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Topic: Reports of shooting at Batman Premier.

Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

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

posted 07-20-2012 04:22 PM

quote: Ron Funderburg
Like I said you have to be very aware of your background, whats behind where you are shooting.

That's cardinal rule #4 in gun safety. Properly identify your target and what is behind your target.

FYI:
Rule #1: treat all guns as if they are loaded.
Rule #2: keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.
Rule #3: keep your finger off the trigger until you're ready to fire.

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Sean Weitzel
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 619
From: Vacaville, CA (1790 miles west of Rockwall)
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 07-20-2012 04:34 PM

The police dispatch log shows that it took nearly 9 minutes after police responded to stop the show. I am curious, does D-Cinema have a big red "STOP" button that can kill everything and bring up the house lights or is it something more complicated requiring mucking with the server?

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 07-20-2012 04:48 PM

I installed the video wall with fellow forum member Ian Price at this theater.

Just imagine being trapped in a stadium-seating auditorium during something like this. In order to escape you'd need to run down and forward, towards the shooter and then turn around and run out of a skinny access hallway.

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 07-20-2012 04:49 PM

My thoughts for the victims, their families and all who worked at the theatre and were called upon to respond to this incident.

quote: Bobby Henderson
The way it sounds to me, the situation was hopeless. No one on the theater premises had any chance to stop this guy. Not any of the patrons or staff members.

Agreed. To be honest, throughout the time I was working in the biz, it was always at the back of my mind that a cinema is potentially a high terrorism* risk, because (a) you've got a lot of people seated together in close proximity, and (b) there is no security checking or searching of customers.

There can't be - if there was, there would be no customers. We put up with it at the airport because we have no choice if we want to get to where we're going. But we have lots of choices as far as entertainment is concerned, and if you start introducing TSA-style checks in theatres, the only winners will be the people who sell home cinema kit.

I only hope that this doesn't cause a downturn in the theatre business in general - even a short-term one - because of a paranoia effect.

* I use the word to mean both 'rational' terrorism, e.g. for political or religious reasons, and acts of terror caused by mental illness, as would appear to be the case here from reports so far.

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Claude S. Ayakawa
Film God

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

posted 07-20-2012 05:14 PM

My deepest sympathy to all the families of the victims of the senseless act that took place early this morning in Colorado.

-Claude

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Frank Cox
Film God

Posts: 2234
From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada
Registered: Apr 2011

posted 07-20-2012 05:17 PM

quote: Joe Redifer
Just imagine being trapped in a stadium-seating auditorium during something like this. In order to escape you'd need to run down and forward, towards the shooter and then turn around and run out of a skinny access hallway.

Do you mean that there is no exit at the rear of the auditorium? What kind of a fire inspector would approve that design? If the only exit is at the front and there is a fire at the front (let alone a nut with guns), everyone is trapped.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

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

posted 07-20-2012 06:07 PM

Most stadium seated theaters are built in this manner. Gotta walk down the stairs toward the screen to get at the enter/exit hallway.

If I was in the theater at the time of this incident I would have said "screw the stairs." I'd bail over the side, getting to that exit ASAP. Sure, I might break an ankle or tear up a knee with such a leap. Injuring my leg would be a good alternative to taking a bullet!

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Jesse Skeen
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1517
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 07-20-2012 06:54 PM

I've wondered for a while how fire codes have allowed that setup. In an extreme emergency I guess you could break the booth windows and go in, but some places have the windows up high.

My 2 cents on this incident: I've always felt the rear exit doors at most theaters have not been adequately secured. There at least needs to be an easy way for someone to check in a central location which doors are open, since that should be a rare occurrence other than when a movie is ending. In my years as a projectionist I kept an eye out and busted a number of people sneaking their friends in through the exit doors, when they thought nobody was watching. I've seen some incredibly stupid stuff done by the exits too, like going outside and hanging onto the door so they could smoke and then go back inside. Sounds like this guy was counting on easy exit door access for his plan to work, since he parked right next to it outside.

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Tony Bandiera Jr
Film God

Posts: 3067
From: Moreland Idaho
Registered: Apr 2004

posted 07-20-2012 07:18 PM

Been watching the local news as I type this and just can't believe it. But it is sad commentary on society in general these days it seems. And the self-aggrandizing statement by the film's director made me want to puke. Asswipe. [Mad]

LINK

quote:
"Speaking on behalf of the cast and crew of The Dark Knight Rises, I would like to express our profound sorrow at the senseless tragedy that has befallen the entire Aurora community. I would not presume to know anything about the victims of the shooting but that they were there last night to watch a movie. I believe movies are one of the great American art forms and the shared experience of watching a story unfold on screen is an important and joyful pastime. The movie theatre is my home, and the idea that someone would violate that innocent and hopeful place in such an unbearably savage way is devastating to me. Nothing any of us can say could ever adequately express our feelings for the innocent victims of this appalling crime, but our thoughts are with them and their families."

If he really cared he'd use some of the profits from his "home(s)" income to set up a fund for the victims.

As a side note, I was one of the crew who pre-built the sound racks for that theatre some years ago.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 07-20-2012 07:38 PM

quote: Joe Redifer
Just imagine being trapped in a stadium-seating auditorium during something like this. In order to escape you'd need to run down and forward, towards the shooter and then turn around and run out of a skinny access hallway.

