Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Keeping the Customer Satisfied

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Topic: Keeping the Customer Satisfied

John Walsh
Film God

Posts: 2490
From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 12-08-2001 02:28 AM

Mark;

I agree with you: a month is plenty of time to get things right. Being within 20 minutes of 90 screens certainly gives you a lot of freedom. I don't blame you for being picky... Where I am there are far fewer choices.

But I do feel that watching a DVD at home, and seeing the same film presented properly at a theater, are two different experiences. Not saying one is better; just that people will always want to experience some things together. When VCR's first came out, there were serious predictions that movie theaters would die, because people could now watch films at home. Yet people still come out anyway.

Of course, you're right: the key here is; "properly presented."

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Carl King
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 199
From: Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 12-20-2001 08:43 AM

Hi Mark:

Just a little correction that may help you out. THX is a quality certification issued by George Lucas's organization. There is no such thing as THX sound. A THX certificate is issued after the individual cinema meets specific quality specs that include certain equipment buit also include the auditorium..ie: there can be no sound from HVAC equipment..no bleed throught the walls of sound from other auditoriums etc. Just thought that info might help.

You make a lot of valid points that apply to existing operations as well.

See you at the movies

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Carl King
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 199
From: Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 12-20-2001 08:46 AM

Brad:

Policy regarding radios in the theatre....wear a headset.

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Mark Lensenmayer
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1605
From: Upper Arlington, OH
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 12-20-2001 07:46 PM

Carl, you are correct...I more accurately should have stated THX CERTIFIED. They were showing the picture using Dolby Digital. I am aware that THX is a certification system, not a sound system "product"

BTW, on the theatre's web page, they advertise "ALL DOLBY DIGITAL ALL THX" and also as the only ALL THX THEATRE IN OHIO.

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Brian Hogan
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 119
From: Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Registered: Jul 2001

posted 12-22-2001 05:12 AM

when did i go to check out the arena grand? i guess it was the first week of december. saw heist in a tiny house. the sound was damn good. on-screen picture presentation was ok... nothing special. the staff seemed really detached from the customer, but there were next to no other customers in the lobby. i went on a monday or tuesday for a 10 something show, they are really quite slow on the weekdays.

the arena district is a hip place to visit these days cause its all so new and the theatre will get better with time. its sort of a new idea for this town. its a theatre that plays first-run titles along with one or two art house type films... trying to be all "adult and upscale". for now though, i think i'll stick with the older one and three screen art houses in town for all of my art house needs. then i'll run up to the 24-plex for everything else

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Brad Miller
Administrator

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

posted 12-22-2001 05:42 PM

Carl, your solution is not that simple. To date I have only seen ONE theater anywhere that bought headsets. Remember, that costs money, and that means it won't be purchased.

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Jerry Chase
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1068
From: Margate, FL, USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 12-22-2001 06:09 PM

Brad, three guesses what I bought as walkie talkies when I ran Cobb's Hoover Square back in the 1980s. Headsets are a great idea. Lurkers take note, Radio Shack.

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Mike Spaeth
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1129
From: Marietta, GA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 12-22-2001 09:17 PM

As long as you're shelling out $300 for a Motorola SP-50 radio ... why not add $30 for the earpiece/microphone attachment that plugs right in to the radio?

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Ken Lackner
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1907
From: Atlanta, GA, USA
Registered: Sep 2001

posted 01-05-2002 01:20 AM

When we opened my last theatre, we received 8 Motorola Spirit radios and 2 microphone headsets. (The tiny earpeice with the little pipe for the mic, not the big thing that you wear like a headband.) I was the only one that ever used the headsets. I wish I knew what happened to them. They both disappeared. The theatre I was at before that had one headset.

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Joel Pantoja
Film Handler

Posts: 12
From: Sacramento, CA, USA
Registered: Nov 2001

posted 01-05-2002 05:01 PM

Headset or no headset please just check the theaters! The last two movies I watched had teenagers who insisted on sitting in front of everyone else and either keep going in and out of the theater or, the one that really got to me, was to actually get out her cell phone and make a call. I had to come up behind her and "kindly" remind her that she was not at home. I don't know if it was the big wall that loomed up behind them or the "kind" words I used, but she closed her phone without saying goodbye and apoligized.

I was watching that movie for free so it was the least I could do but when I pay to see a movie I expect the usher to do it.

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Adam Fraser
Master Film Handler

Posts: 499
From: Houghton Lake, MI, USA
Registered: Dec 2001

posted 01-12-2002 02:34 PM

I agree that someone has to check the theatres in the larger multiplexes. It odviously isnt a problem in our one screen operation, only one screen to check for projection problems or loud customers, but when i visit the 5 screen about 45 minutes away there is always a major problem with the presentation (out of frame, wrong lens, out of focus, etc.) and/or there are loud people in the auditorium. I have even offered to go upstairs for them and turn the framing knob, but they said no... LOL The picture continued for 15 more minutes out of frame.

Adam Fraser www.pinestheatre.com

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