Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Distractions

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Posted by Jerry Chase (Member # 660) on 06-17-2001, 10:02 PM:

Finally got around to seeing Moulin tonight at a local theeatre, things have been a little busy here the past couple weeks. Having been away, some items I normally pass over seemed more glaring.

The print was in average condition with no major scratches, but some vertical minor base scratches in the center of the film. Dark lines on a face shot show up all too well. There were two stock splices. The labs may think these are not noticable, but in both cases the uneven image edge around the splice was a distraction. The slide presentation was off the top of the screen, past the masking and onto the drapes. Focus was tolerable but not great. The audience was quiet, but the crew of crossovers sneaking in during the last third of the movie was a distraction. Above all this in offensiveness was the smell. It doesn't have as much to do with projection as with energy management, but theatres that use energy management on the ACs in humid weather STINK from spilled drinks and mold. I had been ignoring this, but going in after a break, the smell was bad and the attempts to cover it with anti-odor products only made it worse. Energy management may save a few bucks on cooling costs, but I'm sure the smell drives many customers away.

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 06-18-2001, 10:15 AM:

Jerry, it's funny that you mention odor in the auditorium in which you saw "Moulin Rouge" as a distraction. On June 8, 2001, I saw "Moulin Rouge" in auditorium 7 of the Carmike 10 here in Huntsville, and the presentation was very good, except for uneven aperture shadow on the top edge. The main thing that I didn't like was a rather strong odor that reminded me of what a place smells like if the carpet gets wet and isn't cleaned. I'm sure it wasn't too healthy an auditorium to be in, since mold and/
or mildew would have been in that carpet and in the air. I couldn't decide if I should note and deduct for this in my review, so I decided not to, since the two friends I was with didn't notice it or complain about it. I think I will go in the data file and add a comment about that, but not deduct for it, just so the record will show it. ..... There, now it's in there. That took less than a minute.

Cell phones in theatres are the number one non-presentation-related distraction these days. Fortunately, in the showing I attended, there was only one cell phone that went off.

Here are some common presentation-related distractions and their frequency of occurrence in my area. Note that the numbers themselves do not tell the full story, since some occurrances are more distracting than others. See the ratings section of my WWW site for full details. The format used here is number of presentations with the problem, a slash, and the total number of presentations attended.

Aperture plate misalignment/projector misaiming (most common problem):

Regal River Oaks Cinema 8: 18/52 (35 percent)
Carmike 10: 28/70 (40 percent)
Carmike Century Cinema 8: 38/49 (78 percent)
Regal Hollywood 18: 18/52 ((35 percent)
Regal Madison Square 12: 22/54 (41 percent)

Flat movie shown with masking set for scope (or not pulled in enough):

Regal River Oaks Cinema 8: 0/52 (0 percent)
Carmike 10: 3/70 (4 percent)
Carmike Century Cinema 8: 13/49 (27 percent)
Regal Hollywood 18: 1/52 (2 percent)
Regal Madison Square 12: 2/54 (4 percent)

Image misframed noticeably or out-of-frame splices:

Regal River Oaks Cinema 8: 2/52 (4 percent)
Carmike 10: 7/70 (10 percent)
Carmike Century Cinema 8: 6/49 (12 percent)
Regal Hollywood 18: 3/52 (6 percent)
Regal Madison Square 12: 8/54 (15 percent)

Audio problems: including digital sound problems (cutting out,
defaulting to optical, advertised as digital but presented in analog),
as well as excessive distortion, or missing channels.

Regal River Oaks Cinema 8: 0/52 (0 percent)
Carmike 10: 7/70 (10 percent)
Carmike Century Cinema 8: 9/49 (18 percent)
Regal Hollywood 18: 3/52 (6 percent)
Regal Madison Square 12: 10/54 (19 percent)

------------------
Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Info Site

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 06-18-2001, 11:53 AM:

If only we had a projectionist on this forum that worked at one of the theaters Evans reviews. Wouldn't that be interesting?

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 06-18-2001, 02:04 PM:

Well, Brad, it may or may not be good if the managers or projectionists read the site. I have found that theatre people tend to not have computers, or lack interest in looking at my site. Some people that have worked at theatres have been unable to keep up with the URL long enough to check it out. I know that 2 of the current managers know about my site, because I have talked to Ralph Freehauf at Regal River Oaks Cinema 8 and have praised his work, showing him my reviews as proof of what a great job he's been doing (99.3 rating). Carmike Century Cinema 8 in Decatur recently got a new manager and I'd never seen him before. He knew me well enough to give my email address to someone at the theatre that was interested in talking to me, and I was really surprised, so I'm confident that he knows about my site, and probably doesn't like me too much as a result, since that theatre has a history of sloppy presentations. I have had conversations with managers at all the theatres except the ones at Regal Hollywood 18 and Regal Madison Square 12. I have no idea what there reaction is, or would be, to my site.