This is an actual auditorium at this Cinemark/Century theater:

As Joe points out, if the guy is standing at the bottom, there is literally nowhere for anyone to go but wait to die. We can expect for this not to be corrected either, because that would mean building an evil mezzanine, which in today's digital builds is a big naughty word. I've always felt there should be a MANDATORY exit "hallway" beside the stadium seating on EACH side of the stadium risers, and also two "exit only" doors to a hallway (and an elevator for handicapped) at the top back two corners. My initial reasoning for this was due to just building a proper design in the first place from a customer standpoint and also for fire codes. Today's unnecessary events now give another reason for it.

There are more pictures of this theater here.

quote: Sean Weitzel
I am curious, does D-Cinema have a big red "STOP" button that can kill everything and bring up the house lights or is it something more complicated requiring mucking with the server?

On the DCS we have a power monitoring plug on the wall. Its main purpose is to monitor for power failures and pause the server, then restart the show after the power is stable automatically, but we also programmed it as an emergency stop control. We tell management if there is ever a crisis like someone has a heart attack or something, that they can simply unplug it and the movie will pause automatically, raise all lighting (including janitor lights) and silence the sound system. Whenever they are ready for the movie to resume, all they need to do is plug it back in.

Typically though, there is no "stop" button like on a film system.

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Frank Angel
Film God

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

posted 07-20-2012 07:41 PM

Yah, you wonder how fire codes can allow there to only be exits at the front of stadium theatre, but believe me, in all the stadium theatres I have been to here in NYC, not a one has exits at the rear of the auditorium.

Oh wait, I take that back -- MY theatre has stadium seating in the mezzanine and balcony and in both sections there are exits in the rear of those sections (guess that shows how much stronger commercial exhibitors' lobby is). In the museum we also have stadium seating in the balcony and have exits in the rear -- only there, there are no exits BUT in the rear so that's just as bad because if there were a gunman at the rear, your only alternative would be to jump off the balcony, again, like Bobby points out, up against being blown away by gunfire, getting injured in a jump is certainly the lesser of the two evils.

But not even talking about this one-in-a-million incident of a crazy gunman opening fire, but just as a regular safety issue for things like fire breaking out, only a single exit as a rule of thumb is pretty unsafe. Stadium seating in general is inherently less safe than slope rooms given how much more difficult it is for people to maneuver those multiple stairs in say in smoke conditions or worse, panic conditions.

My dad was a NYC fire inspector and he always said that in most fires where there are large number of people trying to escape, more deaths take place, not from the actual fire/smoke, but from trampling. Fire is a vicious beast, but people become wild animals in such situations.

BTW, the idea that in a situation like this where a gunman opening fire could be prevented or stopped in some fashion by having untrained citizens carrying concealed weapons seems unrealistic. These wouldn't be highly trained SWAT team police, they would be untrainded, panicing citizens now with guns in their hands. What are the chance they could accurately return fire? Imagine such a situation with MANY untrained people pulling out their concealed weapons and shooting.

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David Stambaugh
Film God

Posts: 4021
From: Eugene, Oregon
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 07-20-2012 09:34 PM

Cinemark 17 in Springfield, built around 2000, has an exit at the front and rear of every auditorium to the best of my recollection. Regal 15 in Eugene, opened like 2007, has rear exits only in the largest auditoriums. Those rear exits open into a mezzanine with an elevator and a long exit hallway leading directly out of he building.

Different city fire codes?

Regal here has someone walk every auditorium at what seems to be every hour. They check the exit doors.

If some lunatic is hellbent on perpetrating a massacre like this, there's not much that can be reasonably done to stop them. My sympathies to the victims, their families, and theatre staff.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 07-20-2012 11:14 PM

And now Warner Brothers is overreacting.

quote:
All Gun References Reportedly Being Removed From Dark Knight Rises Ads

There is a line between sensibly responding to a tragedy and overreacting out of fear. You can make up your own mind as to where this decision falls. Warner Brothers has reportedly decided to remove all traces and references to firearms in its marketing campaign for The Dark Knight Rises. A new gun-free trailer is supposedly being produced and all weapons in TV spots will be removed within the next few days.

According to TMZ, the course was charted by executives at Warner within a few hours of this morning’s tragic mass murder at an Aurora, Colorado midnight screening. Reports are currently putting the number of dead at twelve with the injured count far higher.

It’s important to note nothing about the final cut of the film has been changed, nor should it be changed. It’s acceptable, perhaps even natural we’d all be reminded of these grisly events because they happened during a Dark Knight Rises screening, but had the release date been pushed back another few months, the deranged shooter almost certainly would have chosen a different, high profile public gathering.

Warner Brothers is yet to comment publically on its supposed decision to alter the promotional materials, but if they do, we’ll be sure to bring it your way. Cinema Blend’s thoughts go out to the victims’ families as they attempt to cope with the unspeakable. There are no answers, only millions of honest, hard-working Americans ready and willing to help in anyway they can.

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Aaron Garman
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1470
From: Toledo, OH USA
Registered: Mar 2003

posted 07-20-2012 11:25 PM

My stomach just hurts when I think about this. At the old Cinemark I worked at, our 4 stadium houses had almost the same design, with no exits at the top. I actually played out worst case scenarios in my head before, and it always kind of freaked me out. Now, to see one actually happen, is just very upsetting.

I can't imagine being the manager on duty that night, or even just an usher tearing tickets.

I honestly hope this does bring attention to the poor design of these types of auditoriums because frankly, it is a death trap.

My thoughts are with the victims and all those who love them.

AJG

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Frank Angel
Film God

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

posted 07-21-2012 12:31 AM

Somehow my cynical nature says, they are not really over-reacting, they're just pushing their PR pedal-to-the metal to make sure there is a very visible reaction from the company which the public will perceive as "sensitive" and "responsive."

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