John, do you remember what I said yesterday in my thread "SHIT HOT PRESENTATION" about our "presentation checks" at my old theater? Thanks for mentioning it again though!

Evans, at my old theater, we also had two light levels, one for trailers and one for main feature. These were controlled by the cue-sensors, but could be overriden manually. I believe it was a Kelmar box (LEDs indicating light levels) at each Projectionists view window. It was the Projectionists RESPONSIBILITY to double check light levels, and adjust manually if needed. They also came in handy when doing projector maintenance, and for curtain calls.

TIVOLI Lights were also controlled from the "booth" (at each projector), and our management was STRICT about these being properly controled lest someone trip and fall in the theater!

Janitor lights were controled from the theater only with a key-lock so no one could mess around with them.

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John, do you remember what I said yesterday in my thread "SHIT HOT PRESENTATION" about our "presentation checks" at my old theater? Thanks for mentioning it again though!

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One of the reasons that one of my local theatres is a notch above all the other theatres is that auditoriums are "walked" twice during each show to check for problems. In the past, this has caused some minor problems to be fixed during the previews before the movie actually started, or during an early part of a movie. In many theatres, staff members do come in and walk through, but all they seem to do is go to the exit door and back out. I've seen many of these staff members look at an unfocused, misframed, or an image with poor aperture plate alignment or projector aim and just go on. At Regal River Oaks Cinemas in Decatur, AL, the staff members actually check the focus and aspects of the presentation and communicate problems they see to the booth. Why can't more theatres do this, especially if they're going to send staff members in to check the exit doors anyway? Why not train them to spot common projection problems? It seems that doing so is a cheap way to get some really good internal quality checking and control going.

By the way, I sent the manager of Regal River Oaks Cinema 8 in Decatur, AL a letter of appreciation for the high quality of presentation and operations he has maintained at the theatre. I wrote the letter yesterday and mailed it this morning. There were no complaints in the letter, which consisted of several paragraphs of technical, detailed compliments, which were derived from the reviews available on my WWW site. It was only the second business letter I'd written during the past 13 years! The manager of Regal River Oaks needs to know, in writing, that the quality of his work is noticed and appreciated. It's great to be able to honestly compliment someone. It's much more fun than complaining.

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Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Info Site

I agree. Positive feedback on what a theatre does right is just as important as complaints in encouraging "Film Done Right".

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I agree. Positive feedback on what a theatre does right is just as important as complaints in encouraging "Film Done Right".

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Yes. I wrote the letter for two main reasons. First, few people take the time to write actual letters anymore. A written letter, mailed to a recipient means more than it used to, and it's really no more difficult than writing an email with today's software. The manager of River Oaks knows that I think that his presentation quality is the best in the area, and he probably occasionally has one of his staff members download and print the information about his theatre on my WWW site, but still, I think that a written letter speaks more strongly than verbal or indirect communication.

Second, customers tend to complain more than compliment. I'll bet that 90 percent of all feedback from customers are complaints (maybe more). Ask someone about a particular place and you'll likely hear of any bad experiences they have ever had in their history of dealing with the place before hearing of good things. This seems to be true of any type of business, such as theatres, restaurants, stores, and so on. If someone has dealt with a place 50 times and have had one bad experience, they'll say, "It's been OK except this time when ..." or omit the "It's been OK" part and just go straight to their description of their bad experience(s). If a business gives good service, they probably will not get much feedback on the quality of their service until they mess up something, then complaints will come. More people should give positive feedback and let businesses know when good service is noticed, consistently, for a significant period of time. Thinking of this, there is a local restaurant that my coworkers and I have eaten every Monday for the past few years and their food and service have been consistent and excellent with very few problems. I need to write them a letter too (which would be my 3rd business letter since 1988).

Take the time to compliment businesses on consistent, excellent service with a written letter. It will make their day and let them know that their quality of service is sincerely noticed and appreciated.

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