Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: How many trailers would you put on?

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Posted by Wyatt Copeland (Member # 4433) on 08-26-2007, 08:33 PM:

Its not my intention to whine and complain here, but just out of curriosity, I'd like to know what everyone elses policy on the amount of trailers you put on your movies?
I was at the Carmike in Columbia SC a few days ago with my girlfriend who just graduated basic training. We went to see the simpsons. The runtime of all the trailers, snipes, and screen ads they had up there was well over 23 minutes (I walked out to get my son a soda after that)
To me...thats a little excessive and I know the rest of the audience (7 other people..wow) were not impressed. Do other people do this??

Posted by Jeremy Weigel (Member # 4208) on 08-26-2007, 08:43 PM:

We usually run no more than 5 movie trailers, no cell phone snipe, "Feature Presentation" dater, and a digital sound logo with a total run time of 10-15 minutes. We have no pre-show and no rolling stock. I think any trailer pack over 15 minutes is way too long.

Posted by Matt Fields (Member # 3211) on 08-26-2007, 09:32 PM:

We always play four/five trailers or about 10 minutes worth. - Matt

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 08-26-2007, 09:45 PM:

We always do a cartoon, a PSA and about 4 trailers. About 13-16 min. all together. The cartoon and the PSA aren't seen as ads, but the cartoon as entertainment, the PSA (don't drink and drive, don't polute, etc.) are seen as good neighborly -- and even if some few don't like the PSAs, they are only 60secs and some even 30 secs long....it won't kill them.

If we are running a Roadshow title like MY FAIR LADY or LAWRENCE, we don't play anything in front of the feature (except entr'acte music, of course). We play the trailers out in the lobby instead. The cartoon lovers will just have to come back some other time.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-26-2007, 10:49 PM:

We usually play four or five trailers, but if a movie is exceptionally popular we'll play six to give the concession buyers more lobby time.

We play the Dolby logo after the trailers. No ads, policies, or any other content.

Posted by Mathew Molloy (Member # 666) on 08-27-2007, 02:12 AM:

I'm currently working for a local art-house chain and a local first-run theatre and both only show app. 7 minutes of trailers & welcome/cell phone/etc. snipes. Same held true when I worked for Landmark.

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 08-27-2007, 02:13 AM:

We play 5 trailers on all features. Then the Dolby, then our Harkins Theatres Presents. If the feature is playing in the Cine Capri then we play the Harkins Theatres presents the Cine Capri before the trailers start. Average Run time is 12 min.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 08-27-2007, 03:31 AM:

(Fun thing about working in discounts is that we can get away from adding any trailers if we want to...none of that red tape to follow) ...

But, to be on the showman side .. 2 to 3 tlrs at the most, AND when I get a hot summer movie that definitely has the legs to stay in a disount, then I'll do the digital sound tag - either DTS (the original 'shoosh' tag) or SRD (which has to be either the "city" or "train" tag) - before feature begins.

Posted by David Zylstra (Member # 4230) on 08-27-2007, 08:19 AM:

We do 2-3, maybe 4 max . . . our ad show is looped between shows so there are no attached ads . . . . . if a film comes with more and we have multiple prints we will vary the playlist between the same titles.

Years ago my previous employer did 15 minutes of previews - BUT they started 15 minutes early so the advertised time was the actual movie start time . . . . . customers learned that if they wanted to watch previews, come early . . . .

Posted by John Caswell (Member # 4024) on 08-27-2007, 10:37 AM:

We're allotted 15 minutes for ads/trailers, but since we have sponsor logos, often a full 10 mins of ads, and we're pushed to show 4 trailers, we can often run to 20-23 mins.

When possible I cut the trailers back to 3.

Posted by Chad M Calpito (Member # 3736) on 08-27-2007, 11:00 AM:

I use a total of 5 trailers, not including our A-Logo & FPS Logos as well as Rolling Stock. The only prints that I don't use the Rolling Stock on are Disney Films. It's company policy to start movies 5 minutes before the actual start-time due to the Rolling Stock, with the exception of the Disney Films which start at the advertised start time. One thing we don't use, and I wish we were allowed to use, are the Digital Snipes.

