my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Ground Level   » Cell Phone Announcement At Rave (Page 2)

This topic comprises 5 pages: 1  2  3  4  5

Author Topic: Cell Phone Announcement At Rave Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-07-2010 03:04 PM                        I agree, they are addicted. I used to think a jammer would work, but not anymore...it might even make the problem worse, because people would pull their phones out every 5 minutes to see if they missed any texts.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 01-07-2010 05:19 PM                        Yah but if jamming becomes legal, you would just post a warming sign at the door explaining that "cell phones will not function in this theatre. Anyone needing to use their phone needs to excite the theatre." Once it becomes general knowledge like Carl says, people will just give up. It would be fun to watch them twitch with withdrawl symptoms and frustration.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-08-2010 07:50 AM                        The good thing is that jamming or blocking would stop incoming calls and annoying ring tones. Unfortunately, it would probably cause the problem that Mike mentions, where people would constantaly be turning the phones (and their lighted screens) on to see if they have missed any messages. It's probably not a net gain. I hate obnoxious cell phone users (which seems to be the majority of cell-phone owners).  |  IP: Logged Carl Martin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1424 From: Oakland, CA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 01-09-2010 05:44 AM                        ok wait... i don't have a cell phone so please clarify: a jammer will block calls but not block people from checking messages? why is that?  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-09-2010 06:14 AM                        They won't _get_ messages, but that won't stop people from checking to see if they did.  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 01-09-2010 07:32 AM                     There's an important [ethical?] distinction between the people who make phone calls and the ones who use text messages. People who actually make phone calls during a movie are either complete idiots or people with no disregard for their fellow human beings. They are fundamentally rude. But such people are few and far between. Generally speaking, anyone who makes a phone call knows they are doing something wrong. The same cannot be said of text messaging, unfortunately. People who send/receive texts or check the time on their cell phones do not understand that their actions affect other people. And it is very difficult to explain it. Policy trailers that I have seen about texting do not do so effectively. (Sometimes oral announcements try, but I'm not convinced of the efficacy. And when they are effective, I think it may be because of their punitive stance, not their expository lucidity.) Even worse, regular cell-phone users appear to get inured to it. It's become so commonplace to see the bright-light of cell phones in dark rooms that it becomes very difficult to fight, like trying to stop a river overwashing a dam. I recall an article about a press screening in a newspaper recently that casually mentioned the press and studio personnel's use of text messaging during that Hollywood screening (or maybe it was a premiere?). It is a lot harder to stop a behavior that people don't understand is wrong. (And curiously, as I look at this thread, and see how many people misinterpreted my "Wake up!" message, I realize how much more difficult it is. If theatre staff can't identify and agree on the nature of the problem, it should be no surprise that patrons can't do so either. I hope I'm wrong, of course, and that the problem isn't how I envision it...but I'm quite pessimistic on that). --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-09-2010 09:26 AM                        You're right...people don't realize it's the light that's a bother -- they put their phone on vibrate and think they're fine. Maybe instead of the overly polite "please turn off cell phones" clip, a new one stating "Your phone's BRIGHT LIGHT bothers everyone around you! Please keep it TURNED OFF until the movie ends" should be made.  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Althaus Master Film Handler Posts: 435 From: Bedford, TX Registered: Dec 2008 posted 01-09-2010 10:37 AM                     Cinemark used to use an anti-cell phone policy in their preshow not too long ago. As front row joe was walking into the theatre, someone had their phone out and he shielded his eyes from an exaggeratedly bright light. This got replaced by their 25th anniversary ad and I'd like to see it put back in.  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 01-09-2010 10:45 AM                     Did it work?  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Althaus Master Film Handler Posts: 435 From: Bedford, TX Registered: Dec 2008 posted 01-09-2010 11:34 AM                     It seemed to work for us, and we have large teenager crowds, especially on friday nights. Sometimes it helps just to remind that crowd about what they're doing. Maybe I can get someone to put it back in since we shouldn't be running the 25th anniversary ad anymore.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 01-09-2010 11:42 AM                     I guess I just don't feel like giving many cellular phone users the benefit of the doubt. It should be plainly obvious to anyone the bright displays of their phones will be a significant distraction in a movie theater. Might as well turn on a flash light! I think anyone who needs to be told texting in a dark movie theater is distracting and inconsiderate of other viewers is, putting it bluntly, pretty damned stupid. Nevertheless, I agree policy trailers need to be modified to discourage ALL cellular phone use in the auditorium. Not just phone calls. The policy has to ban texting, game playing, checking the time on the phone or anything else that involves allowing the phone's bright display to illuminate. The phone needs to stay in the viewer's pocket or purse during the entire show. As selfishly inconsiderate as cellular phone users can be, what in the world is keeping companies like Nokia, Motorola, Apple, etc. from developing far more stealthy and less disruptive ways for people to use their phones? What about a low light setting? Some phone displays are big and bright enough that it isn't too awful difficult for someone near by to see what you're typing. That sort of mode should have been created a long time ago. It might also be nice if the phone companies would spend a little to educate their customers about socially considerate ways to use their phones. A number of other industries do this, especially if the products they're selling can be dangerous if abused or misused.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-09-2010 12:09 PM                        Bobby touches on an idea that I had thought about for a while: many modern laptops (and even some Zenith television sets from the 1980s) have a photocell that can sense the ambient light in the room and, optionally, use that to control the brightness of the LCD backlight (or CRT, in the case of the Zeniths). The idea is that the picture would be brighter in a bright room and dimmer in a dark room. Why has this not yet been applied to cellular telephones? This would not totally solve the issue in movie theatres, but it would certainly reduce the annoynce factor if the LCD backlight would barely glow instead of lighting up the entire room.  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 01-09-2010 12:14 PM                     One reason is that people actually use cellphones as (poor) flashlights in dark rooms. In addition to people doing this in the regular sort of dark rooms, I have seen people do it in movie theatres to find their seats. I'm really conflicted on that one... My cellphone has a brightness adjustment. Like my laptop (a 2007 model year thinkpad), its minimum brightness is far too bright for a movie theatre. Furthermore, it is so terribly far buried in the UI as to be ridiculous. You've probably all heard the stories about the phones that make a loud noise in acknowledgement when you either silence them or turn them off. It's just as bad for the brightness adjustment, except of course, there is much less market for it than for volume, so it's much harder to get to (not unreasonably so in terms of user interface priorities, I'm afraid). --jhawk --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 01-09-2010 06:21 PM                        What about the technology that they use for stop lights where they want only the people in the cars in the one lane directly in front of the signal to be able to see it when it turns green. People in cars off-angle see it very reduced, almost invisible. Seems like they can design cell phone displays to have that same very severe directionality; it would not only would be helpful in darkend theatres, but would also have a security benefit in that people off to the side of you can't see what you are typing or looking at.  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 01-09-2010 06:49 PM                        All of these discussion about the use of cel phone is another reason I rarely watch a film in a theatre now. The only movies I have made an effort to see in a theatre were 3-D movies such as A CHRISTMAS CAROL and a few others and look forward to seeing AVATAR soon.. I sometimes see foreign films and have noticed how well behaved the people are at these showings. This is probable due to the fact that they are better educated and considerate by not talking during a movie and are punctual and at their seats before the movie starts. The worst behavior I have found among movie patrons are teenagers. The next group of rude people are young parents who bring their little ones to R rated films and hardly do anything when they cry. With the excellent quality of HDTV, Blu-Ray discs and a fantastic sound system, I am very happy watching movies at home. In a few years, I probably be watching 3-D movies at home too. -Claude  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 5 pages: 1  2  3  4  5

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.