I realized that the number of presentations with given defects that I listed in my last posting don't really tell the whole story, and that it would be better to include the number of points deducted per type of distraction. For example, the 18 misalignments at River Oaks have a much lower total number of points deducted than any 18 at other theatres, since the problems at River Oaks, when they occur, tend to be more minor than at other locations, which gets them 1 point deductions instead of 2 or more. I should note that River Oaks has the highest percentage of showings with a "100" rating than any other. The number of points deducted for a problem is directly related to how distracting it is.

I'm currently going to assess how much effort it would take to assign codes to the different types of problems and the number of points deduct for each so that my software could generate statistics based on deductions for various types of problems. It shouldn't be too hard, so I may tackle that one night this week. Stay tuned.

Update (10:10 PM 2001/06/18): I've now got problem codes assigned for each type of problem that I've noted at theatres in my area.

Each code consists of a problem category and the number of points deducted for it in each instance (severity). The category letters mean the following (in no particular order): (subject to change or be reorganized somewhat)

A aperture/aim/alignment
L lamp turned off during movie (content missed)
M misframing and/or out-of-frame splice(s)
B intermission music audible during movie
T time (started too late or too early)
C credits not shown in entirety
D digital audio problem (cut out, lack of)
m masking not pulled in to match image size
U nonuniform brightness
H poor contrast (usually dirty optics)
d audio balance/distortion/noise/lack of channels
F lamp flicker or brightness fluctuation
f focus
R material played with projector setup for wrong format
b light from booth illuminating an area on the screen
S print scratches or damage
J image jitter
E exit sign throwing light on screen
w screen wash lights throwing light on screen
W water/roof leaks (water dripping)
G shutter ghosting
a loss of audio
I unnecessary inconvenience
r film loaded backwards and/or upside down
l auditorium lights turned on during movie
t problem not fixed after reporting it
s screen in need of repair
N ambient noise
i show stopped during movie and restarted from beginning of previews
O scene missing from movie

For example, "A1" is the most minor code, meaning that a slight misalignment was noticed (typically on only one image edge). "A8" likely means that alignment was severe and affected all the edges. "M12" indicates a very severe misframing, where "M2" is a much less severe (distracting) misframing.

The number of problem codes will not match the number of visits because some showings are problem free and others may have more than one problem code per visit. A theatre with a fewer number of problem codes in relation to the number of visits, with mostly minor codes (like "A1" and "A2") is doing well. Theatres with a large number of problem codes, with higher point values, are not doing very well. Look at Carmike Century Cinema 8 and compare it with Regal River Oaks Cinema 8, for example.

The accumulated lists of problem codes for each theatre look like this:

This is a bit ugly, but it's progress, since software can parse these things easily (more easily than my English descriptions). The English descriptions of problems on my site will continue to be used, but these types of codes will be supplied as well to help in generating stats:

Regal River Oaks Cinema 8 (52 visits, 24 problem codes very good! ):
A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A3 A3 B2 C2 L2 M4 M5 T1

Carmike 10 (70 visits, 55 problem codes):
A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A3 A3 A4 A4 C1 D3 D3 D3 D5 D5 F5 H2 H5 M1 M1 M1 M12 M2 M2 M2 O3 R1 U7 d3 d3 f1 m3 m4 m4 m4

Regal Gateway Cinemas 4 (12 visits, 14 problem codes):
A1 A1 A1 A2 A2 A2 A4 A4 A5 A5 C1 E2 M3 U1

Carmike Century Cinema 8 (49 visits, 107 problem codes ):
A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A10 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A3 A3 A3 A3 A3 A3 A3 A3 A4 A4 A4 A4 A4 A5 A5 A5 A5 A5 A6 A7 A8 D1 E4 E4 F5 G1 G5 G5 H1 H10 H2 H5 J3 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M12 M2 M2 M2 M2 M3 R1 R1 R1 R2 S1 S1 S2 T2 U2 U2 U2 U2 U2 U3 U4 U4 U4 W3 a3 b1 d1 d1 d1 d10 d2 d3 d3 f1 f20 f3 f4 f6 m4 m4 m4 m4 m4 m4 m4 m4 m4 m4 m4 m4 m4 w10