Posted by Thomas Pitt (Member # 4322) on 08-27-2007, 03:30 PM:

At VUE cinemas, the actual movie start time is usually 15-20 minutes after the advertised 'start time'. The normal sequence of a movie is as follows:

1. Orange promo advert
2. Pearl & Dean advertising snipe
3. Several commercials
4. pearlanddean.com advertising snipe
5. 4 to 6 trailers, depending on trailer length
6. Gold Spot advert (Pizza Hut for family films, Orange for others)
7. BBFC card and movie

Sometimes, if it's a preview showing or a 'last play' feature, they will skip the commercials and just show a couple of trailers before the movie.

Posted by Ramin Hashemi (Member # 2694) on 08-27-2007, 04:24 PM:

We usually put 4-5 previews, so long as we can still have 30 minutes between shows, and still finish the last show before 11:00 PM.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 08-27-2007, 04:47 PM:

The trailer pack at Carmike Cinemas varies depending on what studio distributed the feature. I can't remember what restrictions Disney has on what ads can and cannot be shown, but theirs are a bit different.

The growing number of TV product commercials is really serving to bloat the time between projector start and the beginning of the feature.

I don't think very many of the executives calling for ever larger trailer packs are aware of just how irritated the audiences are growing from that nonsense. IMHO, anything over 20 minutes is just plain excessive. Some of those bean counters are probably pushing for 30 minute long trailer/commercial packs. I'll bet at least one jerk or two has floated the idea of placing ads within the movies themselves. Can't we do that sort of thing since the projectors are "digital" now?

Sometimes the trailer pack is long enough that I'll eat most of a bag of Twizzlers and drain half my large cup of soda pop. I run to the bathroom and empty my bladder as much as possible and head to the counter for a pop refill. Usually there's still enough time not to miss the beginning of the feature.

At times customers will chew out the theater manager for the movie having so many trailers and commercials on the front of it -as if the local theater manager has any say on what trailers will be run.
[Roll Eyes]

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 08-27-2007, 04:55 PM:

We havent't had a trailer program of less than 20 minutes in a long time. Right now it averages 23-26 minutes with up to 9 trailers. It is irritating to say the least.

Anyone who has been to a Carmike and does not like the number of trailers being played before the feature please go to www.carmike.com and leave feedback. Try to note you hate the screenvisions the most as perhaps that will lead to fewer of those being played; otherwise they may just cut down on previews (which would you rather watch, a preview or a commercial for a new car?). Carmike usually listens to feedback if they get enough of it requesting the same thing.

Posted by Thomas Pitt (Member # 4322) on 08-27-2007, 05:27 PM:

Ads in the MIDDLE of movies would be a big mistake. If it suddenly went "The movie continues after these messages" like on TV, I'm sure half the audience would walk out! Most would probably treat it as an intermission and use the bathroom or get popcorn/soda refills - so there would be nobody there during the ads!

Perhaps there could be a little advertising 'ticker' at the bottom of the screen, scrolling ads while the movie is on (like some TV networks do). The Simpsons Movie did a little parody of that at one point [Wink]

Anyway, I wonder if it would be worthwhile showing both the 'ad start' and 'feature start' time on the display boards and website? People could then come in later and not worry about missing any of the actual movie.

Another idea - perhaps have the advertised start time of the movie at the time when the movie actually begins, and just start the showreel (show-platter?) 20 minutes early. Also put up a big notice saying that the movie itself starts at the advertised time, and the adverts are earlier [Wink]

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 08-27-2007, 05:41 PM:

quote: Thomas Pitt
Ads in the MIDDLE of movies would be a big mistake.

I wasn't suggesting that as any horrible possibility. The movie distributors and exhibitor chain executives already seem pretty opposed to any intermissions breaking up 3 hour-plus movies.

It would be a horrible mistake for any movie theater chain to try to scroll ads on the bottom of the screen, if doing such a thing were technologically feasible within the current crop of d-cinema systems (I don't think it is, but some simple "picture in picture" modifications either in software or hardware might be simple to do).

