This is topic No communication in the booth in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001280
Posted by Richard Quesnelle (Member # 391) on 08-09-2000, 10:34 PM:
I could have punched someone out tonight. Nobody at the theatre I work at tells anybody anything. I ran the movie What Lies Beneath without knowing that it was scope. The censor bands were left in the shipping can and no tape was placed to let me know what format. So I ended playing a scope film through a flat lens for the first show. Another problem was that the guy who made up the film put flat trailers at the beginning and screwed me up. I was planning to stop the movie during the trailers if I would have known how many, but again too bad.Also, we have this leader that keeps putting us out of frame. Nobody has bothered to determine why it is doing this so everyone just lets it go and doesn't let anyone know there is a problem.
Bottom line is that a good communication is needed to make your booth work 1st class.
P.S. I thank everyone for helping me because there would be no way else to learn this stuff as you can understand the lack of pride and caring with the staff.
Thanks
Richard
Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 08-10-2000, 12:51 AM:
First question I'll ask you is this-how high up on the food chain do you rank in the booth? Are you 'Booth Manager' or 'Junior Spaceboy'? What authority you have will determine what course you take to correct communication problems.
Posted by Kevin Crawford (Member # 469) on 08-10-2000, 01:55 AM:
Hell, I communicate all the time. The problem is communication is a two way street. I can't get the management or their monkeys to pick up a rag and wipe out the machine once a week. I am left holding all of the cleaning. That plus film work and maintenance, in just 25 hours a week. Talk all you want, but they have to listen.
Posted by Oscar Neundorfer (Member # 458) on 08-10-2000, 06:09 AM:
Richard wrote:
>So I ended playing a scope film through a flat lens for the first show.<I am not a projectionist, so maybe I don't understand all this, but did you ever look at the screen and see the error? Just curious. Maybe you looked as the trailers were playing, and everything looked OK. But the feature is what the customers come to see. So it seems important to me as a paying customer that the feature should be checked by the projectionist to make sure that frame, focus, format, sound, etc. is OK. Just a suggestion.
Best regards,
------------------
Oscar Neundorfer
Chief Engineer
SMART Devices, Inc.
oscar@smartdev.com
Posted by Michael McGillion (Member # 493) on 08-10-2000, 08:27 AM:
I agree completely with Oscar - if there was a hair trapped in the gate of the projector and I couldn't get it out w/o stopping the projector, I probably would - the audience appreciates good presentation, and as long as you let them know why you're stopping the movie, they are usually (depending on the crowd) happy for that one or two second interruption if it means the annoying hair won't be there for the rest of the feature. Needless to say, it's always easier to catch something like that during the ads or trailers and stop the projector while the house lights are still on.As for communication, my booth has a diary where things like what needs repairing, films broken down or made up etc. are all recorded, as well as running jokes about "Centre Stage" - it still hasn't been released in Australia yet but we're hangin' out for it!
Posted by Scott McFly (Member # 556) on 08-10-2000, 08:55 AM:
this isnt really about communication, but i was wondering what is the tempature in the booth at your places? our booth is extrememly warm and has poor ventilation. our booth and lobby share the same part of the vent system and it sucks. i run around up there in my wife beater and work pants and still sweat like crazy.
Posted by Dave Cutler (Member # 515) on 08-10-2000, 09:38 AM:
Even an average moviegoer should have noticed that it was in the wrong lens. They might not have known what was wrong, but atleast that something WAS wrong. And whatever happened to ushers checking auditoriums?Richard, did the whole movie run in the wrong lens or just the beginning? Are you checking your shows every 10 - 20 minutes? If you aren't, you should be. It's just a good idea, so that you can guarantee that your guests are getting the best show possible. It's all about presentation.
A booth log (diary) is always a good idea. You can keep track of any problems as well as share problems, questions or any issue that might arrise on your shift that you hadn't encountered. When you have a bad day, it's a good way to relieve stress before going home, if you have a good day you can share it with everyone. If you figured something new out you can let everyone else know, and get thier opinions on the matter.
I also hold a monthly booth meeting, so that the entire staff can sit down togeather. That way we can discuss any changes that we want to implement and they can start immediately. Also lets me point out areas of weakness as well as the wonderful job that my staff does.
Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 08-10-2000, 09:05 PM:
Dave,Personally I feel a tech log is a fantastic idea, but a booth log is a horrible idea. Tech logs are great for keeping track of the last time something was replaced or serviced. Booth logs tend to be chopped full of nonsense bitching over the most silliest things just to let off steam. Operators get defenseful and it just creates problems all around. Then again, that's just my take and experience with them. I'm sure there are plenty of others who feel the opposite. 
Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 08-10-2000, 09:06 PM:
Tommorow I will post the log booth we use at the IMAX it is a little overkill and parts don't apply but it has been copied to many other theatre since
gord
Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 08-11-2000, 02:21 AM:
The booth log that was in use when I started working in Sebastopol was a joke, Occasionally there was things of genuine concern, but most of the pages contained drawings, doodles, off-color poetry, etc... The logging thing didn't last very long.Aaron
Posted by Russ Kress (Member # 461) on 08-11-2000, 02:47 AM:
Actually, we do something like this. There is a clip board by each projector where break-downs are logged.To-date, there has been no poetry. The entries read like, "Tension failsafe snagged a splice", or "platter 2 running slow on pay out".
