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Author Topic: Theater Reviews - a work in progress Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 10-29-2009 01:26 AM                     The problem with reviewing movie theaters is that there could be a great theater except for one auditorium being a poor design...and you could end up in that one! Likewise, a theater could run for 5 years without putting the slightest mark on a print, but in that 5 year time period they slash the hell out of one...and that could be the print you see. The reverse is also true, particularly when you rate a theater on opening weekend (like the old TAP program foolishly did). As a result a lackluster theater could be getting good reviews simply because the print had only ran one time and you went to the first show of the day (just after the janitorial crew had been there overnight). Its a nice idea, but difficult to keep it accurate.  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-29-2009 08:25 AM                        Maybe treat theatre reviews like dining reviews: Only review after being at least three times, different screens, different times of day. Or go guerilla: Sneak into all of the houses on the same ticket  |  IP: Logged Geoff Jones Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 579 From: Broomfield, CO, USA Registered: Feb 2006 posted 10-29-2009 09:36 AM                        Reviews should be per screen, not per cinema. One screen might be half the size of the next. Or have mark or stain on it. Or Constant width. Or a clipping speaker.  |  IP: Logged Evans A Criswell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1579 From: Huntsville, AL, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 10-29-2009 01:34 PM                        Brad, one thing I made sure of when doing the reviews is going to each theatre with a certain frequency. That way, I rated presentations in a variety of auditoriums. I'd also be sure to see some movies after the first couple of weeks so I'd see movies in some of the smaller, usually more neglected auditoriums at each location. Any theatre would have occasional problems, but over time, everything would average out. If a theatre were consistently good, but had one horrible presentation, it would be just one sample out of many and would not affect the theatre's computed score much. One reason I took the reviews down was I'd stopped going enough to maintain the proper amount of "sampling" at each location to have a required "confidence interval" for the stats.  |  IP: Logged Scott Jentsch Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1061 From: New Berlin, WI, USA Registered: Apr 2003 posted 10-30-2009 09:33 AM                        The danger in all of this is overthinking it and making it an unsustainable venture. This was the trap I fell into for over three years as I tried to figure out how to make it the best possible feature and avoid all possible pitfalls. The reality is that there is no perfect system that can be sustained without a paid staff of professionals, a la AAA. I'd love to have a team of people walking into theaters on a scheduled basis with clipboards and light/sound meters in hand, but that's not ever going to happen. This is not practical in the current climate of the Internet (and people's basic unwillingness to pay for anything intangible). So that means that the shortcomings have to be embraced the recognized, and the value from the comments has to be taken within the context that the comments are being generated by the masses and without proper sampling and trained evaluation skills. The large samples need to be done as a result of as many people attending a theater and submitting comments as often as possible. The consensus of the masses will tend to diminish the vagaries of the cranks and/or unqualified/inaccurate comments. That's why I'm trying to encourage high quality comments for theaters from people who know what they're talking about. Leading by example is the best way to lead a crowd of unassociated people. A closed membership can be guided more easily, but the general masses tend to ignore someone trying to tell them what to do. I appreciate everyone's input and I've already made changes based on feedback, but the most effective way to make the tool useful is for there to be comments for all to see. I look forward to seeing everyone's comments soon!  |  IP: Logged

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