Already there are several cable TV networks I almost always avoid for their overly intrusive in-program ads. Fox's "FX" channel is the worst. You'll be watching a movie or some other show on that channel and some noisy ad for Rescue Me or The Shield will use up the bottom third of screen and simply disrupt whatever you were watching. Then you get to endure 5 minute long commercial breaks when you don't have TV series spam screwing up your entertainment. And these network executive fuckers are wondering why so many people are "time shifting" their shows onto DVR's?
[Roll Eyes]

There's only so much of this ad shit we're going to endure. After a certain point, we just give up on the experience of watching that show and go do something else -like surf the 'net, watch DVDs, play games on a X-Box360 or even something really novel like reading a book or going outside and letting the sun shine on you!

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-27-2007, 06:27 PM:

quote:
If it suddenly went "The movie continues after these messages" like on TV, I'm sure half the audience would walk out!

Right, and the other half would either be yakking, or staring at their cellphones or GameBoys. They certainly wouldn't be watching the ads!

For Dustin - my wife and I attended a movie at the Wynnsong 10 at Billings, MT a couple of weeks ago on the way home from vacation... they only had a 10-minute trailer/ad pack. (We were a few minutes late so I don't know what the exact content was.)

Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 08-27-2007, 08:45 PM:

I can assure you that most Carmike locations will ALWAYS run 20+ minutes of ads/trailers mix. They have for at least the last ten years and I see no slowdown any time soon.

If it were MY operation, up to 15 minutes or so of pre-show ADS with a MAX of 4 trailers. TRAILERS would begin at the advertised start time. ADS would be shown before the start time for the benefit of those who are punctual.

There will ALWAYS be folks who show up early, just to get a good seat, so advertisers will ALWAYS have a base audience.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 08-28-2007, 12:04 AM:

If Coke or Pepsi or Shick or Johnson & Johnson want me to feel good about their products, rather causing me to make a note to myself to NEVER EVER BUY THEM AGAIN because they annoyed me with a commercial before the a movie I PAID to watch, just give me a free soda or some sample product when I walk into the theatre. It would impress me to no freakin end and I would certainly remember that brand fondly.....instead of wanting to rip some CEO's nuts off for torturing me with tv ads before the film.

And BTW, I really have no objection to product placement in a movie, as long as it's not done intrusively. In fact, real products in a movie go a long way to improving realism. I use to hate it when they would put these generic props in a film. I mean, you might as well put a blinking sign that says, THIS IS JUST A MOVIE and break the suspension of disbelief when you see someone drinking a beer and the can says BEER. Let it say Budwiser (ah....now THAT would be a great item to give away as samples before the show!!).

And how come someone can't come up with a way to give real telephone numbers so every telephone number that is ever mentioned on film has to start with 555? They even make the TouchTones be 555 no matter what the actor presses.

Can't every studio maintain a bunch of numbers that just forward to some advertising recording (they could sell "fake movie number" ads to advertisers!) Wouldn't THAT piss off the imbeciles who call the telephone numbers they hear in movies! And anyway, how many people actually make prank calls to the movie phone numbers? Are there THAT many that every movie ever made has to have the number for Directory Ass? (555 + anything will always get information). And how come the phone companies themselves don't get pissed by the pile of prank calls made to Directory Ass from the 555 numbers?

I say, put in real phone numbers....the 555 thing is as bad as the can of beer that is labled BEER.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-28-2007, 01:42 AM:

They ought to use the director's phone number, that way people could call and tell him how much the movie sucks. Hell, they could call from their seat! "Hey GREENGRASS, your camerawork is making me seasick!"

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 08-28-2007, 02:13 AM:

Mike, was it the last show of the day? They may have started the show very early in an attempt to get out at the end of the night earlier (a very bad practice of course).

If that isn't what happened and they are really running that small of a trailer pack....either they are dropping previews after the first week figuring there won't be a checker after that or they're playing with fire. One screenvision check showing non-compliance would be a big deal. Two non compliant checks? You might see a change in managment after that....

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-28-2007, 10:43 AM:

No, it was a 7:00 show, we got there about 7:10 and the feature movie was just starting. Thinking about it now, by the time we got the car parked and tickets bought etc it was probably closer to 7:15 by the time we got into the actual auditorium.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 08-28-2007, 12:21 PM:

That's still too small a trailer pack. They are supposed to be running a fire exit trailer, a fandango ad (if they are fandango capable), screenvisions, coke ads, at least 5 trailers (typically 6-8), the carmike policy, and two digital trailers.