Regal Hollywood 18 (52 visits, 32 problem codes):
A1 A1 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A3 A4 A4 A6 D10 F5 I5 M1 M2 M6 R1 R1 R1 R1 R1 S1 T5 d1 d5 m4

Regal Madison Square 12 (54 visits, 66 problem codes ) :
A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A3 A3 A3 A3 A3 A4 A4 D1 D1 D1 D5 E1 G1 G20 G3 G4 G6 J10 J12 J15 J2 J4 M1 M1 M1 M12 M15 M2 M2 M35 N1 N1 R1 R1 R2 T5 b1 d1 d10 d10 d3 d5 f1 f5 i10 l2 m4 m4 s2 s4 t3

Cobb Cinema 8 (10 visits, 14 problem codes): A2 A3 A5 E1 E4 E4 E4 F5 M1 M2 M2 d3 m4 r3

In the nights ahead, these codes will allow me to generate neat reports on frequency of problems, and for each theatre, the most frequent problems. I'm stopping here tonight since it's late and
I've been working on this for about an hour, and am at a good stopping place. The software will be able to count and analyze these things without making as many mistakes as I would trying to look over them.

I feel that doing a quantitative analysis of presentation-related distractions is important. In this case, it gives a very good indication of what types of problems occur, and how often.

------------------
Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Info Site

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 06-26-2001, 10:15 PM:

Well, the software isn't quite there yet, but it's in good enough shape that it does all the work required for the information in the following report for theatres in my area without me having to do the math. The important new feature of the software is the ability to collect the problem codes and report the most frequently encountered problems at each theatre. Now I just need to get the software to generate a nice HTML report or table summarizing the data that it now has the power to tally:

Theatre Projection Quality Data Summary as of June 26, 2001:

Regal River Oaks Cinema 8, Decatur, AL :

Projection Quality Score: Average 99.3 (no facility deductions)
Standard Deviation: 1.3

Showings Attended: 52

Deductions Total : 43
Average deductions per showing : 0.8

Most common deductions:

Alignment/aim : 27 points / 18 showings
Misframing : 9 points / 2 showings

Carmike 10, Huntsville, AL :

Projection Quality Score: Average 98.1 (no facility deductions)
Standard Deviation: 2.5

Showings Attended: 70

Deductions Total : 135
Average deductions per showing : 1.9

Most common deductions:

Alignment/aim : 49 points / 29 showings
Misframing : 21 points / 7 showings
Dig. sound not on or cuts out : 19 points / 5 showings
Masking set scope for flat film : 15 points / 4 showings

Carmike Century Cinema 8, Decatur, AL :

Projection Quality Score: Average 92.2 (no facility deductions)
Standard Deviation: 6.6

Showings Attended: 50

Deductions Total : 369
Average deductions per showing : 7.4

Most common deductions:

Alignment/aim : 130 points / 39 showings
Masking set scope for flat film : 52 points / 13 showings
Focus : 34 points / 5 showings
Misframing : 28 points / 11 showings
Image brightness nonuniformity : 27 points / 10 showings
Audio distortion/balance : 21 points / 7 showings
Poor image contrast : 18 points / 4 showings
Shutter ghosting : 11 points / 3 showings

Regal Hollywood 18, Huntsville, AL :

Projection Quality Score: Average 90.6 (includes 7.5 point facility deduction for lack of adjustable masking in 12 auditoriums)
Standard Deviation: 2.6

Showings Attended: 52

Deductions Total : 89
Average deductions per showing : 1.7

Most common deductions (not including lack of adjustable masking):

Alignment/aim : 39 points / 16 showings
Audio distortion/balance : 16 points / 3 showings
Misframing : 9 points / 3 showings

Regal Madison Square 12, Huntsville, AL :

Projection Quality Score: Average 87.6 (includes 7.5 point facility deduction for lack of adjustable masking in 8 auditoriums)
Standard Deviation: 8.2

Showings Attended: 54

Deductions Total : 279
Average deductions per showing : 5.2

Most common deductions (not including lack of adjustable masking):

Misframing : 69 points / 8 showings
Alignment/aim : 48 points / 22 showings
Vertical jitter (unsteadiness) : 43 points / 5 showings
Shutter ghosting : 34 points / 5 showings
Audio distortion/balance : 29 points / 5 showings
Dig. sound not on or cuts out : 8 points / 4 showings
Masking set scope for flat film : 8 points / 2 showings
Screen in need of repair : 6 points / 2 showings

------------------
Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Info Site

Posted by Rick Long (Member # 213) on 06-26-2001, 11:40 PM:

I would certainly hope that these reviews are somehow getting to the technician that services these theatres, and not just being circulated around the district offices.

