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Topic: Projection Staffing Levels

Mike Frese
Master Film Handler

Posts: 465
From: Holts Summit, MO
Registered: Jun 2007

posted 07-25-2010 09:42 PM

How many theaters have no booth?

http://www.bbtheatres.com/wildwood.asp

excerpt: "This will also be the first theatre in the State of Missouri and one of the first in the world to be built without a projection booth (digital projection allows for this new building design)"

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 07-25-2010 10:00 PM

The Hollywood 14 in Centennial Colorado has no booth. Each auditorium has a room behind it and up some stairs with a digital projector. I don't know if they have any kind of central data management area, probably not. I got lots of pictures of this theater but I don't think I've submitted them anywhere yet.

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John Wilson
Film God

Posts: 5438
From: Sydney, Australia.
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 07-25-2010 11:07 PM

No time like the present then. They'd be interesting to see.

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 07-25-2010 11:37 PM

quote: Mike Frese
This will also be the first theatre in the State of Missouri and one of the first in the world to be built without a projection booth (digital projection allows for this new building design

True with the units about the same length as a regular console, but not needing any form of film transport device, the term "booth" would be eliminated since the DCP units could be installed into a standard 8 ft hallway.

Yet, why was this placed in this description since "who cares" on what is done upstairs as long as the presentation on the screen is right, proper and correct?

-Monte

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 07-26-2010 01:11 AM

Sorry to B&B, but I have to agree nobody cares if you have a booth or not. Also a theater with all-digital projection won't have DTS sound and presenting a movie digitally has nothing to do with "digital filmmaking".

It sounds like the marketing person doesn't quite understand the technology here.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 07-26-2010 02:41 AM

quote: John Wilson
No time like the present then. They'd be interesting to see.

OK John I just submitted them. Unfortunately it will be about 7 months before the page is built and I am able to caption them and maybe a couple of weeks after that before it goes live, so check back then. You think I'm joking, but I'm not.

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Jack Ondracek
Film God

Posts: 2348
From: Port Orchard, WA, USA
Registered: Oct 2002

posted 07-26-2010 03:31 AM

quote: Joe Redifer
With the CA-21 automation we ran a 16-plex with film that had projectors start on their own.

Bah. I've been able to do that for years, and with software that wasn't even designed for theatres.

I can start by clock time, but being a drive-in, that doesn't work too well. I have a couple of photo sensors that can tell the system it's dark enough to start, but I rarely use them, if ever.

Personally, I prefer to push the one button that fires off the start sequence here, then stand in the middle of the booth while everything starts rolling. Focus, sound, platters working properly, nothing making any unusual noises... good. Now, I can go downstairs and do the important stuff (making cheeseburgers) while "otto" watches the booth.

Hard to imagine taking all that stuff for granted, given you can piss a lot of people off with just a couple of minutes worth of minor problems... maybe that's just old school... or an on-site owner's mentality.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 07-26-2010 03:32 AM

Do you have a 16-plex drive-in?

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David Zylstra
Master Film Handler

Posts: 432
From: Novi, MI, USA
Registered: Mar 2007

posted 07-26-2010 09:07 AM

quote: Mike Frese
How many theaters have no booth?

I forget the chain name, but I met an exhibitor last year who has been buiding no booth for almost 2 years now.

quote: Louis Bornwasser
told by NATO/cbg that the equipment never fails and does not require people to work

Almost true, on the surface . . . . . problem with not having a booth staff is ther will be a catastrophe when something DOES fail because no one paid attention to the system - there still needs to be someone on staff with enough knowledge and experience to notice issues and be pro-active in getting them fixed (as opposed to reactive to customer complaints or failures). Personally I think if exhibitors jump to staffless booths too quickly we will have the same number of marginal to poor presentations that we have now with some 35mm houses (i.e. if an exhibitor has poor 35mm presentations now due to being cheap on maintenance, they will eventually have poor digital presentations as well)

quote: Jeremy Weigel
Is there any POS software available that can interface with any current servers to automatically input show schedules?

We use the Cinedigm Windows based TMS at our newest location - it can pull schedules from various POS systems and once features are mapped it will schedule content transfers too. I have not investigated any others yet so I don't know if there are more out there. Most POS systems can be polled so the scheduling import would be a function of a TMS server.

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Louis Bornwasser
Film God

Posts: 4441
From: prospect ky usa
Registered: Mar 2005

posted 07-26-2010 10:05 AM

The race to the bottom accelerates! Louis

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Frank Angel
Film God

Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 07-26-2010 05:39 PM

quote: Martin McCaffery
Wow, I can imagine the MPAA going ballistic over that It would pretty much defeat all of the "security" measures built into DCI.

Martin, and don't you think that thought was running thru my mind as I typed the words! But also the thought, " [fu]

em," came right after it. I mean, ditial is all watermarked up the wazoo -- at least according to MPAA yes? So if the exhib knows the only reason the system is in place is to verify there's picture and sound on the screen and he's NOT copying anything, then no copy will ever show up so he has nothing to worry about.

Besides, you can easily arrange to have cross hatches superimposed on the image, maybe even with the time, date, screen number an even the name of the theatre so even if someone were to tap into that system, the image would be useless. Besides, there isn't a recorder of any kind anywhere in the system. Nothing is being COPIED or broadcast so in theory there isn't any copyright infringement. But you are right, that wouldn't stop the super paranoid MPAA freaks' heads from exploding.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 08-07-2010 02:43 AM

quote: John Wilson
No time like the present then. They'd be interesting to see.

OK John, it's now on the front page. That was a quick 7 months!

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 08-07-2010 04:03 AM

Most interesting looking complex. yet, they could have done something better with that small house with the exit on the side.

Wonder if they could had made that walkway go low so the patrons would go under the screen instead of making it look like a single house that Carmike ran and then they converted that single house to a twin...

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Jason Metcalfe
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 134
From: Austin, TX, U.S.
Registered: May 2010

posted 08-08-2010 03:41 PM

Our 5-plex in Dallas was built without a booth

the floor staff acts out the movie with flashlights while standing behind the screen and I play various instruments from beneath our stadium seating

needless to say, we had mixed feedback from customers leaving Inception

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Caleb Johnstone-Cowan
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 593
From: London, UK
Registered: Mar 2006

posted 08-30-2010 10:15 PM

I feel in a Multiplex you need someone with technical training on site that isn't the Manager at all times. I can think of two major issues straight away in a staffless booth, the ACOP system failing in an evacuation, and secondary lighting failing in a given area, both with no-one to fix it because the Manager has to deal with something else or doesn't know how to do it. In the latter case you lose a screen and in the former you create potentially dangerous hassle and wasted time in a serious situation. There have been occasions where I would have been screwed without my Projectionist and I don't see that changing when we become all-digital.

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