If they can get away with it great I guess, just hope for their sake they don't get caught.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 08-28-2007, 12:28 PM:

4 trailers = Fine

5 trailers = You're pushing the limit

6 or more trailers: You better be running trailers for some very highly-anticipated movies or else you're wasting your time and annoying your customers.

Around here both Regal and Cinemark are very good about starting the trailers at the advertised showtime. It makes me wonder how the advertisers in the digital preshow figure they're getting their money's worth when so many customers time their arrival for the advertised showtime or even later, knowing they won't miss the start of the movie unless it's ungodly crowded. A small percentage of the customers see all that preshow stuff, the rest miss most or all of it.

Do advertisers pay more for placement near the end of the preshow where their ad is more likely to be seen by the most people?

Posted by David Zylstra (Member # 4230) on 08-28-2007, 12:47 PM:

If memory serves Screenvision requires their national ad spots to run at or just after the advertised showtime and the proposal I've seen from NCM runs the national spots just before the previews start (i.e. just before showtime) . . . .

Star Theatres in Michigan used to run a 15 minute preshow that started before showtime - i.e. the advertised showtime was the actual feature start time . . . . . . we had lots of complaints when we signed up with Screenvision since the new requirement was that the ads had to run at the end of the previews just before showtime - it sucked to have previews before showtime, ads at showtime, and then the feature . . . . . . (the Screenvision deal was signed because it was too good to pass up and it kept the company very solvent while Loews went bankrupt)

Of course when Loews/Onex bought out the partnership they changed the policy back to starting previews at showtime and the ads ran before previews . . . . . eventually our newspaper ads stated "actual feature start times will be 15-20 minutes after advertised start times" - I think there was a lawsuit in Chicago over the ads at showtime that spurred this disclaimer.

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 08-28-2007, 01:20 PM:

quote: David Zylstra
Of course when Loews/Onex bought out the partnership they changed the policy back to starting previews at showtime and the ads ran before previews . . . . . eventually our newspaper ads stated "actual feature start times will be 15-20 minutes after advertised start times" - I think there was a lawsuit in Chicago over the ads at showtime that spurred this disclaimer.

I'm certain it was 10-15 minutes when it was Loews/Onex. In fact, we had received official signage to put up in our lobby stating exactly that.

Though it always felt weird that if we had some Disney movie that had no ads, we had to start it late to get into the official 10-15 minutes.

Posted by David Zylstra (Member # 4230) on 08-28-2007, 02:15 PM:

You are probably correct on the 10-15 mins, at that time I was only loosely involved in the booth so I don't remember specifics - Loews kept me on only in the MIS capacity (same pay/benefits, much lower responsibility, talk about boring!)

Posted by Thomas Pitt (Member # 4322) on 08-28-2007, 03:31 PM:

Today I decided NOT to actively watch the preshow, and instead keep an eye on how many people were coming in and going out of the auditorium during the preshow. It seems there are always people who come in super-early (before the preshow starts), plenty of people who come in during the ads, and a few who come in while the trailers are playing.
There were even a couple of people coming in during the movie's opening credits sequence!

Regarding the ads at the end of the preshow - there is often an advert between the last trailer and the movie itself. This is called the 'Gold Spot', and is usually filled by a 'switch off your phone' advert. In the UK, Orange have held the Gold Spot position for quite a while, and I assume they pay a lot to get their ad there.

Posted by Andy Muirhead (Member # 712) on 08-28-2007, 06:46 PM:

quote: Thomas Pitt
Anyway, I wonder if it would be worthwhile showing both the 'ad start' and 'feature start' time on the display boards and website? People could then come in later and not worry about missing any of the actual movie.

Just doesn't work, in the UK at least. You get more people coming in late, after the feature has started.

Posted by Blaine Young (Member # 3992) on 08-28-2007, 11:54 PM:

As a general rule, we usually play between 4 and 6 trailers to fill out 12 minutes. Our theater does not use any rolling stock and no ads. Just a Dolby Digital snipe between the trailers and the feature.

We pad the film running times by 12 minutes on our web site to allow patrons to properly calcuate their exit times.

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 08-29-2007, 12:33 AM:

quote: David Zylstra
You are probably correct on the 10-15 mins, at that time I was only loosely involved in the booth so I don't remember specifics - Loews kept me on only in the MIS capacity (same pay/benefits, much lower responsibility, talk about boring!)