I, for one, and I'm sure I speak for all the technicians here, would certainly welcome this input as it would help us to prioritize the most serious issues in the limited service time we have.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 06-27-2001, 04:54 AM:

As one who goes around to a whole bunch of theatres, I would like to hear more about problems that customers notice. It's all too often that I get a vague complaint that the picture is "fuzzy". What the hell does that mean? Is it out of focus? Is it out of focus on only PART of the screen? Is there an aperture shadow? Is there a SCHMUTZ on the screen? Is the masking set properly? Is there some other problem? For cryin' out loud! Information PLEASE!

On the other hand, there are a lot of times when I'm so tied up doing meatball surgery that a lot of problems have to wait. Theatre staff is SUPPOSED to do things like change xenon lamps and do minor adjustments. Right now I'm going around installing the LED/photocell upgrades to all my Christie platters. That's a priority because of the damage that these old cells are causing. I have about 50 platters to do and they have to be COMPLETELY disassembled to do it. It takes me up to an hour to do each platter. I can't always count on good help from theatre staff either. I'm sorry, if the screen is slightly fuzzy that's just going to have to wait.

(As a side note, those upgrades seem to do the trick on taking care of platter malfunctions! The majority of platter malfunctions just seemed to evaporate when I started converting them! )

Essentially, there are a lot of times when I have to tell people, "If it's not DOWN, just send me an e-mail so I have you 'on file' and I'll get you when I can." It's not a nice thing to have to say but I gotta' do what I gotta' do!

Posted by John Anastasio (Member # 607) on 06-27-2001, 06:15 AM:

I absolutely refuse to attend a showing at the Destinta theater in Hamilton Twp, near Trenton because of the clarity of the picture. I knew the ex-manager there and the problem could be solved very simply...better lenses. The images on ALL their screens lack contrast, even in a totally dark auditorium, and while you can see the grain on the screen, the images are always "soft", even though they were in focus. I was up in the booth at the Loews Journal Square in Jersey City last weekend while they were running a private screening. One machine had an Isco lens in it and the other had a Snaplite. Both were perfectly focussed. We were surprised at the OBVIOUS difference. You can guess which was not only brighter but razor-sharp on the screen. What's the sense of spending hundreds of thousands on projectors, sound equipment and screens and then squeezing your image through a piece of crap lens?

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 06-27-2001, 08:18 AM:

John said: "The images on ALL their screens lack contrast, even in a totally dark auditorium, and while you can see the grain on the screen, the images are always "soft", even though they were in focus."

Old lenses with ineffective anti-reflection coatings and dirty/scratched elements are a major "contrast killer":
Seven Deadly Sins of Projection
Contrast Killers

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Posted by Mitchell Cope (Member # 32) on 06-27-2001, 12:04 PM:

Here's a distraction for you. I saw "The Cider House Rules" at a cinema that has since been torn down. In their main auditorium (they had four screens) they kept the colored lights up high on the side wall. I remember having to sit through this movie with my hands to the sides of my face (like blinders) because the light was so distracting.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 06-27-2001, 01:27 PM:

Mitchell said: "In their main auditorium (they had four screens) they kept the colored lights up high on the side wall. I remember having to sit through this movie with my hands to the sides of my face (like blinders) because the light was so distracting."

Another theatre that is a CONTRAST KILLER!

Certainly, auditorium lighting should never shine ON the screen during a movie presentation. But excessively high levels of decorative lighting or aisle lights during the show can also be an annoying distraction. Use only enough light to assure the safety of the audience, and be sure it NEVER shines onto the screen.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 06-27-2001, 01:36 PM:

Hey John, how about theaters that leave their ceiling lights burning at a good intensity during the show (as opposed to leaving the side lighting on)? I don't know how you feel about it, but the lights reflect from my glasses and really annoy me to no end. Leaving them lightly glowing is fine, but I see theaters all the time with those ceiling lights cranked. Other people that I know who wear glasses complain of the same thing.

