Returning to the principal point of my original post, is there such a thing as a cinema code of conduct either here in Australia or overseas? If not, do you think there is some merit in the idea of there being one? It would seem to solve many of the problems that I mentioned in my original post and would also set a defined standard for acceptable ethical conduct in the context of cinemas. We have standards for screen luminosity, film gauge and sound quality - why not presentation ethics?

cheers Peter

Customers spend approximately 10 times more time watching their presentation than they do in the lobby. Therefore anything that happens inside the auditorium is 10 TIMES MORE IMPORTANT as far as the customer is concerned. But if there was something defective in the lobby, I cannot tell you how quickly that would be taken care of.

Joe is absolutely correct. All too often, theatre management decides that a problem isn't a big deal. They write: "the show was only off-screen for 5 minutes" in the log book. I have also seen: "Only four people requested refunds."

Meanwhile, if there's a shortage of hot dog relish on a Sunday evening they will send somebody out to locate a convenience store right away.

Should there be presentation standards? Well, okay, there are already standards, so I guess we're talking about "enforceable" standards.

My guess is that it will depend largely on who you ask. I think there ought to be a set of specified standards referenced in the distributor/exhibitor agreements. However, I'm willing to bet that many theatre owners would totally freak out if that was ever attempted.

~Manny.

I'm always hacked off.

"Sometimes, all you can do is point out that there is a problem and leave it up to management to determine whether to run the show or not. "

Unfortunalty this is not always true. It is not always the management's decision weather or not to run a show at least at the theater level. Typically orders come from on high that the show must run unless the print is so damage that is not playable. So you byte the bullet, have the box office cashier inform the customers so the have a choice (I am totally against using signs unless absolutely necessary) and run the show as best as possiable until the replacement print shows up.
 

People seem to become far more upset if the popcorn machine is on the blink than if anything is wrong with the film.
 

But I feel that what Michael is saying actually highlights another layer to the problem. Namely, that quite often the people who are making these kinds of important decisions are not actually on-hand to witness the results of their decision-making.

For instance, it's very easy to say "the show must go on" if you don't have to lift a finger to put the show on...or if you're nowhere near the angry mob that comes out looking for refunds when the presentation sucks.

I'll add to this and suggest that we've got too many "business people" and not enough "show people" in show business today.

As for the customers not seeming to care about the presentation...It's probably a function of geography and/or demographics, so I won't agree or disagree with the statement. However, I will say that I believe there has been a steady decline in presentation standards and, hence, the general public has gradually become more and more tolerant of projection problems.

Then again, maybe that is cultural, too: It's probably a safe bet that a large portion of the moviegoing population actually gives a damn about the presentation standards in Burbank, Beverly Hills, Hollywood and Los Angeles.

It's unfair to compare a scratch in the film or "just mono today" to the whole popcorn machine being dead. It's more fair to compare the significance of the projector breaking down to the popcorn popper breaking down.

You could, however, compare something like the film going a little out-of-frame for an entire reel (or a delayed lens change) to something along the lines of "we're using Flavacol instead of Savoral" or "we have to use the canola oil today." Those are closer in nature because you still have the product...just not the way you usually offer it.

How far from standard can your popcorn stray before your customers get angry about it?

What about the movie?

Would you still say that they seem to care more about the popcorn?

quote:

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Personally, I think all management should be or have been a projectionist.

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I wouldn't go that far, but I would insist that all managers spend at least 2-3 days in a booth as part of their training programme. The last cinema chain I worked for introduced this policy and it certainly resulted in managers who were more aware of, and sympathetic to, technical issues than in other places where the projectionists went in their black hole and were forgotten about... until something went wrong.

The other side of that coin is that trainee projectionists should be made - at least once - to usher a full house of customers in the aftermath of a box office computer crash...
 

I used to give all of the incomming managers an entire month of training during their regular training period. Less than a year later, they can't remember how to thread because they are uniformly disinterested in doing it and, hence, staying in practice.

They also tended to break things during their training period and I never got the impression that anyone was making it mandatory that they excel in that area. They came in and played along and then that was it.

Nearly all of the managers are now banned from operating the booth equipment at their theatres. The only exception is the manager who actually worked her way from being an usher/concessionist through projection and then became a manager. There is a hefty penalty surcharge if any of the other managers are involved in a projection mishap that I am called in to handle.
 

Yeah, I'm just a little irritated with work right now. Someone managed to bust the handle on one of the two splicers we have - and not mention it in any of the logs, or leave a note for anyone...

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"The greatest thing you will ever learn, is just love and be loved in return."

Barry C. Martin
IATSE Local 182