|
|
This topic comprises 5 pages: 1 2 3 4 5
|
|
Author
|
Topic: Thx certification
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Christopher Seo
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 530
From: Los Angeles, CA
Registered: Jun 99
|
posted 07-09-2003 01:12 AM
I think Scott is right on the money about how marketing and engineering are mutually dependent. You can build the best cinemas around, but you have to let the public know. Certainly, they may subconsciously notice on their own whether presentation is excellent or poor, but people don't necessarily act rationally on that data ("I have a subconscious feeling theatre X is superior, therefore I will always go there..."). Good marketing will convince them consciously of what they know subconsciously.
The average public's priorities are not our own, either. Many of them seem to choose theatres based primarily on location and distance, which is of course understandable. But strong marketing could help overcome such a tendency to head to the nearest multiplex, in a sort of delayed-reward scenario.
I have no experience in marketing, but I've always imagined that the best sort of marketing is that which is informed by strong technical knowledge. "State-of-the-art" is one term which is bandied about far too often by people who obviously have no idea of what is state of the art. As an idealist, I think that a campaign which assumed the public's intelligence, rather than their susceptibility to clichés, could successfully differentiate itself from the pack. Instead of relying on simple Pavlovian brand-name recognition, explain clearly, elegantly, and creatively what you have, what it does, and why it's so great. Brand-name recognition is very superficial; recognizing quality itself is much more profound. If necessary, a theatre chain could create a brand name of its own to identify its best screens and avoid confusion and genericalness.
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
|
posted 07-10-2003 12:25 PM
Christopher Seo wrote:
quote:
Instead of relying on simple Pavlovian brand-name recognition, explain clearly, elegantly, and creatively what you have, what it does, and why it's so great. Brand-name recognition is very superficial; recognizing quality itself is much more profound.
Your entire message hit it right on the money, Christopher.
To do some match, I'll put numbers out of the air. Please feel free to insert your own...
On a day where 10 screens sell 150 seats each for four shows on each screen, that equals 6,000 people that are a captive audience for a theater to communicate its marketing messages to during their 3 hour visit.
In the Milwaukee area, theaters do not take advantage of that time to communicate what makes their theater better than their competitors. It may be because there is only one other chain besides Marcus, so none is needed.
It is definitely a lost opportunity if a theater does not take the time to educate and inform their customers as to why they made the right choice about where to see the movie they came to see.
In particular, any THX theater that has patrons coming up on a regular basis asking uneducated questions about THX (is the THX on?) means that it has not taken the time to educate its customers about the investment it has made to make their movie-going experience the best it can be.
THX has an informative web site, they produce posters for display that describe THX, and I believe there are also flyers that can be placed on the box office and/or concession stands. Finally, they have a THX trailer which is usually pretty impressive and absolutely hard to miss.
In The BigScreen Cinema Guide, the THX logo is clickable to an explanation of THX:
http://www.bigscreen.com/Help.php?id=8
I probably need to revisit that page and bring it up to date, since it's been a while since I wrote it, but the point is that we're trying to educate our readers about how to get the best movie presentations, and the THX logo is currently the best way to easily identify what should be first-class presentations.
One of the intents we have with our Theater InfoPages is to detail what each theater has to offer their customers. At one time, we were listing detailed information about the equipment in each screen, the size of the screen, seating capacities, etc. We've been removing that information as we update those pages, as the theaters are completely uninterested in keeping it up to date.
Here are two examples of InfoPages that attempt to achieve these goals:
Hartford Theatres InfoPage
Star Cinema Johnson Creek InfoPage
| IP: Logged
|
|
Martin Brooks
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 900
From: Forest Hills, NY, USA
Registered: May 2002
|
posted 07-11-2003 04:46 PM
One of the problems with THX is that in many areas, even theaters that were THX certified never advertised in the newspapers that they were such. This isn't a problem in L.A. or San Francisco, but it's definitely a problem in New York.
Also, there should have been more consistency between the sound of theaters that were certified. In NYC, the Loews Village 7 screen #3 and the Clearview Chelsea Cinemas screens #6 and #7 were once certified THX, but they actually weren't very good, so even consumers who knew what THX was would have been baffled (so to speak).
The UA Union Square 14 does (or did) have a poster in the lobby indicating they were THX certified (screens #3 and #8). And there were plaques outside the Loews Lincoln Square #1 ("the Loews") and the Loews Orpheum 7, screen #7.
However, the THX web site no longer lists a single Manhattan theater, so they all must have given up certification. IMHO, THX certification should include the mandate that certified theaters must include in newspaper advertising and on the marquee and box office, exactly which theaters are playing a film in THX. I think that would also set up more of a competitive situation where other theaters might feel the pressure to upgrade their sound systems.
IMO, the other factor working against THX is that the entire industry is now geared towards opening weekend and perhaps the first two weeks of a run. In that scenario, it's almost impossible to get into many films anyway since they sell-out and therefore, there's no competitive advantage to having THX.
And while in the days of 70mm, theatres playing 70mm prints did do much better boxoffice than those that didn't (I think I posted an old Variety article about this once), my feeling is that most of the public really doesn't understand presentation quality and will put up with almost anything. I have been at presentations in which sound channels were missing and I was the only one complaining.
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
All times are Central (GMT -6:00)
|
This topic comprises 5 pages: 1 2 3 4 5
|
Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classicTM
6.3.1.2
The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion
and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.
|
Home
Printer-friendly view of this topic