Posted by Will Kutler (Member # 770) on 06-27-2001, 01:44 PM:

I recently went to another Century Theater in Tucson (not the one I worked at-and after I left the Company) to see Pearl Harbor. For my $8.00, I was given the following presentation:

Misspliced trailer
terrible overshoots-badly cut aperture plates!
no barrier between theater and lobby, so theater was flooded with light anytime someone opened the door
Xenon Bulb that needed replacement!
dirty print
BAD SCRATCHES at splice-joints
AUDIBLE projector in theater
sound from adjoining theaters
house light system that does not fully dim

Stupid me went back to this theater to see FAST AND FURIOUS on opening night:

box office personnel who lied about seat aviability
out of time shutter
BAD OVERSHOOTS-new plates needed!
Universal fanfare at tail of attached trailer-before policy trailer

Notice that I spoke of bad aperture plates. I can atttest to the fact that whover cut them really went HOG-WILD with the file-even at my old theater. For whatever reason, Century Theaters has their panties in a bind when it comes to filing new plates, and only certain authorized Area Techs are permitted to do this. It was next to impossible to get them off their wazoos to do this, and some of the overshoots because of bad plates lends to a crappy performance-especially in an all THX theater where I worked!

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 06-27-2001, 01:54 PM:

Brad: Your example of seeing the ceiling lights reflected in your glasses during a show is a good example of why it is so important for theatre personnel to frequently check presentation quality from an audience point of view. Theatre employees who get passes for movies should be required to do a written evaluation of presentation quality for each movie they see. In previous threads, I've suggested that theatres develop a cadre of technically-saavy moviegoers to subjectively evaluate and report on all aspects of presentation quality in return for free admittance. The SMPTE Theatre Quality Evaluation Program that I developed can serve as a model. (The SMPTE Theater Quality Evaluation Program is detailed in the "Instructional Documents" area or the "Manuals" section of Film-Tech).

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 06-27-2001, 01:57 PM:

quote:

Hey John, how about theaters that leave their ceiling lights burning at a good intensity during the show (as opposed to leaving the side lighting on)? I don't know how you feel about it, but the lights reflect from my glasses and really annoy me to no end. Leaving them lightly glowing is fine, but I see theaters all the time with those ceiling lights cranked. Other people that I know who wear glasses complain of the same thing.

Beginning in summer 1999, the theatres in my area all simultaneously changed from fully dimming their lights at the start of the projector to dimming them to "credits level" until the actual movie started, or until the policy trailer was shown. This did not bother me, since it made it easier for latecomers to find seats, but the problem with this approach is that if the cue to dim the lights to proper movie level does not get processed, then the lights stay up for the entire presentation, or until someone complains, or until a staff member notices it.

One time, in a movie, the screen wash lights were on and were dimmed to the same level as the ceiling lights, and these wash lights were bright enough to wash out part of the picture during dark scenes. Fortunately, this has only happened to me once.

------------------
Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Info Site

Posted by Will Kutler (Member # 770) on 06-27-2001, 02:16 PM:

Hi John and Evans

John, do you remember what I said yesterday in my thread "SHIT HOT PRESENTATION" about our "presentation checks" at my old theater? Thanks for mentioning it again though!

Evans, at my old theater, we also had two light levels, one for trailers and one for main feature. These were controlled by the cue-sensors, but could be overriden manually. I believe it was a Kelmar box (LEDs indicating light levels) at each Projectionists view window. It was the Projectionists RESPONSIBILITY to double check light levels, and adjust manually if needed. They also came in handy when doing projector maintenance, and for curtain calls.

TIVOLI Lights were also controlled from the "booth" (at each projector), and our management was STRICT about these being properly controled lest someone trip and fall in the theater!

Janitor lights were controled from the theater only with a key-lock so no one could mess around with them.

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 06-27-2001, 04:50 PM:

quote:

John, do you remember what I said yesterday in my thread "SHIT HOT PRESENTATION" about our "presentation checks" at my old theater? Thanks for mentioning it again though!

One of the reasons that one of my local theatres is a notch above all the other theatres is that auditoriums are "walked" twice during each show to check for problems. In the past, this has caused some minor problems to be fixed during the previews before the movie actually started, or during an early part of a movie. In many theatres, staff members do come in and walk through, but all they seem to do is go to the exit door and back out. I've seen many of these staff members look at an unfocused, misframed, or an image with poor aperture plate alignment or projector aim and just go on. At Regal River Oaks Cinemas in Decatur, AL, the staff members actually check the focus and aspects of the presentation and communicate problems they see to the booth. Why can't more theatres do this, especially if they're going to send staff members in to check the exit doors anyway? Why not train them to spot common projection problems? It seems that doing so is a cheap way to get some really good internal quality checking and control going.

