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Author Topic: Uptown Theater ditches quality projectionists in search of a crappy presentation Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 07-17-2005 05:08 PM                     ...and is interesting as well. If one, or a group of patrons go see EP-III at one performance, see a trashed print, then go back for a second viewing and see a smooth presentation, then per chance to go back for a third visit and see a trashed print again, they're going to wonder what's going on. Kinda not being fair to their customers, I see it. Kinda evident that LCE finally got "caught with their pants down" in this practice - knowing that their management people (and the company itself) have problems and had to realize to the fact that the operators know what they're doing all along. Right there, LCE just slapped and embarrased their management personnel to the bowels of lower extremities with this double print practice. I hope that those management people realize this and go find other companies to work for, or find a new career..if they have any pride. -Monte  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-17-2005 10:41 PM                     To clarify things a bit...the "manager's print" also no longer runs in Dolby Digital so you get analog sound when running that one. The "supervisor" has been told to cease running it in digital since it is not stable. The "projectionists' print" runs in digital. I hear the projectionist's print now has picked up a scractch between when the projectionist last ran it on Sunday and when he returned to run it on Friday. Nobody admits to anything. I have not seen either print so I can not comment on their condition, first hand. I can say that none of the projectionists that ran the booth (myself, Jose and Andy) now work there. The bar we set was pretty high...easily better than any other print I've seen on comparable runs. It does not suprise me that while the projectionist's print is better than the "manager's", is not of the same level as we ran it on 2-projectors.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 07-18-2005 05:43 AM                     quote: Steve Guttag I can say that none of the projectionists that ran the booth (myself, Jose and Andy) now work there. quote: Steve Guttag It does not suprise me that while the projectionist's print is better than the "manager's", is not of the same level as we ran it on 2-projectors. Hey ya dork! It's the operators, not your precious reels. Had the same staff stayed operating that booth with a platter, the results would have been just as good.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-18-2005 06:56 AM                     Sorry Brad, I don't agree. Its both.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-18-2005 01:10 PM                        Wouldn't it have been cheaper just to employ competent operators at all times, instead of having to pay for a second print (I truly hope that they are being charged for every damaged reel that leaves that theatre) for every engagement? It sounds like this was a bad deal for everyone involved: Loews in general, the customers, the projectionists, and the managers. How can the lousy $12/hour savings possibly cover the cost of multiple damaged prints, damaged equipment, and lost customers due to this policy? Are ticket prices lower on Monday and Tuesday nights to partially compensate customers for an inferior experience?  |  IP: Logged Bill Gabel Film God Posts: 3873 From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 07-18-2005 01:24 PM                     The Uptown Theatre is not the first or the last that Loews has done this too. Loews/Cineplex started cutting back on many of their single screen and plexes in the Los Angeles market over the last ten years. In select major markets theatres would get what was called "Back-up" prints on major releases. So if the print got damaged or their was a bad reel, it could be replaced fast. Or if the operator damaged the print they could replace the damaged film with a new print without them noticing that there was a problem. I've seen other operators try it. Because no one at that time checked the back-up prints, it just went back to the exchange. The biggest replacement that came out of a Cineplex Theatre in Los Angeles happened during the first weekend of the movie "Adventures in Babysitting" in 70MM at the Universal Citywalk plex. The operator scratched the entire print and was later fired from the company, but later given the 2nd man position at GCC's Fallbrook 7 plex. Well here in New York City, we have Clearview's Ziegfeld Theatre as the event movie location. (Last year Loews closed the Astor Plaza Theatre (1100 seats) The Ziegfeld is a large single screen house. I went to see "War of the Worlds" there on Saturday, their Show Print was scratched after about 3 weeks of use. [ 07-18-2005, 04:40 PM: Message edited by: Bill Gabel ]  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 07-18-2005 01:59 PM                     quote: Steve Guttag Its both. I agree with this as well. Film likes to go in a straight line path feeding from the upper reel to lower reel than being laying on its side, running through rollers, bending and twisting in all directions and finally being rested on its side when completed. Lotsa film footage being exposed there between platter an machine. -Monte  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 07-18-2005 02:07 PM                     Gee Steve, it's ashamed you guys aren't good enough at your job to run a film flawlessly on a platter for hundreds of shows and instead you HAVE to have reels to do it. I guess you and the other two ex-Uptown projectionists need some training. (Monte - you should see what the film has to go through at the lab. It makes the platter pale in comparison.)  |  IP: Logged Jeremy Fuentes Mmmm, Dr. Pepper! Posts: 1168 From: Corpus Christi, TX United States Registered: Jan 2004 posted 07-18-2005 02:16 PM                     A manager and projectionist print? Sounds like an innerstellar war where the only victims are the people that are providing the salaries...the customers. Why the competition? It sounds like a competition to me, or a you do it your way, we'll do it ours and see who causes the most damage, type of situation.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 07-18-2005 02:33 PM                     Whoops - our "old style of operations" slips are showing again.(lol) - it's just because that old stuff is how it all began and we're just a little proud that some of us were a part of that era. I agree, Brad. If one really knows how to do platter, one can run a print for months without any wear on the film. And true also: lab runs with making prints is more extensive in film paths than any platter operation. Besides, when digital really grabs a hold on this market, some of us will be sitting on the sand of an exotic beach, sipping drinks with the little umbrellas in the glass enjoying the sunset of our years-forgetting all about this. -thx Monte  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 07-18-2005 03:49 PM                        Monte: more likely we'll be remembering the industry before "the financial suits" destroyed it. In the late '70s and early 80's I teched many a world premiere in the Uptown. (before the CP-200) It was quite a place....but even then they had a wierd idea that special shows were not open to the public and that the non-union people would project. At that time, I had the authority to "correct this." My premiere always had the regular guy doing the honors. (Superman 1 & 2, Apocalypse Now, etc) 1000 seats at $1000 each equals $1M...it was not worth "the experiment." charity event. Louis  |  IP: Logged George Roher Master Film Handler Posts: 266 From: Washington DC Registered: Jul 99 posted 07-18-2005 04:21 PM                     Jeremy, The way I understand it, there is no competition or battle between the managers and the projectionists. The managers simply realize that they are unable to do the job that's been dumped on them and they wanted to have a print that they didn't touch so the likelihood of customer complaints during the busier screenings would be reduced. People swarm to the Uptown for all the "event" films and it's not unusual to have a thousand people lined up at the box office. One projectionist told me that when the managers first started running the booth there was one instance where a throng of angry customers were pounding on the booth door and the manager in the booth was panicking. The majority of the people Loews gets to fill these man-op positions are people who don't possess the skill set or mindset to be even a mediocre operator. Anyone who can't learn the bare minimum of threading within a week will probably never be any good at it. And it's been months now and the same people are trashing film at the Uptown. I've worked with Loews managers who had run a booth for many years and still trashed film, threaded out of frame, and did things you wouldn't believe. But they stay in the booth forever because no one else is willing to do it. But I think that the managers at the Uptown want to avoid problems and complaints during busier times and are doing what they think is necessary to make the most of a bad situation. When the Uptown expanded the hours for Star Wars, I was asked to go back to work there. But I refused.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-18-2005 06:36 PM                     Sorry Brad...I just haven't seen the platter theatres ever keep up with the reel to reel ones in print quality. They may be out there but I haven't seen them. However, more to the point...the platter theatres just don't attact the better operators...it is one of the many problems the Uptown currently suffers.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 07-18-2005 07:43 PM                     Horseshit  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 07-19-2005 01:12 AM                     ..it's called "the absolute art and skill of projecting" - when using the reel machines. There is that challenge of presenting EACH reel of film in it's most perfect form. 1)The "trimming" of the arcs for best light output. 2)The "whir" of each machine presenting that one reel of film, sitting there checking focus, frame and to make that most perfect changeover when the number setting in the framebox is just right. 3)And actually "living" up there feeling good that those 16 reels of "Ben-Hur" that you ran through those two (or more) machines was the best set of scheduled presentations that you've ran that day and the challenge to make the next assigned shift better at all times. Then, after that day's run is over with, you do your final cleaning, adjustments-both visual, curtain adjustments and audio, and what is needed to be done before the next day's performance. Running reel machines was the "romance" that we projectionists have experienced-being that we used our talents and skills to the max and proved ourselves that we have something that no-one can ever take away from us. Automated booths took that "romance" out of projecting. Granted, now we have the platter system and it's still the challenge to ensure perfect presentation per each showing and to ensure that the xenon bulbs are at their prime for best light output, but that is such a "cold" feeling when one isn't in total control of their showings when all we do is push a button and it goes by itself. - kinda like driving an automatic transmission car against the one with a manual transmission: who's in control of the car - you or the car? We were in control of our showings one hundred percent. This is the "old school" that we know. I can see why that one fellow, who was offered to operate at the Uptown refused that service: the "romance" was gone. -Monte  |  IP: Logged

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