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Author Topic: intermission John Koutsoumis Master Film Handler Posts: 261 From: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Registered: Aug 2003 posted 04-10-2006 07:43 PM                     quote: David Kilderry Even the best projectionists I worked with did not consider this poor presentation. David i'm sure you and others put on a fine show back then but I disagree about the slides. But then the show must go on and you need to do what's required of you. During the film festival last year at the Forum Theatre, I loathed turning on the slide projector before each show. But it had to done. Unless they are there for some special reason slides add a cheapo factor to show. Anyway that's my opinion.  |  IP: Logged David Kilderry Master Film Handler Posts: 355 From: Melbourne Australia Registered: Sep 1999 posted 04-14-2006 04:17 AM                        Horses for courses John. When I was projectionist on the Melbourne International Film Festival at the Forum in 1985 and 1986, no slides or advertising of any type were run. Essentially the presentation mode was always directed by the projection supervisors of the day (technical advisor in the case of MIFF, chief Engineer in the case of the major theatre circuits). All of the Greater Union projectionists and assistants that ran it were under very strict presentation instructions, including bringing the theatre to complete darkness, opening the house curtains to half and then hitting the screen. This of course had no flow to it at all compared to the traditional presentation that we generally offered at the Forum. Incidently between those two festivals the Forum in its final year as a commercial cinema had its longest run in its 57 years; Back To The Future. It ran from June 85 - June 86. David  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 04-15-2006 09:11 PM                        I think this idea that sticking in an extra show will garner the exhibitor windfall profits is a myth, especially today with the distributors getting much higher percentages than they did in the days of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, MY FAIR LADY, 2001, etc. Depending on the size of the house and again on the percentage deal he's forced to eat, if he is only getting a small portion of the gate (which would be the case with blockbuster 2hr plus titles like TITANIC, LORD OF THE RINGS or HARRY POTTER) then eliminating just one show which will allow adding multiple intermissions in the other shows may net him a lot more take-home $$$ than he would by just sticking in one extra show. Remember it's the concessions per capita that nets the highest take-home $$$, not the ticket sale. And there is the dilemma that John P. brought up, i.e., sticking in an intermission at some random spot not chosen by the filmmaker is really a disservice to the filmmaker and the audience as well. I'd put that in the same category as showing the film in the wrong aspect ratio. But there seems to be a solution that would throw it back to the filmmaker, and that would be to simply find out where the distributor puts the intermission when the film is shipped to foreign markets, like in India and Pakistan or other countries where they demand intermissions -- shouldn't be to difficult to get a hold of that information. Mike's idea of a section of film with light background and the INTERMISSION title would be a perfect solution. The idea, however, that the best way to have it run smoothly would be to make sure the projectionist is elimated as much as possible from the process....sad indeed. And Derek, in your baliwick of snipes and trailers, do you have a simple Intermission snipe. May times I would have killed to get such a piece of film that I could use when the Intermission title was spliced off the print. I have plenty of various and sundry Intermission snipes that are designed primarily for double features, but to replace an intermission title in a film like CAMELOT or 2001, using any of those would be totally tacky and worse than just closing the curtain and doing an announcement that there will be an intermission. What is really needed is a snipe that I can use for any film that needs one -- a simple font, one word -- INTERMISSION -- white on a black background, preferably with a fade in and fade out. It would be great to have a couple of those for such emergencies. Now if we can figure out a way to Crazy glue the fingers together of anyone who splices off the Intermission tags in prints that have them built in....  |  IP: Logged Ron Curran Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 504 From: Springwood NSW Australia Registered: Feb 2006 posted 04-15-2006 11:32 PM                        Most of us agree that inappropriate intermissions are as bad as 150 minutes without a break. Also, that any intermission should be designed into the film as part of the presentation, just like the good old days, not simply added by anybody. Play out/play in used to be an essential part of the package. This is show business. This probably belongs in the Dumb Things Projectionists Do thread, but here it is. A few decades ago, a print of West Side Story arrived about 10 minutes before it was due on screen. Fortunately, I thought, the print was head out, so we started projector 1 on time (though it is difficult to lace up with your fingers crossed). The show ran according to plan until … midway through a spool, up came an INTERMISSION title. I was lacing up the other machine at the time. Neither projectionist nor ground staff was prepared for this. It was followed by the whole PART ONE ENDS then PART TWO BEGINS fiasco. I had seen the film and there had not been an intermission, so this caught me by surprise. I suppose the distributor had added it after the city run. In the case of this film, it would have broken the magic. Anyway, it taught me that it is better to always check the print and run a bit late than to be embarrassed by what is in the middle.  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 04-17-2006 12:25 AM                     Hiya Ron Was that the 88 re-issue of 'West Side Story' in Mag/opt? It was a great print (until some twit scratched it). If only we'd had FilmGuard back then... If so, it came with the intermission printed in. Are you at Mt. Vic Flicks or Springwood Cinema? John  |  IP: Logged Ron Curran Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 504 From: Springwood NSW Australia Registered: Feb 2006 posted 04-17-2006 12:39 AM                        Cheers John, I'm pretty sure it was our first run, before we installed mag. Back in the 60s and 70s, I think every print we received had some scratches on them. But how do you get scratches on a mag print? That reminds me, the first Aussie films from Colorfilm were Permafilm treated - you had to try really hard to scratch them.  |  IP: Logged John Koutsoumis Master Film Handler Posts: 261 From: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Registered: Aug 2003 posted 04-18-2006 07:34 AM                     quote: David Kilderry When I was projectionist on the Melbourne International Film Festival at the Forum in 1985 and 1986, no slides or advertising of any type were run. I can't recall the year or venue but I learned some time back that when the festival first ran a film advertisement it was practically booed and hissed off the screen by the capacity audience!! My, how times have changed... Nonetheless at least the Forum is once again used by MIFF (in my opinion it's their best venue) and although it hasn't been given the attention of the Regent it's held up ok. It's a very special Theatre and technically wise it's up there with the best.  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 04-18-2006 08:48 PM                     Whoa, Frank, you don't have an intermission snipe? We have a few custom ones with our logo from Filmack, just like our "Previews of Coming Attractions," "Our Feature Presentation," and "Our Short Subject." I thought "everybody" had one! --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 04-20-2006 09:09 AM                        No no, John....I've got a whole rack of snipes with every thing from "Starts Friday" to "Plus Added Short Subjects" and of course "Intermission." But ALL of my "Intermissions" have either Filmack or NSS or some other company's backgrounds on them. Some are even animated. As I said, most of these are only appropriate for Intermissions between features in a double bill, most are NOT appropriate for sticking into prints that are supposed to have an intermission but some ahole has spliced it off. What I need is a snipe that is plain and simple. White letters on a black background -- a fade in and fade out -- with a black track. Yah, that's the other thing; most of mine have stock music on the track. These really shouldn't be used within a feature, ESPECIALLY a musical.  |  IP: Logged

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