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Author Topic: Digital Cinema = The death of theaters? Jonathan Smith Expert Film Handler Posts: 201 From: Youngstown, OH Registered: Jan 2010 posted 12-06-2010 11:32 AM                     I love the 35mm ad packs that are clearly designed by someone who thinks it is all done with a mouse-click, including weekly re-orderings and changes with dozens of trailer and ad changes. Then the lack of consistency from theatre chain to theatre chain, company to company as to how to make the lists of trailers and ads in an ad pack. Then the chains that blatantly disregard distributors' programming instructions and expect us to know all of these silly overrides from top to bottom.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-06-2010 12:21 PM                        quote: Jonathan Smith I love the 35mm ad packs that are clearly designed by someone who thinks it is all done with a mouse-click, including weekly re-orderings and changes with dozens of trailer and ad changes. This, in short, is why Landmark will lose a good employee this week.  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Smith Expert Film Handler Posts: 201 From: Youngstown, OH Registered: Jan 2010 posted 12-06-2010 12:24 PM                     Scott, can you go into more detail than that? Did someone quit, get fired? I had the issue of getting paid for less hours than I worked because I went over my six hours a week. There was only one guy in the whole film local that could keep up with the break-neck pace of trailer and ad programming. They even had him going to two theatres in one night because they constantly complained I wasn't fast enough to make up new ad packs and do programming changes.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-10-2010 07:56 AM                        I quit because the volume of ad programming (over six minutes now) was becoming insane, and the person responsible for the ad/trailer schedules is clearly incompetent. The schedule regularly called for trailers and ads that the theatre did not have, and the multiple insertions/deletions/re-orders (in several positions) each week were completely excessive. The logic behind the trailer schedule completely escaped me as well--it is common to have the same trailers listed in a different order on different prints. Multiple attempts (by me and others) to rectify this situation over the past two years (before which, there were no commercials, and trailers were programmed by the individual theatre managers, which worked well) have failed. Job satisfaction was at an all-time low, and I just don't need that level of hassle for a part-time hobby job that paid poorly, but which should have at least been enjoyable and satisfying (and was, before the centralization of trailer/ad programming).  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 12-10-2010 09:25 AM                        Bravo, Scott! They probably think they are being pretty clever with all of the ad and trailer programming. They really don't realize how frustrating it all can be, both for the theater employee and the customer. It was a definite loss for them to lose you.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 12-10-2010 01:29 PM                     Oh do fully agree, but the legacy that one person ususally creates and is left behind is forgotten rather promptly..and things will return to what they were prior before the legacy was created.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 12-10-2010 03:08 PM                     Sadly Scott I know very well what that is like. You get some iIdiot corporate tongue fucker in the position of programming and all logic in their task of programming is out the window. My favorite is when they do things like cluttering every screen with trailers for the new Star Wars movie, or putting the trailer to the latest Tyler Perry movie on every screen at a theater in an all-black community. No offense intended here, but its not as if these crowds were unaware of these movies coming out and wouldn't come to see them if they hadn't seen a trailer in the theater weeks before. Program trailers that cater to same audience as the feature, but ones that the crowd may not know of! Equally stupid is when they are running 4 trailers and have you flip the trailer between the #2 and #3 spot. Then when you ask you learn their philosophy is "people only remember the first and last trailer they see". Well then if that is true why are we bothering flipping #2 and 3...or even running those at all??? Disclaimers: *Every single person I've ran across over the years that was completely incompetent in programming trailers/ads was a hard-core Mac person for some reason. I've no idea why, but it is something I've noticed. Every other computer in the entire chain is a PC, but they force corporate to buy them an all-Mac office along and have that snooty attitude that they are so important they must have Mac equipment to do their job properly. I suppose that makes sense since a PC is incapable of creating a Microsoft Excel trailer spreadsheet. *Tongue fucker - someone who can bullshit through their incompetence so well the owners/higher-ups think he/she is single-handedly saving the company and bringing in more business, when in fact all they are doing is raping the company of a ridiculous salary and doing more harm than good. Some of these idiots pull in over $100k a year, and in essence the only work they actually do (other than tongue fucking meetings with the owners) is to create a weekly trailer report). Whatever buddy. You want the Tron trailer playing in the first and 3rd spot because you don't even bother to check over your own work? You got it!  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-11-2010 10:43 AM                        quote: Brad Miller *Every single person I've ran across over the years that was completely incompetent in programming trailers/ads was a hard-core Mac person for some reason. 1) They have to look like they are doing something 2) Moving stuff around makes it look like they are doing things 3) Mac makes it easier to move stuff around 4) Therefore they do it because they can and Mac makes it easy Bonus point: Macs dominate the indie film world and I'm willing to bet these guys are all film school grads or at least wannabes.. ps: I'm a hardcore Mac person who started with computers using paper tape, then punch cards.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 12-11-2010 03:04 PM                     Macs dominate the indie industry and film schools because there was a long period of time where Final Cut Pro was the ONLY good non-linear editing program (aside from a full blown Avid at prohibitive costs). If you wanted to do video editing, you basically had to buy a Mac or fail. Because of that all of these "artists" flocked to the Mac platform, and now it is a part of their lifestyle. (Seriously, I've had Mac people tell me "it is a way of life".) Nevermind there is excellent software available now for the PC platform, the Mac lifestyle stuck. The Mac thing was just an observation though. Getting back on the subject, you definitely pegged the situation with the first two!  |  IP: Logged Chase Pickett Expert Film Handler Posts: 142 From: Irving, Texas, USA Registered: Nov 2010 posted 12-11-2010 04:59 PM                     This all sounds terrifying. We have our home office create the trailer programming. When movies come out that have trailers on prints in the building we remove and replace with another trailer. That simple. All the market specific trailers are programmed to play on our pre-show ads. Someone was thinking here.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 12-12-2010 08:06 AM                        Any chain who would not fight to find a way to keep someone as dedicated to the highest quality presentatiion values as we know Scott is, deserves whatever crap happens to them. Clearly they haven't a clue what it is that keeps people coming to their theatres and not to their competition or to the homw theatre couch. Sorry to hear your efforts have not enlightened those higher idiots, Scott. I know how hard it is when you can see the forest for the trees while the bosses have their heads up some wild boar's ass. You don't need that kind of aggravation. Best of luck with whatever else you do and wherever else you bring you talent.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 12-12-2010 12:52 PM                     It's higher ups being typical higher ups instead of actually doing real managerial work, which means being involved, knowing what the hell is going on and knowing which employees are "earners" versus people who just punch in and punch out. To the higher ups all employees are alike, just plain vanilla widgets to count and manipulate on a spreadsheet. In short, a typical higher up does whatever regardless of what effect his new idea has on productivity. And then when the new idea actually turns out to be crap the employees in the trenches get the blame for it not working. A real senior manager or executive is going to value his good employees.  |  IP: Logged Brian D. Whitish Expert Film Handler Posts: 103 From: Seattle, WA, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 12-13-2010 01:35 PM                     Mark as a current Landmark employee I am so sorry to see you go! Im not really crazy about the way things are done now. Pete is sorry too. Hope things work out good for you.  |  IP: Logged John T. Hendrickson, Jr Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 889 From: Freehold, NJ, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 12-14-2010 09:10 PM                     Sorry doesn't walk the dog. Sorry doesn't butter the biscuit. Love means never having to say you're sorry.  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 12-14-2010 09:27 PM                     quote: John T. Hendrickson, Jr Love means never having to say you're sorry. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.  |  IP: Logged

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