While we do not study these lists to uncover the secrets of the universe, they are handy when doing maintenance.
We haven't used them to log major repairs, but that might be a good idea.
Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 08-11-2000, 04:31 AM:
RichardHow many screens are you running at one time? Surely, you could make time to look at the screen result at least one time during the films 129 minutes.
If not before this incident, I hope you will from now on. As you can see by this...it is very important. And checking during trailers doesn't count. Film stocks vary in thickness and the focus setting for the trailers is not necessarily what it's gonna be for the movie.
Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 08-11-2000, 06:04 AM:
We have a 'projection diary' which serves two purposes: (i) to pass messages between staff on a day to day basis, and (ii) to remind us about things to do, e.g. maintenance and special screenings.The first function is vital because if you ask someone to do something, you automatically generate a written record. If I put on tomorrow's page 'Please Dolby-tone sc. 1 proj. 2', or 'please change blown light bulbs in the bar' and it doesn't get done, then he can't say he wasn't asked.
As a maintenance and events planner the diary is also useful. When I change a projector lamp, I'll write in the diary for a date roughly two months ahead 'Check S2 P1 lamp and rotate if necessary' - so things things like belt changes, or filters on the air handling units won't get forgotten when the time comes.
As for labelling films, we have a very strict policy. If it's going on the platter, we stick opaque acetate spacing on the end (as a failsafe, so if someone leaves sticky tape on the end of the film and it mangles in the feed unit, the end of the film will break rather than stretch) labelled as follows (examples from this week):
'BEAU TRAVAIL' 1:1.66 SR PRINT NO. 3 ACETATE
or
'POKEMON' 1:1.85 SR-D PRINT NO. UK928 POLY
If the film is being made up for changeovers, heads and tails are marked up as follows:
'CASABLANCA' 1:1.33 MONO HEAD 1 OF 6
'CASABLANCA' TAIL 1 OF 6
Info about commercials, trailers etc. goes on a blackboard mounted next to each projector. This happens without fail every Thursday/Friday so there are no nasty surprises...
Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 08-11-2000, 06:25 AM:
I would agree with John W. (and others.) A quick look every 10-15 min or so, and you would have seen it. I don't know how large the place is where you work, but there should be some time allowed to make the rounds.Although, I've done things just as bad, and not as a beginner, eithe....!
Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 08-11-2000, 07:21 AM:
LeoYour 'Casablanca' print is 'silent'?
Posted by Antonio Marcheselli (Member # 373) on 08-11-2000, 08:22 AM:
Richard,You have to stop you projector to change the lens?
On my Cinemeccanica V5 i just have to push a botton.
Once the ads started in scope format. I just close the dowser (to avoid the ghost image of the bulb during rotation), push that botton and open the dowser. Just few seconds...
I hope that you didn't show the entire movie with wong lenses...
Bye
Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 08-11-2000, 01:03 PM:
I am sure there is no turret installed on Richards machine as I doubt the owner of the theatre would spend that money
here is the booth log template in Excel format that we use in the Imax theatre and the now gone theatre1 3d 70mm theatre
EXAMPLE 1
EXAMPLE 2
Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 08-11-2000, 03:09 PM:
I kind of like the idea of a booth log book for maintenance issues. Personally, I've usually just left handwritten notes on the rewind bench about routine stuff like what prints are where. Usually it works fine if the people I've worked with were competent and cared. I've worked with a couple of people who just ignore everything you try to tell them or write down; I still left the notes for them, though, even if I knew that they would ignore them.
As for labeling prints: I usually label the head of the first reel with white tape: "title - R1 - Head - Flat/1.85 - Dolby SR"; I label subsequent reels with the name of the film, the reel number, and "head" or "tail." With platters, I put the same information on the tail leader. When using large (6000') reels, I also label the reels themselves: "Title - R 1-2-3 - Scope - Dolby A"
Posted by Dave Cutler (Member # 515) on 08-11-2000, 04:44 PM:
For maintenance issues I have a VERY LARGE white erase board that is divided up into 24 sections (24 projectors) which we write any problems on so they can be fixed by me (if I know how) or by a tech when they come in.
Posted by Richard Quesnelle (Member # 391) on 08-11-2000, 06:28 PM:
I ran it with the wrong lens for the whole show. Nobody really said anything. I just didn't want to make my mistake obvious. Like I had said there were both flat and scope ratios on the print. I was hopping to stop it after a trailer to make it less obvious. As Gordon mentioned, we do not have turrets and takes a great deal of focusing when changing lenses on this particular screen, so it would have made it even more of a screw up.I do check my screens quite frequently, but being a newbie I have not had encountered many breakdowns or problems, so this was a good lesson learned.
Richard
Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 08-11-2000, 07:00 PM:
If you were frequently checking the screen you should have seen the problem and YOU WERE OBLIGATED to stop the show if necassary and change lens. A newbie is no excuse. If you accept the job you have to do it not fake it
Posted by Rick Long (Member # 213) on 08-11-2000, 07:48 PM:
I'm afraid I have to agree with Gordon here. Although I can well appreciate the reluctance to stop a performance in progress, I beleive the audience would have apreciated the correction, even though it meant a short stop, rather than suffer through an entire feature, shown in the wrong format.Oh well, live and learn.