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Author Topic: Running a movie with no audience?! John T. Hendrickson, Jr Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 889 From: Freehold, NJ, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 08-21-2007 09:02 PM                     I've been through this situation every which way and finally came to the policy of running them all on time for a number of reasons. First, our 13 screen complex is spread out and is run by one operator. Many operators can't deal with deviations to the schedule. Confusion leads to error. People seem to deal better with a standard routine. Sort of like those people who are trained to sell you with a standard pitch. Interrupt them, and they lose their place and have to start all over again. Second, it takes coordination between booth and management downstairs to pull off late starts and to hold shows. Misunderstandings and miscommunication lead to bigger problems. Three, I'm not a fan of dropping cores after a start, because operators are not always careful, and one slip of the hand can bring on a big headache with film on the floor. (a no-no) Fourthly, we run a tight schedule, and there isn't a lot of time between the time a show stops and our screenvision preshow begins, so if you delay a start toi wait for latecomers to the first show, you screw up your compliance ratings by running into the next pre-show. Five, I have found instances of miscommunication between floor and booth. Floor forgets to call up to say that someone has bought tickets. Looking out the port and seeing what you think is an empty auditorium is not foolproof either, as a patron may have left to get concessions or use the bathroom. Six, striking the lamp and then extinguishing it doesn't prolong your lamp life. (correct me if I'm wrong) In short, just run the damned show. That's what you're in business for. But if you want to pinch pennies and you feel good doing it, be my guest. Been there, done that. Not for our operation.  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 08-21-2007 09:26 PM                        quote: John T. Hendrickson, Jr Six, striking the lamp and then extinguishing it doesn't prolong your lamp life. (correct me if I'm wrong) If that were true you could strike a lamp once and then run it forever. Regardless, in in the grand scheme of things, the ocassional cost of the lamp burning for a couple hours when it doesn't need to is rather insignificant. In multiplexes I've always started the show as normal, and if I noticed that half an hour later I don't see anyone in the auditorium, I (i) check with the box office computer or staff to see if any tickets were sold AND (ii) actually go in the auditorium to check that nobody is in there before proceeding to kill the lamp. In smaller theatres (say 4 or less screens) where odds are you're going to spend a good chunk of time downstairs I'll strike the lamp when needed if I'll be around to see when someone comes in.  |  IP: Logged David Zylstra Master Film Handler Posts: 432 From: Novi, MI, USA Registered: Mar 2007 posted 08-21-2007 10:07 PM                     Some manufacturer techs have claimed that each lamp strike reduces lamp life by 1 hour so technically you could save life by striking the lamp once and leaving it on all day . . . . I don't know how true it is though since lamps still seem to last past warranty . . . . Based on a 6KW lamp I calculate the approx lamp cost per hour to be between $1.60-$2.00 depending on how far you go over warranty, the lamp PS uses about 12KW/H at about $.08/KWH - so turning the lamp off on a 2 hour show saves a maximum of $6.00 ($4.00 of lamp life and $2.00 in electrical) . . . . not much but every little bit helps . . . . . smaller lamp sizes have significantly lower per hour costs (i.e. down to $.14-$.18/hr for a 2KW) We always waited until 20 minutes into the show before turning our lamps off, lights up and sound to non/sync - we always started them ontime to ensure the rest of the schedule would not be pushed late - then we would let the projector and automation run out normally.  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 08-21-2007 11:28 PM                        Regarding latecomers: Our POS system was programmed to sell tickets for the next performance after we got something like 30 minutes into the show. We chose to do this so as to reduce annoyances to people who HAD shown up on time. After that point, selling tickets for the current show was no longer an option for the boxoffice personnel. We sometimes declare our drive-in fields sold out if we get close to it after dark... again, for safety and the enjoyment of customers who made the time to get here early.  |  IP: Logged Wyatt Copeland Film Handler Posts: 74 From: Gettysburg, PA, USA Registered: Aug 2007 posted 08-21-2007 11:38 PM                     quote: Jack Ondracek so as to reduce annoyances to people who HAD shown up on time I praise you! I think a lot of people (in my area) forget that its annoying to have someone seek out their seats, hang up their jackets, rip open their candy, and everything else halfway into the movie! I've watched people sit down in the theatre from the porthole..it takes most people five minutes to sit their arses down after they've found their seats..even when the movie is running. Buuut then again you get people who throw a fit. A big fit. When I worked at our little R/C Majestic theatre in town, we were playing Gods and Generals. We had a tourst show up 45 minutes into the movie because for some dumb reason he thought he could get proper showtimes from yahoo..or he saw..well we've all heard the excuses. Anyway, heres a man in his late fourties-at least, with his mother and its his last chance to see this movie in Gettysburg before he goes back home. Now he was late and we generally did not let people in that late even if the show was running (which it was) This man's retaliation to our policy literally left him jumping up and down, stomping his feet, and whining like my 2 year old son- Insisting he see this movie in Gettysburg... ..we sold him the ticket...  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 08-22-2007 03:09 AM                     quote: Carl Martin but if your platter rollers have keepers then there's really no way to slide the film off them without scuffing it. even pulling the film out of the projector, where the pad rollers pull away from the sprockets, is very risky, imo. it's just too easy to scrape the film against a sprocket tooth. ....(sorry, never had any probs that are mentioned above with these areas with my techniques) Going on the multiplex thingey: like a few years ago when "Armageddon" was playing - we had three prints of the movie. Box people were selling to one house and the house that they should have been selling to was the one that I needed to start. It was sorta odd that the show that I needed to start only had a few patrons in it, but started it on time anywhos. 