You wouldn't have to be in the booth, though, to see the lobby signs that said 10-15 minutes. [Razz]

quote: Blaine Young
As a general rule, we usually play between 4 and 6 trailers to fill out 12 minutes. Our theater does not use any rolling stock and no ads. Just a Dolby Digital snipe between the trailers and the feature.

Since you're in Kirkland and the only place I hear of not doing ads, I'm assuming you're at the Kirkland Park Place.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 08-29-2007, 06:34 AM:

Landmark's policy is usually about four trailers, maybe five if one is short. There is also a Landmark logo (recently redone) and 1-3 :30 or :60 spots (usually for cars or cable TV programming). Total runtime is about 10-11 minutes.

At one independent where I work from time to time, they usually run about 9 minutes' worth of trailers (usually 2-3) and policies (including Let's Go to the Lobby).

Whenever I have a chance to put together my own trailer reel, I usually run 2-3 trailers, plus a "coming soon" tag (first thing to hit the screen) and a "feature presentation" tag (after the last trailer). If possible, I like to show sound-format tags after the FP trailer.

Personally, I think that four or more trailers get to be annoying and are ineffective (as customers are less likely to remember what they saw). I think that the local AMC is up to 5-6 trailers now.

Posted by Jonathan M. Crist (Member # 413) on 08-29-2007, 10:01 AM:

Like the number of show times and lobby displays, the number of trailers being shown is now often more often controlled by the studios and not the exhibitors. Many contracts require certain of that studios trailers to be exhibited with their picture. In addition certain companies will agree to cross plug one another for various reasons (I can remember when both "Sum of All Fears" and "The Bourne Identity" were both initially scheduled to be released on the same weekend back in 2002. Universal agreed to postpone the release of Bourne Indentity for a couple of weeks in return for which Paramount agreed that the trailer for Bourne would be a 'must play' in front of Sum of All Fears.)

There are also deals where enitre circuits agree to play trailers for a given company. AMC at one time had a deal with Universal that required one Universal trailer be played on each and every show circuitwide.

THE BOTTOM LINE: We are going to be inundated with trailers. The bigger the release the more other studios want to "pile on" and get their release viewed by the biggest audience. It has come to a point where it is now nearly over the top. The most trailers that I can remember seeing timewise was 25 minutes worth before "Men In Black 2" at the AMC on 42nd Street in NYC.

Posted by Blaine Young (Member # 3992) on 08-29-2007, 12:01 PM:

quote:
quote: Blaine Young
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As a general rule, we usually play between 4 and 6 trailers to fill out 12 minutes. Our theater does not use any rolling stock and no ads. Just a Dolby Digital snipe between the trailers and the feature.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since you're in Kirkland and the only place I hear of not doing ads, I'm assuming you're at the Kirkland Park Place.

I've not been to Park Place since Cinplex Odeon sold it. I work at Lincoln Square Cinemas in downtown Bellevue.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 08-29-2007, 06:08 PM:

quote: Frank Angel
And how come someone can't come up with a way to give real telephone numbers so every telephone number that is ever mentioned on film has to start with 555?

The answer: lawyers.

If a film maker used a realistic looking phone number in a movie there would be no shortage of jerks dialing it just to see who answers and perhaps to screw with the call recipient. After awhile the person who has that number in real life would have to get his number changed. Somewhere along the line an attorney might see an opportunity to make a lot of money over the issue. After all we do live in a country where one woman successfully sued McDonalds for over $1 million because the coffee she spilled on her pants (while she was driving) was too hot. We have a judge in Washington, DC suing a dry cleaners for $60 million over some lost pants. The dry cleaners is getting wiped out just from the costs of defending themselves in court.

Yeah. We're going to keep seeing a lot of those "555" prefixes on phone numbers for a long time to come.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 08-29-2007, 06:28 PM:

The "official" pool of fake 555 numbers is presently limited to the range 0100 to 0199. But lots of other 555 numbers have been used in movies etc.

Posted by Jeremy Weigel (Member # 4208) on 08-29-2007, 08:28 PM:

quote: Bobby Henderson
If a film maker used a realistic looking phone number in a movie there would be no shortage of jerks dialing it just to see who answers and perhaps to screw with the call recipient.

