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This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
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Author
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Topic: Windowboxing of "Hobbs and Shaw"
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Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 08-09-2019 04:29 PM
I did get a reply from a manager, who believes she was the one I spoke with, and she said that she misunderstood the issue I was trying to communicate to her, and she apologized for the confusion.
While she didn't come out and say that they found the problem and addressed it, she did offer some "sorry passes" to make up for the issue.
I have received a lot of "sorry passes" from this theater in the past couple of years, and it's not my intent to see a movie for free by complaining about minor issues.
Frankly, I'm not as interested in free passes as I am in having movies presented properly. I'm sure they get a lot of comments from a wide range of people (and probably more than a few cranks), I would have liked if either of the two people that I reported the issue to would have shown enough concern to check it out for themselves.
Since the feedback form and the sorry passes seem to be their preferred method of measuring their performance, I'll respond with my address to receive them, but I will add that my primary wish is for them to excel at their presentations so the sorry passes aren't necessary.
When I spend my money and my time, I just want to get something better than what I can do myself. I don't think that's too much to ask, but that gets to the fundamental element of the moviegoing experience that it seems some theaters are willing to ignore.
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Frank Angel
Film God
Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 08-10-2019 04:27 PM
I agree, Carsten, especially given that Scott will make his point intelligently and with emphasis that he is not complaining to get sorry passes but because his interest is that movies be presented properly...good for patrons, good for their business (which is their business).
But then, doesn't that again go to Jesse's point, why should the movie-goer who paid for his ticket, need to school the exhibitor on how to run his business? When exhibition is so close to the brink of being the last choice of where the public chooses to get their movie entertainment, what with all the hassles -- time to get to the cinema, putting up with the idiots around you, putting up with bad presentation -- why should that movie-goer who did make the choice to go to the theatre then have to 1) seek out a manager or ANYONE who might know how to deal with a presentation issue and 2) take the time to write an essay to corporate about the importance of decent presentation and all the things they didn't do right at his screening?
I would venture to say that more and more film releases are being seen on platforms other than in movie theatres, and that trend will continue to grow. Other than the occasional big blockbuster "event" movies, seeing film releases in movie theatres is a dead entertainment platform walking.
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Robert Harris
Film Handler
Posts: 95
From: Bedford Hills, NY, USA
Registered: May 2003
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posted 08-24-2019 04:40 PM
Aeons ago, I went to a screening of Jaws at a local theater.
Film opened out of frame, and I waited a couple of minutes for someone to catch it, and correct. Mind you, this wasn’t a bit of errant frame line, encroaching the image. It was the entire frame line, and part of the adjoining frame,
Finally got an usher, and pointed out the problem. He went to the booth, and returned with the following explanation.
I was told that movies are a long strip of film, literally hundreds of still images, that appear to move by some magic.
And that between each of these images, was a frame line, separating the two.
And that’s what I was seeing.
My reply was simple, and frustrated.
“I know there are framelines between the images. We’re just not supposed to see them.”
I surmised that little Buffy, the candy girl was in the booth that day, hadn’t centered the framing knob, and was stuck.
But the entire audience learned about framelines that day, so I suppose something good came out of it.
I didn’t stay.
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Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 08-25-2019 05:04 AM
Well, I remember a presentation, not so long ago, a digital one, where part of the image dropped off the bottom and part of it ended on the ceiling. The screen was an unmasked affair, close to scope aspect ratio.
The movie was clearly flat, so I guess they inadvertently put a scope macro in there or forgot to reset it from scope to flat after the previous presentation.
A rather minor issue any competent projectionist or trained booth monkey should be able to solve in seconds.
I told the one lost soul left in the lobby, he went with me to the room and he right out claimed to me that this was normal. Some movies had "extra picture" for "extra large screens" and I was seeing that "extra picture".
Most foreign language movies here are subtitled, so was this movie. I asked him if subtitles were also considered "extra picture".
His brain dead argument was that you could still (sort off) read them and that was sufficient...
He also could not adjust anything on the projector, that was all remote controlled. When I asked him if I could get my money back his answer was, it was impossible, because the boss was not in...
I simply never visited that place again.
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Jack Ondracek
Film God
Posts: 2348
From: Port Orchard, WA, USA
Registered: Oct 2002
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posted 08-25-2019 10:45 AM
quote: Mike Blakesley
Didn't some "exhibitors" used to lock the framing knobs to avoid accidental adjustments?
Yes, they did!
I experienced this in a small number of Seattle-area theatres, back in the '70s and '80s.
One reason was because of the constant twisting of the framing knob, used to compensate for lazy threading. More often than not, the framing ended up high or low. Once the knob was taken off, the "operators" learned how to properly thread the projector. I don't think it stayed that way for long, once the point was made.
I also ran into this modification at a couple of theatres with those awesome Ballantyne Pro-35 projectors. Seems frequent adjusting of the framing would wear some threads in there, making the picture jump around more than it usually did anyway.
quote: Scott Jentsch
I have received a lot of "sorry passes"
Yah... and a couple times a year, we'll get someone who'll manufacture some outlandish complaint, specifically looking for those passes, because it doesn't take much to get other managers to dispense them.
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