my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » Alamo Drafthouse Denver did it again - wrong AR (Page 2)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Author Topic: Alamo Drafthouse Denver did it again - wrong AR Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 10-11-2018 07:02 PM                        Well, there's a bit of information that I was never aware of. I suspect my setup would still distort the image since there's an auxiliary lens that drives itself in front of the main lens when I play a scope picture, though.  |  IP: Logged William Kucharski Expert Film Handler Posts: 244 From: Louisville, Colorado, United States of America Registered: Oct 2012 posted 10-11-2018 08:49 PM                     Precisely. You don’t see the optical distortion you did on film as there is no anamorphic squeeze - DCP pixels are always square. Showing a flat film in scope on a digital projector cuts off the top and bottom of the frame and in this case displayed that aligned to the bottom of the screen area. Put another way, scope format films are always letterboxed within the DCP frame and flat films are always slightly pillarboxed. Alternate ratios like 2.20:1 are usually windowboxed within a flat container and instructions are provided to have projectionists manually zoom it (many, unfortunately, don’t or don’t know how.) The masking at Alamo is top and sides only, the bottom is always the bottom; projectors have adjustments for where in the frame the scope image is displayed. When they showed TGTBaTU as flat, the projector or projectionist actually zoomed the scope frame to fill the full flat format screen and cut off the sides, like “zoom” mode on a digital TV.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-11-2018 11:03 PM                        quote: Frank Cox I suspect my setup would still distort the image since there's an auxiliary lens that drives itself in front of the main lens when I play a scope picture, though. That'd be easy to test out... put a scope film on but run it at your flat setting and see if it gives you the distorted image, just for fun. Ours is a zoom lens so we use the same lens for everything. Since 95% of the movies we play are in scope anymore, I only load up the scope trailers these days. In the rare case that we run a flat feature, I use the scope trailers but still run them at the flat setting....that way the picture is bigger for the feature.  |  IP: Logged Terry Monohan Master Film Handler Posts: 379 From: San Francisco CA USA Registered: May 2014 posted 10-12-2018 09:55 AM                     I have sent a copy of this page to my friend the owner of Drafthouse Cinemas Tim League and his tech guy Mark. They got back to me and are in contact about the projection problem. I find Drafthouse as one of the best circuits today who care about screen presentation. When the New Mission Theatre in SF opened a few years ago I told them about the auto curtain cues and color lights inside the fixed up old theatre. Many times I have been to a new theatre and the auto masking system is not set up correct for the first showing of the day or they have switched a movie auditorium that was set up for a film in flat 1.85 and now they are playing scope and the black masking was set for flat. I hope the Drafthouse owners can fix this small problem. Now this last week when I went to the AMC Metreon SF in space #12 they are not dropping down the masking for scope. AMC in SF has always been great with auto masking but when they go in and put a large square screen in they don't have masking these days I guess.  |  IP: Logged William Kucharski Expert Film Handler Posts: 244 From: Louisville, Colorado, United States of America Registered: Oct 2012 posted 10-12-2018 10:34 AM                     I seem to remember that AMC decided about a year ago on a corporate basis they were no longer going to move masking - saves on wear and tear and maintenance. Then as they retrofit for Dolby Cinema/AMC Premium they are no longer installing movable masking at all, giving you the “letterbox experience” when watching scope films. As has been noted here several times, ironic as that is the exact opposite of what scope was originally intended to convey. Thankfully there are still a few Regal theaters near me that have a scope sized screen for which they bring in side masking when they play flat films. quote: Terry Monohan I have sent a copy of this page to my friend the owner of Drafthouse Cinemas Tim League and his tech guy Mark. They got back to me and are in contact about the projection problem. Terry, thanks for reaching out to Alamo. They can usually be counted on for high quality presentation, which is why it’s bothersome when they get it wrong (especially as many of their presentations are one time events so you can’t just return to see it presented properly.) More troublesome is how often the ticket desk is unstaffed. You are then stuck missing the film hoping someone eventually comes out from in back and when they do, your concerns are addressed with the same urgency as they are at an AMC. If it’s a staffing issue they at least need to install a buzzer or bell so you can summon an employee to the desk.  |  IP: Logged Carsten Kurz Film God Posts: 4340 From: Cologne, NRW, Germany Registered: Aug 2009 posted 10-12-2018 08:04 PM                     I think we never played a movie in the wrong format as long as I can think back. Some systems make it easier than others (and with systems, I mean equipment, GUIs, and your own preference/style of building shows/using blocks/macros. The only issue I remember is that we once started to play a movie in french instead of the dubbed german version, which was corrected within the first minute (stop playlist, load correct cpl directly, hit play). That said, I guess few people would actually notice a scope/flat mistake - with digital, and properly set up formats, there is digital masking, so you don't see any image projected over the masking. Our audience sees letterboxed scope trailers during preshow, so would probably be used to it and not overly irritated. With some movies, it would certainly be more obvious than with others. If the staff on site is not able to correct it on their own, they should at least be able to call someone. If it would happen on our site, I would receive a phone call immediately, and would correct the problem, if obvious, within a few seconds from my smartphone/teamviewer. I have never seen a DCP/CPL with the wrong format indicated. Shit happens, but I would feel seriously embarrassed as a manager on duty, but incapable of correcting a presentation issue. - Carsten  |  IP: Logged Mark Louis Film Handler Posts: 21 From: Austin, TX USA Registered: Oct 2018 posted 10-16-2018 03:42 PM                     Hi everyone. Sorry I didn't reply sooner as I had to re-register for some reason. It's been a long long time since I've posted anything on Film-Tech so like the old projectionist that I am, I may have faded away. Getting back to the original complaint about Alamo Littleton, CO, I've discovered that there was a cue malfunction followed by manager error. Management claims that they issued passes and Food vouchers, but I'm still attempting to confirm this and to who. Here at Alamo, we take presentation very seriously and I personally investigate all complaints that I'm made aware of. In addition, we have true projectionists at every venue who are not only trained but must be re-certified every year to ensure they are fully capable of operating and maintaining their equipment. Unfortunately, projectionists are present for most but not all shifts and our training and certification program for managers has not been fully implemented. I will double my efforts to implement more fully this much needed program and in the meantime, search for ways to make a projectionist available, on call, so that in these situations a manager can verify correct procedure. For me, it all comes down to the importance of Showmanship which I stress to projectionists, and all levels of management on a regular basis. If you're curious about what showmanship means to me, feel free to read this recent article where I explain further. http://www.digitalcinemareport.com/article/devotion-showmanship#.W8ZFwHtKhEY Thanks Terry for bringing this to my attention and to everyone who provided input on this thread. Anyone that would like to contact me directly with questions or comments, please do so at mark.louis@drafthouse.com or find me at Show East.  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

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.