. They sent a guy in to watch the crowd for about 25 minutes, but naturally while he was there, her #%$@ phone did not ring. Soon as he left, as if on cue, the damn phone rang again and she was talking again.

Perhaps if they rendered the movie (a lot) closer to film resolution, it would help (although it wouldn't help them!). That trailer looked about one quarter or less than the resolution and sharpness that we're typically used to seeing. Well, they may be able to fool some of the public, but they can't fool the ASC.

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"My wife and I were on vacation in Florida last week, and decided to see a DLP of "Shrek" at the AMC Pleasure Island 24 in Downtown Disney. (I had never had a chance to see a digital cinema show yet.) The presentation was flawless, in fact better than I expected. I was looking for some clue that I was looking at a non-film presentation (other than a lack of dust or scratches on the screen). There was none. Also, the theatre was spotless; the people out front were friendly and polite to us."

I agree that Digital Cinema looks especially good with animation that has been transferred directly for digital presentation. When I saw a Digital Cinema presentation of the live-action "Very Mean Men" at ShowEast in the AMC Pleasure Island last October, I sat in about the tenth row, fairly close to the screen. The image was flawed by the visibility of the 1280 x 1024 pixel structure at that distance, and did seem unsharp and lacking in contrast. But further back, and with digital animation, I'm sure it would look very acceptable.

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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 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

quote:

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I think the biggest reason for people stopping going out to movies is "other moviegoers."

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I agree. Often times, I'm more irritated by the rudeness of other people in the audience than by presentation flaws.

Why can't theatres jsut do the following:

1. Do not allow cell phones in auditoriums.

They have no purpose in a theatre except to annoy others.

2. Do not allow children under a certain age (say, 5) into a movie. Eliminating crying babies would help tremendously. Many shows have been ruined by babies and kids crying, especially during quiet scenes. [Being around young children is the best birth control there ever was. ]

Unfortunately, there is little that can be done about people who constantly kick or nudge the seats in front of them with their feet. Many theates have their rows so close together that it is easy to do by accident. Some people like to prop their feet against something, like the seat in front of them, so every time they shift or move, everyone in front of them feels it too.

Even worse are people who put their feet over the back of the chair in front of them. I've actually had people behind me to put their feet over the back of the chair next to me with their feet right next to my head. I usually move, if possible, when they do that.

If enough extra seats are available, I've found myself moving two or three times before the show started just to get away from seat kickers or cell phone sluts.

Is it just me, or are people getting a lot ruder lately? Is the cell phone psychology a cause of this "new rudeness" (the "I don't care how what I do affects anyone else around me" attitude?) I have some friends that I can barely enjoy their company any more because they carry their cell phone everywhere and get and make calls when I'm with them, like in restaurants.

Another thing about cell phones: Why does their ring have to be so f*cking loud (sorry, but I do hate these things) and why do they have to play these irritating, silly tunes when they ring. Do cell phone manufacturers have to make sure that everyone within a 100 foot radius knows that their customers have a cell phone? Why not have a quieter, discreet, non-disturbing ring that can be heard within a very few feet?

I'll say it again, to get people back in theatres:

0. If your theatre has presentation problems, get them fixed. Show us how good 35mm can look when done right.

1. Ban cell phones.

2. Do not allow children under 5 (or 4 or 6 or whatever the "not crying age" starts).

Then again, these jerks should have some manners. It's the me,me,me generation all over again. It's like people are saying, "I'll talk on my phone whenever and wherever I darn well please!"

Get a life folks. If you're not a MD or similar, I bet you could go 2 hrs. without the cell phone watching a movie.

Have you ever been near one of these persons in the auditorium? They talk loud enough you don't have to evesdrop. The conversations are usually pretty stupid.

In a movie....

RING! RING! (as loud as possible) for the record...you can buy phones with silent alerts just like pagers.

Fumble, thrash, shuffle. Finds phone.
"OH, HI!! WHAT'S UP!! I'M DOING NOTHING!! WATCHING A MOVIE!!"

This useless drivel,drivel,yada,yada continues for a good 3-5 minutes inside the auditorium with the violator acting as if this was no different than breathing.

I paid good money to see this film too. I want to hear the soundtrack, not someone's shopping list, love life, or their day's activities. I guess that's another reason why I love the drive-in. If you get to loud, the Delco will drown you out.

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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 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion