This is topic Bad Frame-Lines On Screenvision Ads? in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 12-05-2009, 09:00 AM:
 
I have a mixture of Dolby Digital and DTS auditoriums.
Since there is never a DTS track on the screenvision
ads, I must play them in Dolby analog in the DTS
audioriums and assmble all ads with the assumption
that at some point during the run the print will
be played on both types of sound systems.

Here's the problem- -
The frame lines printed 'in the black' before the
first image on the screenvision ads are non-standard.
They are not exactly in the proper position relative
to the sprocket holes, and the black does not extend
all the way to the non-soundtrack side of the film.

When projected, the frame lines and a white bar on
the right side are clearly visable on the screen.

It looks "sloppy".

My dilemna is that if I cut off the section of
black/framline before the first image frame, I
will truncate the first word or the opening notes
on the sound track, since the track begins in that
badly framelined section of film.

It sounds "sloppy".

This is really only a problem in SCOPE, since the
framlines are masked by the 1:85 aperature plate
on the FLAT ads.

My scope plates are all cut to spec. and in one
auditorium the plate is actually slightly under-
sized, and it still can't hide the bad frames.

Does anyone else have to deal with this problem?
It seems I'm stuck with either having sloppy picture
or sloppy sound when assembling screenvision ads.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 12-05-2009, 10:45 AM:
 
The Screenvision ads I have seen recently come pre-spliced together, and they don't seem to care about the soundtrack. They frequently just cut on the first frame of the image, and the ads often arrive scratched. So I say, just do it their way. Heck you can even drag them around the floor to make them more authentic! Remember, it is impossible to put on a good presentation with Screenvision rolling stock, so don't lose any sleep over it.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-05-2009, 11:15 AM:
 
Would judicious application of a black Sharpie marker solve it?
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 12-05-2009, 11:35 AM:
 
Can your automation be flexible enough to cue a dowser close to kill the screen image during that short period and then open again? Although that might work, I am with Brad -- if that's the way they have printed the ads, then pick the worst of two evils -- I would go with cutting off the offending image and let the sound fall where it may. These are freakin ADS remember -- audiences hate them; they are not going to mind hearing less than a second of sound jump.

Of course there is a third solution, and we all know what it is....
 

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Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 12-06-2009, 08:30 PM:
 

quote: Frank Angel

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Can your automation be flexible enough to cue a dowser close to kill the screen image during that short period and then open again?

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No, but I can program it so that the dowser doesn't
open and the sound doesn't switch until AFTER all
the ads have passed through . . . hahahaha

But seriously- I'm going to take Brad's advice
and not loose any sleep over it, especially after
what happened today.

Last night, before I went home, at the request of
management, I spliced one more ad at the head of
the pack in one of the auditoriums. When I went
downstairs after starting the first round of
matinees today, the box office told me that there
had been 'complaints about the sound' in that
auditorum when I started that show.

I went back upstairs and could find no problems
with the threading or sound system so I just
figured it was some guy with a bad hearing aid
battery.

But,right after I started the 2nd show of the day
in that same auditorium, I noticed a number of people
turning around looking up at the booth a few seconds
into the first ad. I turned up the booth monitor
a bit louder and noticed the level was a little
"off". So I stepped out into the auditorium and
the sound track was "pumping" from loud to soft
every few seconds. It sounded like someone had
attached the main volume control knob to a yo-yo.

But as soon as that ad ended, everything was OK.
(Unfortunately, it was a long ad - 2min 30sec)

So I pulled the ad off before the next show and
discovered the sound track density printing
varied greatly throughout length of the ad.
It looked like the raw stock might have been
light struck & edge fogged along the soundtrack.

So much for quality control at the lab.

So, as several people have suggested- - I'm going
to do the best I can with what I've got to work
with, but I'm not going to obsess over it any more!

Most people ignore the ads anyway. They're too busy
chatting, texting or twittering and one guy today
was using a laptop during the pre-show show stuff.

Ironically - - they'll all complain about the ads
they're ignoring though if the picture or sound
isn't right!
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 12-07-2009, 01:01 AM:
 
That's because they are afraid their actual movie might sound like that.
 

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Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 12-07-2009, 01:10 PM:
 

quote: Jim Cassedy

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But as soon as that ad ended, everything was OK.
(Unfortunately, it was a long ad - 2min 30sec

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quote: Monte L Fullmer

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Is that the dumb "National Guard" ad?

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How did you guess?
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-09-2009, 03:25 AM:
 
Bruce, more likely than not, Screenvision would just find you in "non-compliance" for not playing the ads and they would not send you a check.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 12-09-2009, 08:59 AM:
 
Not if you call Screenpoop and tell them they sent you defective prints. Call them and tell them you want a replacement.

The way Screenpuke makes money is that they are selling your screen at a higher price to the advertisers than they are paying you. So yah, they can opt to not send you a check (although there may be a counter legal issue there of who is in breach of complance if they are sending you a defective product), but if they don't send you a check, then they also loose your screen play, and then THEY don't get paid for your screen time. If enough subscribing exhibitors refused to play ads that were printed defectively and refuse to play them until they got corrected replacements, I'll bet Screenkaka would pay a bit more attention to their lab quality.

But of course that would require exhibitors to GIVE A FLYING SHEET about their presentation.

Now THERE'S a catch 22 -- if they gave a crap about their presentation, they wouldn't be running Screenturds, now would they?

Never mind.
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 12-09-2009, 11:52 AM:
 
From when I dealt directly with them, calling for replacement stuff just gets you on an answering machine that appeared to only be checked once every few days or once every week.

We hadn't gotten enough scope ads one time. We got so tired of having to program in lens changes just to get the stuff on-screen that the manager had me call every single day for more ads. By the time they actually sent the pieces of crud, we'd already received a whole new set of ads anyway (and by some stroke of magic, we had enough).
 

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Posted by Geena Phillips (Member # 3726) on 12-12-2009, 11:51 AM:
 

quote: Joe Redifer

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Screenvision is a horrible company full of incompetence only used by cheap theater chains who will take any kind of ad revenue they can get. Like Brad suggested, it is impossible for them to do a good job over at Screenvision.

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quote: Bruce Hansen

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Has anyone tried complaining to Screenvision? Maybe if you started sending the things back to Screenvision saying they are defective, and asking for a replacment (and the ad misses its air date), they would wake up, and fix things.

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