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This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3
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Author
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Topic: What would sell "the experience" of a theatre?
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 04-10-2006 09:50 AM
I think older, small town theaters have to capitalize on the nostalgia angle. That's something very few "google-plex" theaters can emulate with any sense of authenticity.
First, the theater's "store front personality" has to at the very least be decent. Run down appearance and dilapidated signs may make me drive straight to the huge stadium seated multiplex.
Very few theaters invest in a good quality marquee sign these days. Decades ago theater marquee signs were the main trend setters in sign design. Not so these days. Usually whenever I see a well done marquee and vertical "blade" style cantilever sign anymore, it is for a stage-based live theater in a large city center. One doesn't necessarily have to invest in anything as elaborate as the eye-popping theater marquee put together in the film The Majestic. But at least some exposed neon and scintillating chase lights would do well. A good display would be tasteful and architecturally relevant to a bygone period, not gaudy or cartoony like some of the marquees Cinemark used to put on their theaters.
I'd try to have a lot of antique looking decor on the inside and done so with a sort of upscale attitude. The goal is to try to emulate long gone movie palaces of the past. You don't need a 5000 seat auditorium to do that. But copying the same sort of atmosphere is not impossible.
To add to the decor, it might be kind of cool to have some old movie posters on display or even some cleaned, antique film projection equipment.
Aside from all the stuff that would allow viewers to take that "trip down memory lane," actual presentation quality of the movies themselves has to at least be equal, if not better, than what anyone can get from the google-plex down the road. With the sliding presentation standards in so many locations, that will not be hard to do.
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Mike Blakesley
Film God
Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 04-10-2006 02:00 PM
We have most of the "amenities" mentioned here except I don't do the formal attire thing. This being a very small rural town where NOBODY wears a suit except maybe to go to church or the prom, people would feel uncomfortable. My staff wears Roxy logo shirts, and my wife and I wear comfortable "business casual" clothes.
We don't have stage curtains -- I wish we did -- but we do have colored lights that shine up on the screen and fade-out as the picture comes on, so at least people aren't staring at a blank screen.
We don't play ads. I agree with all above, for a small theatre it wouldn't bring in enough money to make it worth pissing people off.
As for the nostalgia angle Bobby mentioned above -- I'm in total agreement there. People tell me all the time they like to come to my theatre because "it feels like an old time theatre." But, the nostalgia can only extend to the GOOD things people remember -- the bad stuff (creaky hard seats, mono sound) has gone away. So they get that nostalgic experience, but in an environment they're comfortable in.
I also agree totally on the exposed neon marquee. It's so important to keep ALL of the tubes working. We budget every year for sign repairs. (Ours has 54 neon tubes, some of which are used to backlight the readerboards.) We don't have chasing lights under it -- again, I wish we did, but the non-chasers are original so I'm reluctant to change them. The outside of our building looks pretty much the same as it did in 1935.
One thing we do to help "sell the experience" is, when we are playing an action movie where impressive sound is a huge feature of the film, I put a block in our newspaper ads reading, 'Hear it the way it's supposed to be heard....on the Roxy's Dolby Digital Sound system!'
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Mitchell Dvoskin
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1869
From: West Milford, NJ, USA
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 04-12-2006 03:07 PM
Of course, there is always Smell-O-Vision
News Story Link
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Movie-Goers Getting Smells to Match Scenes
By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer
Wed Apr 12, 12:30 PM ET
TOKYO - A theater audience in Japan will be sniffing their noses — literally — at a new Hollywood adventure film when it opens here later this month.
A new service from a major telecommunications company, NTT Communications Corp., will synchronize seven different smells to parts of "The New World," starring Colin Farrell.
A floral scent accompanies a love scene, while a mix of peppermint and rosemary is emitted during a tear-jerking scene. Joy is a citrus mix of orange and grapefruit, while anger is enhanced by a herb-like concoction with a hint of eucalyptus and tea tree.
The smells waft from special machines under the seats in the back rows of two movie theaters, which create different fragrances by controlling the mix of oils stored in the machines, company spokeswoman Akiko Suzaki said Wednesday.
In "The New World," which opened in the United States in December, Farrell plays American colonial leader John Smith, who is said to have been saved from execution by North American Indian princess Pocahontas.
Theaters will be able to download from the Internet different scent sequences for other films, Suzaki said.
The company began a similar service for homes in Japan last year. Owners of the $620 home version can download different programs to emit smells to accompany a horoscope reading or work as aromatherapy.
Owners must keep refilling the machine with fragrant liquids. NTT Communications would not disclose how many machines it has sold.
U.S. startups have developed similar technologies before, although at least one company had to shut down during the dot-com bust.
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I can't wait to smell King Kong...
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Will Kutler
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1506
From: Tucson, AZ, USA
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted 04-13-2006 02:04 AM
Mike
Your in left-field regarding classic films!!!!
I was projectionist for a VERY popular classic film series in Tucson partly sponsored by the City of Tucson. And this was 16mm (a couple of B & H w/Marc lamps. Speakers on either side of the screen controlled by amps and mixer. The sound was transmitted from the projector to the sound system via guitar transmitters.
Anyhow, the trick to running classic films is to KNOW THY AUDIENCE! READ THE CROWD and get films that they would like to see. For example, the individual who was in charge of this event was a real piece of work who ordered films that she was interested in seeing and not necessarily what the crowd wanted to see. And she refused to listen to anyoneone about her programming. When she did order films like "WoZ", American Graffitti", "Singing in the Rain"....great classics then the public and families w/kids would show up by the hundreds. But when crap like Woody Allen was shown, then no one came.
And when classics are shown, the audiences did not mind intermissions...in fact they welcomed them. Gave them a chance to stretch, adjust their kids and maybe get something to eat.
Another key to screening classics is to know thy showtimes and show dates! These are usually family events. So, you don't want to be screening a film that will end late on a school night!
Another good idea for a small town that was popular in Tucson's old "Cineworld 4" for many years were kid flics during the summer. One would purchase a cupon book and 1 film would be shown every week during the day. Kept the kids out of trouble and was also a very popular event. And this was when Tucson was still a small town w/next to no entertainment venues (1970s)
Cheers
K
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