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This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3
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Topic: AMC Entertainment CEO Open to Allowing Texting in Some Theaters
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 04-15-2016 07:27 PM
quote: Justin Hamaker
People under the age of about 25 have grown up or come of age in a world of technology. Having constant access to social media and texting is something that has always been part of their world. It shapes how they live and how they consume. There is something to be said about the idea of adapting to our customers, rather than forcing our customers to adapt to us. At least if we want to attract that segment of the population. Plus, trying to force people to put their phones away creates an adversarial relationship with our customers.
There's two problems with that cultural phenomenon.
#1.: A group of people who feel they must be watching 2 or more screens worth of information and/or entertainment at all times, no matter what the occasion may be, are very sorely deficient in understanding the concept of manners and seriously need to learn some lessons about it. Accommodating the bad behavior of these people (enabling them really) is exactly the wrong thing to do. Mobile phones should not be in use at all during a movie, or during a stage play, a wedding, a funeral, church service, a date, an important meeting, etc. Pretty obvious stuff. I think most compulsive mobile phone users already know these rules and just say, "fuck it, I'm using my phone anyway. Let someone try to stop me." Hence the no tolerance policies I think should be in place across the board at all movie theaters.
#2.: "Millennials" are not the only people pulling this mobile phone shit in movie theaters. I've personally seen people of all ages doing it. Lots of young people engage in the disrespectful behavior. But it's not difficult at all to spot members of Generation X, Gen-Y, Baby Boomers and kids less than a few years past potty training playing with their phones during the movies too.
I think there is a much larger problem in the United States that goes well beyond compulsive mobile phone use. Practicing good manners, being a gentlemen and all sorts of other polite, considerate stuff seems like a 19th century concept anymore. It seems to be more and more socially acceptable to be a dick to other people. We see world leaders, celebrities, professional athletes and others in "role model" positions doing this stuff more and more. On the flip side, very few in our public seem to have enough back bone to call any of these assholes on the shit they're pulling. It's no wonder that some confrontations over mobile phone use in theaters have ended in violence or even death.
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Buck Wilson
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 894
From: St. Joseph MO, USA
Registered: Sep 2010
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posted 04-16-2016 02:15 AM
Alamo Drafthouse, famous for their very strict no-texting atmosphere- The CEO/Founder Tim League has released a perfect response to this idea:
https://drafthouse.com/kansas-city/news/tim-league-responds-to-texting-in-the-theater
quote:
First off, I'd like to say that I am very excited for Adam Aron to be taking the helm at AMC. I am a fan of the Starwood Hotel and Resort brand and the customer experience that his former company consistently delivers. Bringing that leadership focus to our industry will undoubtedly yield positive results and drive healthy, innovative competition.
That said, I disagree with his statements on texting in a movie theater. Innovation in this direction could seriously hurt our industry.
My first objection stems from cinema's relationship with directors and producers, the content creators. Auteurs focus for years to complete their films. We as exhibitors rely completely on these creators for our content and have an unwritten obligation to present their films in the best possible way: on a big screen with big sound and a bright picture in a silent, dark room. You can only be immersed in a story if you are focused on it. If while watching a film you are intermittently checking your email, posting on social media, chatting with friends, etc., there is no way you are fully engaged in the story on screen. I find that to be disrespectful to the creators, those who make the very existence of cinema possible.
My second objection stems from the generalization of millennial behavior.
"When you tell a 22-year-old to turn off the phone, don’t ruin the movie, they hear please cut off your left arm above the elbow. You can’t tell a 22-year-old to turn off their cellphone. That’s not how they live their life." - Adam Aron, quoted in Variety.
22-year-olds aren't alone; heavy cell phone use is far more widespread. Today, 68% of U.S. adults have a smartphone, a staggering increase from 35% just five years ago.
I spend a great deal of my life on my phone, too. I check news, social media and email obsessively. If there is the slightest of lulls in my day, a 20 second pause in an elevator, for example, I impulsively break out my phone and check something. I always carry an external battery because I can't make it through the day on the standard power. I am not alone. According to some reports, the average American checks their phone over 100 times a day.
This isn't just a millennial behavior, it is a global attention span epidemic.
Regardless of your age, turning off your phone and focusing on a good movie is much-needed therapy. This time of focus in a darkened room is core to the experience of cinema. Only with this focus can you lose yourself completely in the story and really fall into the magic spell of the movies.
Plenty has already been written about glowing screens and unchecked chatter driving people from the cinema experience, so I won't belabor that point further. And I'm fine with "second screen" experimentation with regards to alternative content, gaming, interactive screenings, etc.
But when it comes to our core business, creating a special environment for our customers to experience new stories for the first time, there is absolutely no place for the distraction of a lit phone screen.