Yep. Remember the Tommy Tutone song "Jenny" or otherwise known as "867-5309" song? You can probably find that number in just about every area. Feel sorry for those that ended up getting or having that as their phone#.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-29-2007, 10:19 PM:

If the studios were smart, they would each get a phone number that connects to a recorded blurb about their latest movies. Then use that phone number whenever a number is needed in a film. (Or each studio could get ten numbers, so the number isn't repeated very often).

Then when the people who have no life call the number, they'll get a sales pitch, and will probably be thrilled that they got through to a real live movie company.

I don't know why it takes some goofball like me to think up this kind of thing...I should be a highly paid studio executive.

But Bobby is probably right, even my solution probably wouldn't work because lawyers would find a way to screw it up.

Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 08-29-2007, 10:33 PM:

I've always thought the same thing as Mike. I have no idea why they wouldn't do that. They don't even have to spend much money on it. They could just do a simple one line even if it'll be busy all the time. If the marketing aspect works they can set it up with rollovers so people can actually get through.

Posted by Wyatt Copeland (Member # 4433) on 08-29-2007, 10:43 PM:

I don't know a whole lot about how land line phone services work(actually I know next to nothing), but I would imagine that since there would only be one number used in the movie, then the one number would be called a lot. Now there are a lot of fools in the world, and wouldn't all those people calling really jam up the service for that particular #? Unless there was a way to redirect the calls to a non-busy line with a recording. Idunno. Just a thought that theres probably some technical reason instead of logical reason why they wouldn't create a special line.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 08-29-2007, 11:13 PM:

A single number can be routed to a "hunt group," such that, if the first line is busy, the second line rings (and so forth). This is how popular telephone numbers (e.g. customer service lines, time, weather, etc.) work.

Interestingly, "The Departed" used at least one valid number (617-869-1469) in the film. It is a real Boston number registered to Sprint Spectrum LP. If you call it, you get a generic voicemail box (which is full). There's another number used in the film as well, but it isn't valid.

The quintessential 555 number is 311-555-2368, which was used for years in telephone-company publications. Every photograph of a telephone showed a number card bearing this number.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 08-30-2007, 07:32 PM:

quote: Mike Blakesley
If the studios were smart, they would each get a phone number that connects to a recorded blurb about their latest movies. Then use that phone number whenever a number is needed in a film. (Or each studio could get ten numbers, so the number isn't repeated very often).

Then when the people who have no life call the number, they'll get a sales pitch, and will probably be thrilled that they got through to a real live movie company.

I don't know why it takes some goofball like me to think up this kind of thing...I should be a highly paid studio executive.

Because Mike, another goofball already closed the deal....hehe

quote:
Can't every studio maintain a bunch of numbers that just forward to some advertising recording (they could sell "fake movie number" ads to advertisers!)

I get the office with the windows because I would sell that telephone ad time to advertisers!

OR, they could just give out numbers to those telephone porno sites in the Bahamas that charge $24.99 as soon as it's connects and then $5.99 a minute thereafter. Betcha after mom and dad get that bill, little Johnny will think twice about calling phone numbers he hears in movies (hard to dial with those broken fingers). The studio could cut a deal with the porn operators for a percentage of the gross. [thumbsup]

Posted by Jeremy Jorgenson (Member # 2989) on 09-01-2007, 07:36 PM:

Hmmm... I don't remember the 555 thing being in all that many recent films. Of course I can't say that I'd care too much, generally I'm not watching a film to judge its verisimilitude, but rather to be entertained by something I know to be fiction... would it pull me out of the story if I heard/saw '555'? Yeah, but only briefly, and no more so than most of the other "non-realistic" things which abound in most modern features. When a phone number is obscured so as not to see the prefix, or if a non-555 number is used, that will also bring me out of the story, because my mind is noticing how these particular filmmakers got around using a 555 number.

==

As to the question of number of trailers... For patrons, I agree with the general consensus that anything over 5 probably isn't effective.

On the couple of occasions that I've screened a private film (built solely for one screening that consisted of me and a few random others - then torn down after that), I'll load it up with a whole bunch of trailers from my collection, say 45 minutes worth. [thumbsup]

Posted by Thomas Pitt (Member # 4322) on 09-02-2007, 03:31 PM:

Not to hijack this thread, but what exactly is 'rolling stock'? I've seen the term used several times during discussions about pre-movie trailers and commercials, but I still don't know what it is!

