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This topic comprises 4 pages: 1 2 3 4
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Author
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Topic: film companies have no idea what movie theatres DO
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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"
Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 10-16-2012 10:43 PM
I like to check playback volume before there's a paying audience in the room.
I've gotten a few movies that were identified as flat but were actually scope, or vice-versa. The latest example being the conflict of info on the label versus naming of "Chicken with Plums." I won't know for sure which is correct until I screen it.
I personally like to know where the credits *really* start, and what the last credit or image is on the screen. Theatres with automated lighting would need to know where to position their "credit lights" cue.
Subtitling is a huge issue which, from my experience, warrants advance checking.
For some independent features, I've seen the movie end as much as 20min before the file ends -- what's after the credits? Textless elements.
This hasn't been a problem YET -- but it's also good to know that you've got the correct movie by actually seeing it up there on the screen and not just trusting the name of the file which, as I pointed out above, has had errors in the past. We recently booked "Nightmare on Elm Street" and I didn't know until the day of the show if we had the correct version. Luckily we did have the right version, but we didn't know for sure until the KDM unlocked it and we could test it out. Having a drive a week in advance is frustrating when you can't look at it while there's still enough time to spot trouble and do something about it before opening day. I'm not taking sides with film, but film does allow you to at least hold that print up to the light and see what's on it from the moment you take delivery.
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Randy Stankey
Film God
Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 10-17-2012 02:09 PM
quote: Tony Bandiera Jr
... But it is a good idea to QC any DVD or Blu Ray. Even then I've still had some surprises.
On two separate occasions, I have had movies in disk freeze up even after checking them.
Both times, they were brand new disks, fresh from the case, shrink wrap intact. Both times, I visually checked the surface to be sure there were no visible defects. Without touching the playing surface, holding gently by the edges, I put them into the player and tested them. The both tested perfectly.
I played one public showing and they ran perfectly. After the show, I powered the player down without taking out the disk, never even opening the drawer. I closed and locked the booth door. Nobody could have gone into the booth to tinker.
Upon playing for the second show, the movie ran for about half an hour. The picture jittered a couple of times then the player stopped. After pulling the disk out and checking it, they still looked good. I had to remount the disk, scan through all the unskippable menus, trailers and FBI warnings before I could search through the disk to find the place where the movie left off.
No, it was not a bad player. After the first time, I got another player. This occurred on two different players.
The only possible explanation would be a power line fluctuation but none of the other equipment in that room had problems. There are several computers and other types of video or sound equipment in that room that did not experience a glitch.
Besides, I'd have a hell of a time convincing the administration to spring for a good quality surge protector or a UPS.
The only solution I have come up with is to have two players with two identical copies of the movie playing simultaneously. I start one player about a half minute behind the other so that, if there is a problem, I have time to take to the feed from the second player.
While I claim that no technology is 100% reliable, 100% of the time, I reiterate, the problem with digital is that, when there is a problem, you often have no way to recover until after the problem has put you out of commission.
Setting up two DCP servers and/or two projectors, side by side, in order to protect against unexpected failures, is not a good solution for this problem.
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Edward Havens
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 614
From: Los Angeles, CA
Registered: Mar 2008
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posted 10-18-2012 04:09 AM
quote: Mike Blakesley
No, there IS a problem. She opens movies on Thursday. But one company is giving her keys that don't unlock until Thursday, 12:01 AM. So even if she does her QC testing at 12:02 AM, and discovers a problem, she's going to lose the Thursday night's shows and have to wait until Friday to get a replacement drive.
Let's look at this logically, Mike... Melanie's theatre opens movies two to four weeks after the break. Tonight, she opens Looper. Chances are, the hard drive she ingested from still has Looper on it from the previous theatre, and that previous theatre ingested it successfully.
Now, there is a slight chance that the hard drive with Looper on it went bad from its previous location to the Majestic. But waiting for Technicolor or Deluxe isn't the only option. Sure, they are all at least thirty minutes away, but if her hard drive of Looper is bad, maybe the CEC Theatre in Norfolk still has their hard drive of Looper, even though they're not playing it anymore. Or maybe a theatre in Sioux City is still playing Looper and has their hard drive.
Last Christmas, we opened a movie and received the file through the Thingest. We played it for a month or so. Two or three weeks after the booking ended, the Oscar nominations came out, this film got several major nominations and we got booked with the film again. But for some reason, the file was no longer on the Thingest and the studio wouldn't approve having it uploaded to the Thingest again or to ship out a hard drive. Thankfully, a theatre about a mile from my home still had their hard drive, and Technicolor made arrangements for me to pick it up from there.
It was convenient for me this one time, but I do live 25 miles away from my theatre. When I was managing the now-closed Fox Theatre in Watsonville in the mid-90s, I had to drive to San Jose (46mi each way) at least once every couple months to pick up a print from one of the Century domes or the Town and Country that my theatre didn't open on the break, often after 1AM on a Thursday night/Friday morning. And I did it happily, because it was a part of the job.
There are always other options.
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