At the Alamo Drafthouse we are actively engaged in trying to make sure cinema remains a compelling destination for young people, and I agree this should be a focus for the whole industry. I just don't believe that this line of experimentation is the right tactic. A firm policy against talking and texting in the cinema is about respect: for the filmmakers and fellow cinephiles of all ages.
Outside of this issue, however, I look forward to being challenged and inspired by what innovations and enhancements Adam Aron brings to the cinema experience.
- Alamo Drafthouse Founder/CEO, Tim League
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Frank Angel
Film God
Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 04-29-2016 01:43 PM
A few years ago I heard rumor that NATO and some restaurant trade org were petitioning the FCC to do what the EU has done, i.e., allow both passive and active blocking of cell signals in theatres and restaurants as long as it is within the confines of the establishment. There is absolutely no reason why mobile signals need to be available every place on the planet all the time. The FCC has always been resistant, and my take is that they simply have capitulated to the mobile phone industry which doesn't want any of their customers not not be able to rack up data charges 24/7.
As long as a theatre posts that cell phone reception is not available in this auditorium, there is no reason why cell signal blocking should be illegal. As long as the patron knows that in this space, sorry, no cell, that should cover all so-called emergency issues for those who might be assuming they need their cell service for things like communication with the baby sitter, or the hospital for a doctor, etc. Although the earth seemed to be able to spin nicely on its axis BEFORE there were such devices, it does seem that now it would be necessary to alert people to the fact that this room in an establishment gets no cell service. If a customer MUST use their cell, they know they will need to go to the lobby to make that life-and-death call.
We have a theatre in the basement of a building constructed in the 50s and in that room, there is NO cell reception -- period -- it is a natural cell dead area; I can attest that life does continues unabated down there.
Under today's FCC regs, I believe a theatre can use passive blocking -- a Faraday type blocking, but they still outlaw active transmission blocking like they what is available in Europe. I also hear that at one time some company was making a paint that attenuated cell signals to the point where they were too degraded to be useful.
I, on the other hand, just to see what would happen, brought my own blocking transmitter to an IMAX show. Dozens of these things are readily available for purchase on the internet -- as I said, they are used in Europe routinely. It's about the size of a modem; I wanted to see how well it would work. As far as I could tell, it shut down connectivity at least 5 rows in front and back of me and from one side of the room to the other. Could have been even more, but I figured those distances only because I could actually see people attempting to use their phones before the film started and then when they discovered there was no coverage, I watched them chewing off their arms in frustration. It was a delight to behold...more entertaining than the movie, actually!
I don't see any downside to having theatres able to block cell service -- cell service is not constitutionally guaranteed. Patrons don't have a right to smoke in our theatre; why do they (and the FCC) think they have an inalienable right to use their cell phones? I'm just sayin...
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Frank Angel
Film God
Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 05-01-2016 01:36 AM
Yes, agreed; you don't want to do anything that would interfere with legitimate transmissions that might propagate of your premises, but controlling transmission characteristics so as to be contained within the room and non-interfering passed it is not brain surgery. It can be done with good design and calibration. Transmission technology is not a new science -- it can be very effectively controlled; just get some American companies to design and manufacture the jammers so they are effective and limited to what they are designed to do.
As for building a faraday cage -- that actually isn't as difficult or costly as it sounds for new builds. A lot more difficult and expensive for existing rooms.
BTW, the DI folks have been using FM transmission devices for their film sound for years now and are pretty effective in using them in a way that doesn't interfere with other legitimate licensees off the field; they have gotten controlled field propagation pretty well down to a science or the FCC would have shut them down long ago.
As for the public, it won't take very long for them to understand that their cells won't work in the theatre. Post the sign, use a snipe that informs the audience that their cells won't work in the theatre proper, so turn them off to save the battery. Informing them on the screen that their cells won't work will probably be much more effective than the snipes everyone runs now which begging them to turn off their cells.
I am just saying, if Europeans can do it, it can't be all that difficult and it probably is something once it is in place, it will quickly become second nature and everyone will know that cells just won't work in the theatre proper; how long did it take for people to know that you can't smoke in theatres?
Sure it's a law now; but everyone seems to agree that it is, if not a major issue, at it's a pesky one and annoying enough that negatively impacts people's perception of the movie-going experience; that should be enough for the industry as a concerned entity with a vested interest, to move to have the law amended. Laws CAN be amended. Since when can't congress be bought off? As an example, I give you the Copyright Law.
But seriously, we moan about cell use all the time and bend over backwards to cajole patrons not to do it, spending lots of money producing clever "Turn Off Your Cell" snipes, when there is a much simpler solution and easily implemented. Having the congress and the FCC change its stance would be a good start.
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