By the way, I sent the manager of Regal River Oaks Cinema 8 in Decatur, AL a letter of appreciation for the high quality of presentation and operations he has maintained at the theatre. I wrote the letter yesterday and mailed it this morning. There were no complaints in the letter, which consisted of several paragraphs of technical, detailed compliments, which were derived from the reviews available on my WWW site. It was only the second business letter I'd written during the past 13 years! The manager of Regal River Oaks needs to know, in writing, that the quality of his work is noticed and appreciated. It's great to be able to honestly compliment someone. It's much more fun than complaining.

------------------
Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Info Site

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 06-28-2001, 06:48 AM:

Evans said: "It's great to be able to honestly compliment someone. It's much more fun than complaining."

I agree. Positive feedback on what a theatre does right is just as important as complaints in encouraging "Film Done Right".

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 06-28-2001, 09:59 AM:

quote:

I agree. Positive feedback on what a theatre does right is just as important as complaints in encouraging "Film Done Right".

Yes. I wrote the letter for two main reasons. First, few people take the time to write actual letters anymore. A written letter, mailed to a recipient means more than it used to, and it's really no more difficult than writing an email with today's software. The manager of River Oaks knows that I think that his presentation quality is the best in the area, and he probably occasionally has one of his staff members download and print the information about his theatre on my WWW site, but still, I think that a written letter speaks more strongly than verbal or indirect communication.

Second, customers tend to complain more than compliment. I'll bet that 90 percent of all feedback from customers are complaints (maybe more). Ask someone about a particular place and you'll likely hear of any bad experiences they have ever had in their history of dealing with the place before hearing of good things. This seems to be true of any type of business, such as theatres, restaurants, stores, and so on. If someone has dealt with a place 50 times and have had one bad experience, they'll say, "It's been OK except this time when ..." or omit the "It's been OK" part and just go straight to their description of their bad experience(s). If a business gives good service, they probably will not get much feedback on the quality of their service until they mess up something, then complaints will come. More people should give positive feedback and let businesses know when good service is noticed, consistently, for a significant period of time. Thinking of this, there is a local restaurant that my coworkers and I have eaten every Monday for the past few years and their food and service have been consistent and excellent with very few problems. I need to write them a letter too (which would be my 3rd business letter since 1988).

Take the time to compliment businesses on consistent, excellent service with a written letter. It will make their day and let them know that their quality of service is sincerely noticed and appreciated.

------------------
Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Info Site

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 06-28-2001, 04:46 PM:

One thing I am still trying to get through people's heads is to not consider the movie having actually 'started' until ALL the trailers are over and the movie ITSELF is on the screen! Then you check everything again- make sure the lights have gone down (if they haven't then make a note of it and I'll replace the cue) and make sure the picture's how it should be and the sound's in the proper format, and of course make sure the film's running correctly! I once wrote in big letters DON'T DEPEND ON THE AUTOMATION TO DO EVERYTHING FOR YOU!!! I see way too many people just hit "Start", glance at the first 5 seconds of the first trailer and never check the show again, even if it's a 3+ hour movie.
I've never trusted cues for anything; I hope they're going to work when I can't be by the machine myself, but I always check as soon as possible. A place I worked at used to start all the sound systems in "Mono" when they were making most trailers in mono, then a cue would come up telling it when to switch to stereo. A few times these cues wouldn't work so the whole show would get run in mono since nobody bothered to check.

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 06-28-2001, 08:48 PM:

Jesse, I've been in several movies where the person that hit "start" never even looked at the first 5 seconds of the first trailer. It amazed me that there were serious problems, like severe misframing (frame line on screen, or a large band of black visible, or one time, the film loaded backwards). Just having the operator look at the first 5 seconds of the first trailer would be an improvement over what I've seen here in the past sometimes.

------------------
Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Info Site

Posted by Heyward Garner (Member # 722) on 06-30-2001, 12:49 AM:

Hmmmmmmmmm... A big distraction I've noticed in the booth, not so much on the floor... The damn fans on our soundracks, and the rectifiers in our machines... Not as bad as Brian Potts's, just because his have almost four years on mine. But starting to get annoying. Also annoying is a dry projector with the intermittant taught. Very clacky, very loud, all the time it's dry.