This is topic New AMC Trailers in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 12-30-2002, 08:30 AM:
 
Must be that time of the decade or something. We just got our new "Coming Soon", "Silence Is Golden", & "Feature Presentation" trailers in. Of them all, I think the "Coming Soon" is my favorite. The Feature Pres is kinda cool, and the SIG is pretty cheesey. But then I always thought the SIG was cheesey. It's good to tell people to be quiet, but for some reason, AMC never comes up with a cool way to say it. Oh, well.

An interesting note... they have SDDS *AND* SRD tracks! Wow! It's funny that they would produce their trailers in a sound format that they tell everyone not to use (SR). This is a funny company sometimes.
 

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Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 12-30-2002, 10:01 AM:
 
I think they should make Silence Is Golden trailers ratings-specific. For example, on G and PG movies, it could be instructing kids to "Use your Library Voices" for PG-13, it could instruct patrons to "Be quiet so that others may enjoy the performance." and for R rated features, simply: "Shut the up!"

=TMP=
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 12-30-2002, 10:48 AM:
 
Great idea!
 

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Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 12-30-2002, 12:44 PM:
 
Do all AMC's start shows with an admonishment to look for fire exits or is this just one local peculiarity?
 

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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 12-30-2002, 12:59 PM:
 
Regal has a graphical "In case of FIRE, head for the nearest EXIT!" slide. What's odd (heh) is the EXIT door shown on the slide is on fire.
 

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Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 12-30-2002, 03:30 PM:
 
I believe that the AMC fire exit thing is specific to the locality. In this area, the Framingham cinema shows it (as required by the local fire marshall), but Burlington and Chestnut Hill don't. This hasn't changed since AMC took over from General Cinema.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 12-30-2002, 05:02 PM:
 
I was struck with the irony, when I first saw AMC trailers in the former GCC houses. Some had been sent in, used, from existing theatres, and were replete with scratches, splices, etc.

Oh, there IS a difference, alright!

Btw, cool picture there, Scott! Do you have the others posted anywhere?
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-30-2002, 05:16 PM:
 
AMC should come up with a new snipe "Surround Speakers In The Ceiling Are Golden --The Gold Color of Pee."

Maybe one of the executives for AMC has a two speaker stereo system at home. One speaker in front of him and one on the ceiling. That's how AMC's sound systems seem to me. With that, there's little point to SDDS and SR*D.
 

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Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 12-30-2002, 05:37 PM:
 
Tim -- glad you like it! I'll email you the others the next time I borrow a scanner.

For those who don't know (which is pretty much everyone here), Tim took that picture of me last summer. The camera in front of me is a 35mm Mitchell BNC (blimped newsreel camera), which was pretty much the standard for movies and TV shows from the '40s until the late '60s.

It looks like I'm wearing a cape or something, though, the way Brad cropped it.

BTW, since when has AMC told people not to use SR or SRD? I know that they have an SDDS fetish, but I didn't think that they had anything against the other formats.
 

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Posted by James R. Hammonds, Jr (Member # 673) on 12-30-2002, 08:34 PM:
 
From what I understand, AMC only buys SDDS now, and that is the preferred format, but if you have the other systems, you may use them if the film does not have SDDS or if the unit in that particular house is not functioning properly.
Im not quite sure about SR (Id have to look over some documents), but I was once told by someone higher up (dont remember who) that most films are A and not SR.
I tend to check my head leaders, so I know better.
 

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Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 12-30-2002, 08:50 PM:
 
It is not true that AMC only buys SDDS.

A-type noise reduction is extremely rare now. I've only encountered it twice this year out of several hundred films and both of those were very obscure small films. For all practical purposes at mainstream theatres Dolby A is obsolete.
 

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Posted by James R. Hammonds, Jr (Member # 673) on 12-30-2002, 11:07 PM:
 
What else are they buying that you know of?
From what I was told, they used to buy some Dolby Digital and DTS units as well as installing SDDS on all screens, but they quit doing that and buy only SDDS now.
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 12-31-2002, 10:16 AM:
 

quote:

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but I was once told by someone higher up (dont remember who) that most films are A and not SR.

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Most mainstream films have at least SRD tracks, which means that the analog is SR. The only one I've seen recently that doesn't have an SRD track is MBFGW which is SR only. Like Steve said, Dolby A is extremely rare these days.

AMC does have some Dolby and DTS houses (we have two of the latter, and none of the former) but every time I inquire about getting SR cards for our Ultra Stereos so we can at least show non-SDDS prints (and trailers for that matter) in the proper analog format, the response I get is "Never show anything in SR!" Which just seems odd to me. Oh, well.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 12-31-2002, 12:11 PM:
 

quote:

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Most mainstream films have at least SRD tracks, which means that the analog is SR.

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quote:

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every time I inquire about getting SR cards for our Ultra Stereos so we can at least show non-SDDS prints (and trailers for that matter) in the proper analog format, the response I get is "Never show anything in SR!"

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Then why even buy those Ultra Stereo processors?
 

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Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 12-31-2002, 02:14 PM:
 
I'm under the vague impression that the only reason you would see Dolby A is if the film were terribly low-budget and they didn't want to pay Dolby licensing, but went with one of the 3rd party A clones (instead of one of the 3rd party SR clones?).

This does not seem to happen too often. Though the one place where we have seen A recently has been on shorts.

--jhawk
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 12-31-2002, 04:21 PM:
 
John, the films I've made are all Dolby SR-encoded and I pay no licensing. Note, I can't use the logo without approval, but I can live without that. Dolby said I can say something to the effect of, "Spectral Recording technology provided by Dolby Laboratories". No logo. Which I just shortened to say "Spectral Recording" in credits.

It's interesting to note that Sony licensing gave me full permission to use SDDS with no restrictions; logos, too, for free.
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 12-31-2002, 06:53 PM:
 
Tim,
Are these trailers tracks 4.1 encoded Dolby mixes, or Pseudo Stereo? Could you elaborate on how the mixes arebeing done. Glad to see the ole camera out and being used!!
Mark
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 12-31-2002, 07:56 PM:
 
Mark the custom work is all LCRS. There are a handful of pseudo-stereo mixes. The classics have remastered original library tracks, with re-recorded performances -- also LCRS, although there is not a lot of surround. Only on the occasional sound effect do I take advantage of the surround channel.

In any case, it was BUCK$!

Unfortunately, I'm not at liberty to divulge much in the way of how I'm doing certain things, without giving away the candy store, if you know what I mean.


Btw... would like to put the Mitchell on something -- maybe someone will come along with a feature.
 

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Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 01-01-2003, 04:56 PM:
 
I havent seen the new trailers. But I cringe whenever the Silence Is Golden thing comes up at AMCs. It is so loud and obnoxious with the reels all splattering around. Then theat stupid movie reel mascot does the conductor at a symphony thing which is just drawn out and not funny. The AMC promos from the early 90s was better where they had the movie reel mascot guy walk/dance off the creen along to some jazzy instrumental.
 

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Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 01-02-2003, 07:19 AM:
 
The AMC Hamilton began using these new policy snipes around Thanksgiving. I saw them yesterday with my annual New Year's Day movie (Maid in Manhattan).

Why are the snipes in SRD and SDDS? AMC acquired General Cinema last year -- and General Cinema used SRD for the most part.

I've come to like the "Silence is Golden" snipe. Some may think it's cheesy but it works for the most part. Also, "Silence is Golden" serves as a buffer so you can anticipate the start of the feature.
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 01-02-2003, 08:33 AM:
 

quote:

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I've come to like the "Silence is Golden" snipe. Some may think it's cheesy but it works for the most part. Also, "Silence is Golden" serves as a "buffer" so you can anticipate the start of the feature.

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When it goes through at our theater, most patrons giggle and start conversations on how cheesey it was. What works better than anything else IMO is the long THX Broadway played back at reference level. If that doesn't shut everyone up, nothing will!
 

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Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 01-02-2003, 11:38 AM:
 
At the AMC I often attend with a friend when we aren't laughing at The Screen That Sucks we're getting a chuckle out of the fact they always had everyone of those Silence is Golden trailers cut so as to include the 2-beep.
 

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Posted by James R. Hammonds, Jr (Member # 673) on 01-02-2003, 01:15 PM:
 
I think the reason the new snipes have both the SDDS and SRD tracks is because they were printed by Deluxe and not Filmack.
I'll check to see if it is still there when we get the first set from Filmack.
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 01-02-2003, 02:33 PM:
 
The new Gift Card snipes also have an SRD track.
 

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Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 01-02-2003, 05:42 PM:
 
I'm not aware that DeLuxe records soundtrack negatives although I could be wrong.

Some new builds have Dolby Digital so it makes sense that they're going to have SR-D on the house materials, not to mention the ongoing needs of the ex-GCC houses.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 01-02-2003, 06:00 PM:
 

quote:

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I'm not aware that DeLuxe records soundtrack negatives

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They don't have to record it to be able to print it.
 

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Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 01-03-2003, 11:32 AM:
 
Exactly my point. Presuming that all major labs are equipped to print all the records present on a sound negative it's the negative that matters, not what lab did the printing. Therefore nothing is going to have an SR-D track just because it came from Deluxe.
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 01-06-2003, 08:10 AM:
 
By the way. The new trailers are SDDS 6, not 8. I know what I think that means. What do you think it means?
 

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Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 01-06-2003, 10:13 AM:
 
That they want them to sound the same on all systems.
 

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Posted by Daniel Burns (Member # 1549) on 01-14-2003, 04:48 PM:
 
You know the new snipes are a six channel SDDS, and that a brand new AMC 18 plex does not have one eight channel auditorium. Crappy!
 

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Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 01-14-2003, 07:39 PM:
 
To paraphrase "Bill Gates" on The Simpsons "I didn't get rich by writing a lot of checks."
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 01-15-2003, 10:03 AM:
 
AMC just took one step away from SDDS with these trailers. That coupled with no SDDS on Star Trek???? I think SDDS will be dead very soon.
 

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Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 01-15-2003, 10:25 AM:
 
I would not draw such a conclusion. The only thing one can reasonably infer is that maybe they've backed away from 8 channels. If SDDS continues to be the sole digital system in most (but not all) auditoria in new construction then it doesn't appear that they are backing away from it. Whether AMC support is enough to ensure viability of the format overall is another question. I don't know what percent of digital houses are SDDS-only but I'd bet it's a large enough number that were I a studio I would think twice about dropping SDDS from my prints.
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 01-15-2003, 12:28 PM:
 
Almost nothing from Fox has SDDS anymore (except big budget stuff). Almost nothing from Paramount. Other studios are sort of hit and miss. When Tri Star & Columbia drop it, then we'll know for sure!
 

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Posted by Daniel Burns (Member # 1549) on 01-15-2003, 12:34 PM:
 
Kinda getting off topic. We currently have the 3000 on all 18 screens and our engineer told us that he had to carry around a seperate laptop just so he could do adjustments to those units because it was only windows 98 compatible. Think Sony's going to do something about that.
 

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Posted by Les Brock (Member # 1041) on 01-16-2003, 09:44 AM:
 
Daniel,

The setup software for the DFP D3000 is available for WIN2000, ME & XP.

It is downloadable from the SDDS website.

Or ask your engineer to send me an email and I will reply with the software attached.

Les
 

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