Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Public Perception of Digital

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

»	Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE » Operations » Ground Level » Public Perception of Digital (Page 2)

This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3

Author

Topic: Public Perception of Digital

Martin McCaffery
Film God

Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99

posted 05-21-2010 10:10 PM

quote: Sam Graham
They probably still have their LP's.

I've got mine!

| IP: Logged

Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 05-21-2010 11:40 PM

I still have all my LPs too. (Not in a beautiful cabinet like that, unfortunately.) It's so dumb....I've replaced all my favorites with CDs, but for some reason I just can't bring myself to dump the records. They're like my old friends or something.

| IP: Logged

Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 05-22-2010 12:18 AM

(..and not to drift off-topic into the vinyl world, but to add..)

I've got about the same quanity, but mainly classical, and a good linear turntable (sorry, not a Bang and Olefsen) and agree with Mike-they're like a part of the family.

| IP: Logged

Claude S. Ayakawa
Film God

Posts: 2738
From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA
Registered: Aug 2002

posted 05-22-2010 12:45 AM

Part of my extensive LP library consists of all of the music Ludwig Van Beethoven wrote on the Deutsche Grammophon label as well as a collection of almost fifty complete operas. I also have tons of other classical music as well as a extensive collection of movie soundtracks. All of my LPS have been handled very carefully and most of them had been played only once. Many others have never been played at all. I have a Thorns turntable and a Shure SME arm but need a new cartridge. Hopefully one day, I will buy a cartridge and enjoy listening to my records again. Perhaps very soon during my old age. [Smile]

-Claude

| IP: Logged

Martin McCaffery
Film God

Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99

posted 05-22-2010 07:38 AM

quote: Mike Blakesley
I still have all my LPs too. (Not in a beautiful cabinet like that, unfortunately.)

That beautiful cabinet was built by one of my projectionists. It's the best built piece of furniture I own!

Meanwhile, back on topic, and idiot story in today's NYT
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/cinematic-change-and-the-end-of-film/?hpw

quote:
Exhibitors are also showing you movies digitally, though they might not tell you you’re paying $12.50 to watch a Blu-ray disc. Film Forum in New York, which shows a fair number of digital movies, does tell you what you’re watching.

Does this reporter actually think multiplexes are showing BluRays, or is it just bad writing when he meant to say places like Film Forum, which shows lots of indie stuff that is not Hollywood product, sometimes shows BulRays or, more likely, DVD's?

And we wonder why the public is confused. The so-called pros don't have a clue.

| IP: Logged

Chad Souder
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 962
From: Waterloo, IA, USA
Registered: Feb 2000

posted 05-22-2010 01:19 PM

The public has thought theatres showed DVD's for years. We've all had customers ask if we can rewind the show, then act surprised when you explain why we cannot. It's because the technology has been available in their home for so long, the assumption is that an equal or better technology is available at a commercial business. The idea that it's actually a much older technology doesn't compute.

| IP: Logged

Jack Ondracek
Film God

Posts: 2348
From: Port Orchard, WA, USA
Registered: Oct 2002

posted 05-22-2010 02:05 PM

I think it's just a matter of what you grew up with.

When educational films in schools were shown on film, everyone was familiar with the A-V cart & the pull-down screen. It was easy to relate to them what was going on in the theatre booth... "just like that A-V cart in school... but bigger".

Now, with the carts gone and a DVD player and video screen in every classroom, that's what people think must be going on upstairs. I can't imagine how anyone would think that we get a DVD onto an 86 foot screen and make it look as good as it does, but they do... and it doesn't really occur to them how it's done.

How many people do you think know what a filmstrip projector is/was? Remember the ones that were synched to a record or cassette, with beep tones to advance (usually manually) the frames?

Good times! [Big Grin]

Just think how good those filmstrips would have looked if we'd had Filmguard back then!!

| IP: Logged

Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 05-22-2010 02:41 PM

..I grew up with people thinking it was videotape or sorts that we're projecting movies from...or, sometimes 8mm film...

| IP: Logged

Justin Hamaker
Film God

Posts: 2253
From: Lakeport, CA USA
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 05-22-2010 03:18 PM

quote:
Exhibitors are also showing you movies digitally, though they might not tell you you’re paying $12.50 to watch a Blu-ray disc. Film Forum in New York, which shows a fair number of digital movies, does tell you what you’re watching.

This implies the delivery method is somehow important to justify the price. Never mind the large screen, the surround sound, the heating or air conditioning, the theatre seats, or the fact that you're not sitting at home. And even if it's a Blu-Ray projection, the picture quality will not be noticeably different to most viewers.

| IP: Logged

Mitchell Dvoskin
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1869
From: West Milford, NJ, USA
Registered: Jan 2001

posted 05-23-2010 04:24 PM

> This implies the delivery method is somehow important to justify the price.