20 mins later, get a call from the mgr that his boxoffice clowns sold to the wrong house and wonder if I could stop the feature, rewind it and restart it from the beginning after they shooed the patrons into the right house that I started 20 mins before. I told the mgr, "no problem" and did my trick above to keep the patrons happy - and we still had time for cleanup afterwards..  |  IP: Logged Jesse Skeen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1517 From: Sacramento, CA Registered: Aug 2000 posted 08-22-2007 07:45 PM                     I've always wondered- when a show plays to NO customers, does it make the higher-ups stop and think that maybe there's something WRONG with their theater, or do they just blame it on the movie?  |  IP: Logged Ron Curran Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 504 From: Springwood NSW Australia Registered: Feb 2006 posted 08-22-2007 09:09 PM                        Jesse, many of the odd empty sessions are the result of stupid distribution policies. When a distributor insists on 2 day sessions for a kid flick prior to holidays. Or 2 evening sessions after 6.30pm when the pic is 142 minutes long. Or a four week season of a title with 2 weeks life in it.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 08-22-2007 10:55 PM                     Or requiring that a horror/slasher flick play early in the day when , at least in Seattle suburbs, none of the people who watch those are even awake.  |  IP: Logged Michael Tripp Film Handler Posts: 7 From: Amherst, MA, USA Registered: Jul 2007 posted 08-23-2007 12:36 AM                        The only time I've had a personal showing was at an AMC theater and when the film started it was halfway out of frame. I notified them of this and it was fixed, but about 10 minutes into the movie I realized it was still way off because I started seeing boom mics dip into frame all the time (the movie was soft matte scope). A few weeks afterwards the theater closed and I have to say I'm glad because the only other film I saw there had bad projection problems as well, about fifteen minutes in the sound cut out and they restarted the film from the beginning. Are most AMC theaters this bad? There used to be another AMC close by that I went to pretty often and the only time I had a big problem with them was when I saw "That Thing You Do" and 10 minutes before the end of the movie the sound cut out and the house lights came up (a grossly misplaced automation cue I assume), and while that was pretty bad, I had seen dozens of movies there without a problem.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 08-23-2007 12:59 AM                     I'm a bit astonished that anyone would ask such a ridiculous question. Seems to border on a hasty generalization. I work at an AMC (formerly a Loews Cineplex which was formerly a Cineplex Odeon) and I can safely say that no one I work with (even the people who I think are mediocre in booth skills) is bad like that. And I also remember one of the members here (I believe it was Mark) who works as a Tech for some of the former Cineplex's which are now AMC and he said that the ones in his area improved since the merger when AMC took over (though the location I'm at right now is just as good as before since we already had pretty good practices). One bad experience clearly can't tell you about even the average experience in the rest of the chain. Especially one in which the theater in question is run by people who know fully well that their days are numbered. edit: I've had a bad experience at a Regal nearby. But because I am rational, I know that not all (or hopefully even most) Regal cinemas are run by idiots (especially since there's another one a little further away that doesn't suck ass). 2nd edit: Every chain has locations that aren't that good at their presentations. Cinemark, AMC, Regal, Mann, whoever. Finding one of them doesn't tell you anything... other the obvious fact that that location isn't that great.  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 08-23-2007 08:46 AM                    quote: Michael Tripp I started seeing boom mics dip into frame all the time (the movie was soft matte scope). ... Are most AMC theaters this bad? I don't know. I've worked for AMC for 18 years, and I've never had the pleasure of showing a "soft matte scope" film.  |  IP: Logged Thomas Pitt Master Film Handler Posts: 266 From: Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK Registered: May 2007 posted 08-23-2007 01:48 PM                     I don't believe I've ever seen a 'soft matte scope' movie, though I have seen some 'flat' trailers which actually use the full 35mm film area. Unfortunately, the projectionist adjusted the framing while one of these trailers was on - it appeared to fill the screen, so he didn't notice that it was badly out of frame. Of course, when the scope movie started it was painfully obvious Don't get me started on bad film handlers though... I've seen things like the final cue placed at the beginning of the tail, so you see and hear the film begin to tail out before the cue triggers the automation! Not to mention most movies I've seen tend to have focus problems...  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 08-23-2007 03:18 PM                     Lets stay on topic. This thread is about playing movies for no audience and stuff directly related to that. If you want to complain about bad experiences, take it to the "outing bad film handlers/projectionists" thread.  |  IP: Logged John T. Hendrickson, Jr Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 889 From: Freehold, NJ, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 08-23-2007 04:28 PM                     quote: John T. Hendrickson, Jr -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Six, striking the lamp and then extinguishing it doesn't prolong your lamp life. (correct me if I'm wrong) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Daryl C. W. O'Shea wrote: "If that were true you could strike a lamp once and then run it forever." Being facitious Daryl? Sorry I didn't phrase that exactly the way I should have. We were talking about running a bulb within the context of a single show, not forever. (or so I thought) When I run a changeover house with Xenon, I leave both bulbs on during the show, rather than turning them off and on and reducing the life of the bulbs. Thus, one of my reasons for running the show with no one in the house and not turning off the bulb.  |  IP: Logged

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