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This topic comprises 8 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
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Topic: Pixar, Disney, Dolby "Film Done Right" Contest
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Ted Costas
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 119
From: Hollywood, CA, USA
Registered: May 2000
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posted 11-03-2004 02:36 PM
Alright. The "word" is out. I'll try and answer a few questions... from my opinion only, and not that of Dolby, Disney, Pixar, or any of their respective companies.
1) Disney and Pixar care. They don't have to do a contest, set up a web site just for you guys, print up collector cards in jewel cases just for projectionists, and reward the winners (winners: projectionists that care) with t-shirts and signed one-sheets. And a "lucky" winner will get a trip to Pixar, lucky beacuse he/she will be drawn from all the winners. Not a lot of studios go out of their way like that...
2) The First Weekend. There are a few factors in the reasoning behind this decision... Box office, for instance, there's a large percentage of the film's total revenue that comes from the opening weekend, and along with that comes a large percenage of the film's total audience. Also, most films start dropping screens after a few weeks, which is probaly not the case here, but you know as well as I do that the average film's lifespan has been getting shorter... with all the new product coming out today. And lastly, we want to get everyone off to a good start, hoping quality remains on screen as long as possible. I know that if this was just a "Projectionist Contest", a few weeks into the run would be a better test... but this is "The Incredible Projectionist Contest," and the purpose is to reward those who give a little special attention to the "The Incredibles"... After all, they are paying for the contest.
3) Dolby, Dolby, Dolby. If you do not have a Dolby cinema processor in your theatre, well, you know where "those" entries will be going... Come on now. Don't you know me by now? Of course I have a strong opinion about the quality of our product at Dolby... I did before I came over to the "dark side" a few years ago. But when it comes to fair, un-biased reporting, boom, that's us. No theatre will get any preference because of their equipment. Dolby does not coose the locations, the studio does, and with the exception of the "automatic five point DTS deduction"... (kidding!) Seriously, if you are playing your show out of focus, you lose, Dolby theatre or not. If the sound drops out, you lose, Dolby theatre or not. If there are "pops" and poorly made change-overs between reels, you lose. If anything detracts from the presentation, you lose, and we don't care if you have the "Double D" all over your theatre... That's just the way it is.
And Phil... wow... good luck.
All the best, Ted
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John Hawkinson
Film God
Posts: 2273
From: Cambridge, MA, USA
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 11-03-2004 04:44 PM
Wow, I'm surprised at the hostility to the idea.
One thing to keep in mind is that Dolby/BVPD/Pixar were probably doing to do their evaluations anyhow, and this is just a bit of publicity. On some level, it's a marketting ploy to encourage other studios to use their evaluation service.
But I think it is also quite good for the industry. It publicizes, in a positive way, that studios care about presentation. Sometimes we, as projectionists and industry insiders, get the feeling that is not the case. Certainly the general public seems to feel that way.
By letting people know that presentation is being monitored, it encourages everyone to work hard to improve the presentation, and that's a good thing, no matter how you slice it.
Sure, in a perfect world every print would be handled in a top notch way. But we definitely don't live in a perfect world, and you have to start somewhere, and having studios start with their headliners seems to only make sense.
Another thought -- I think that the 800-PHONE-THX directive at the end of movies was a good thing, because it encouraged patrons to care about presentation quality and to report problems (because Dolby can't have somebody evaluating every show at every theatre). It also means that you should be able to get some data on presentation quality after the first weekend, without the expensive of deploying evaluators repeatedly. Ted, is there some chance of bringing that back?
When was the last time we heard from LEDJER, anyow?
--jhawk
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