While delivery method is irrelevant to the price, it does give the viewer information about the quality of the image they are paying to see, and that is relevant. I certainly would not pay money to see a Bluray movie in a theatre, in fact I would feel ripped off if I was not told before purchasing my ticket.

| IP: Logged

Frank Angel
Film God

Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 05-24-2010 12:07 PM

quote:
Exhibitors are also showing you movies digitally, though they might not tell you you’re paying $12.50 to watch a Blu-ray disc. Film Forum in New York, which shows a fair number of digital movies, does tell you what you’re watching.

Yeah, well that reporter needs to brush up on the new "upticks" that the industry seems to be broadly embracing. Seems like the days of the $12.50 movie ticket are quickly becoming similar to those often heard reveries "....I remember when it used to cost $4.50 for a movie ticket."

Try fathoming the just announced new ticket price for Disney's TOY STORY n in IMAX, which will set you back a nice round number -- $20. Funny thing, the MPAA just the other day, when announcing that the ticket prices this year are up 3%, still followed it with that old line they liked to always throw out (I mean other than "piracy is a cancer in the belly of the industry") that "movies are still a bargain."

Hmmm, if they had a smart PR person, they might be advised to refrain from using that line in the same sentence when they are also announcing a ticket price increase to 20 bucks a pop for a cartoon retread.

| IP: Logged

Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 05-24-2010 03:22 PM

The price of a movie ticket alone may be a bargain compared to the cost of seeing a top name band perform live in an arena, seeing a live Broadway play, eating at a high quality fine dining restaurant or watching an NFL game in the stadium. Those other forms of entertainment are a costly, rare treat for the vast majority of Americans. For instance, on a good year I might see 1 or 2 headline quality rock concerts.

People are accustomed to visiting movie theaters more often than concert/sports arenas or live stage theaters. Movie watching is a more casual form of pre-recorded, non-live entertainment. So I don't think it's appropriate to compare movie-going to live entertainment and the prices of live entertainment.

The rising prices of tickets and concession items as well as the price gouging going on with fake IMAX, digital 3D or "XD" stuff like Cinemark is selling is raising the risk of a public backlash. Factor in the negative aspects of today's movie-going experience, foremost the unruly members of the audience who constantly disrupt the show, and a lot of the intended value built into the price of that movie going experience evaporates very quickly. If presentation quality is lacking then the deal seems like even more of a rip off.

Home video pricing and the cost of seeing a movie in a theater draw frequent comparisons. The comparisons aren't so flattering when all those premium surcharges are added to the equation. With fake IMAX or digital 3D added the evening ticket prices per person at some big city movie theaters are nearly equal to the price of buying a copy of the same movie newly released on DVD. Add in popcorn and soft drink and the cost for one person gets close to the Blu-ray purchase price. Ticket prices aren't quite as high here in Lawton, but they're not exactly cheap ($9 evening price, $3 surcharge for digital 3D). Even here it doesn't take too much activity at the snack counter to tally up a bill higher than the cost of a DVD. Compound those costs out for a couple on a date or a family of four and the movie-going experience can get pretty expensive.

I think movie theaters have been getting a pass up to this point because it seems like the public may not be quite so aware about the total cost of a movie theater visit. But I have heard at least a few negative comments about a bag of popcorn hitting the $7 mark.

| IP: Logged

Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 05-24-2010 04:25 PM

Go to a minor league baseball game...most all of the tickets are under $10...it is live entertainment and generally lasts 3 hours. Kids can run around and not be too disruptive. The concession prices can still be obscene but overall...a much better value than going to a movie theatre. Then again, with rare exception, you are not going to get the same emotional stimulation at a baseball game as at the movie theatre and you are not as weather dependent.

Steve

| IP: Logged

Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 05-24-2010 06:54 PM

quote: Steve Guttag
you are not going to get the same emotional stimulation at a baseball game

If you're not a baseball fan you're not going to get ANY emotional stimulation. And, even if you are a fan, and your team loses, you might just get pissed off. Not so much of a bargain then.

| IP: Logged

Dustin Mitchell
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1865
From: Mondovi, WI, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 05-24-2010 11:51 PM

I'm with Bobby, I've always been annoyed by the concert/sporting event comparrision too for the same reaons.

Oh, and our local baseball team charges $5 for tickets, $30 for the fan deck with all the beer and food you can drink/eat (limited seating of course) and the concessions are about half of what we charge.

| IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3

Printer-friendly view of this topic

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.