Many years ago (early 1990s I think) I remember going to a single-screen cinema. They ran a reel of about 15 minutes of commercials and trailers. This was followed by an 'intermission' snipe, and they stopped projecting for about 10 minutes. After that, the movie came on - straight into the BBFC card with no ads beforehand. There were no intermissions in the middle of the movie itself though.
I wonder what the reason for that was? I don't even know if this cinema was a changeover booth or a platter/tower system!

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 09-02-2007, 03:43 PM:

Thomas all rolling stock is is Screenvision ads. My old theatre used to run them, now the theatre I'm at dosn't. Insted we have a whole screenvision preshow that runs it all.

Posted by Phil Blake (Member # 2012) on 09-04-2007, 12:00 AM:

only run 1 trailer and on the odd occasions 2 max we try to work super fast turn arounds , 3 mins ads plus 1 trailer is about the maximum time I can spare without causing overlaps.

Posted by Robert Burtcher (Member # 3227) on 10-17-2007, 04:37 PM:

While I worked for Dickinson, the formula was:
Coke ad (:30)
Screenvision ad pack (0:00 - 2:30)
MovieTickets.com ad (:45)
4 trailers (most often 2:30 ea)
Policy snipe (if available, but usually not - :30)

Worst case scenario, this was ~14 minutes. Best case, 11:15.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 10-17-2007, 05:54 PM:

..and most of the Dickensons theatres that I've frequented,in KS and MO, they used opaque tape. (horrible!)

Posted by Robert Burtcher (Member # 3227) on 10-17-2007, 07:06 PM:

My location, Penn Square 10 in Oklahoma City, used that crappy T-Stripe stuff. I brought in two sleeves of clear Neutape and used it for a while, but then the managers complained they couldn't easily find the splices and forced me to use T-Stripe again. [Roll Eyes]

I used what was left of my Neutape to break down prints properly, until one of the AM's hid it from me and told me to break it down - in his words - the "Dickinson Way" -- rip the splices and tape the heads and tails back on with the cheapest masking tape they could find at Wal-Mart. I actually put written apologies in the cans of the prints I was forced to ship out that way. [uhoh]

Posted by Thomas Dieter (Member # 2507) on 10-17-2007, 07:50 PM:

If I were you Robert, I would take and use up all ther T-Stripe tape just to piss them off.

Posted by Robert Burtcher (Member # 3227) on 10-17-2007, 09:27 PM:

Hah! I seriously thought about it... but not only would other theatres be subjected to the tar-like adhesive residue of the T-Stripe, I haven't worked there in nearly a year. I left there due to extremely poor wages ($5.50/hr), and a lack of confidence in the company, as I discovered that some of my hours had gone missing... (cumulative total of about 70 hours over the course of a year). Tried to resolve it within the company and got the runaround, so I left to get a job working for a software company, doing technical support for twice the pay. I want to get back in the film biz, though... Working tech support is sucking my soul. >.<

Posted by Steve Maggs (Member # 444) on 10-22-2007, 08:27 AM:

Here in Brisbane, Australia our company screens up to 5 trailers plus other advertising. However, we can only show trailers with the same or lower censorship rating. This means that a Family G rated film may only have 2 trailers attached due the small amount of other G rated trailers available at the time.
Some of our films do not have many of the standard pre-show advertising so we can have a range of advertising from as short as 3 minutes up to 25 minutes.
I have worked for a different company that would sometimes go as high as 35 minutes of advertising. That always backfires as Patrons get bored, complain or simply do not arrive until 30 minutes after the advertised time.

Posted by Thomas Pitt (Member # 4322) on 10-22-2007, 09:53 AM:

This is something that's been bugging me - trailer certificates. Most cinemas in the UK usually show only trailers for movies that are the same or lower certificate to the actual movie being shown. For example, you wouldn't have a trailer for a 15-rated movie shown before a PG-rated movie.

But what if the trailers themselves were edited to omit any objectionable content that wouldn't be allowed under the lower rating? Cut out or digitally 'mask' shots of gore, excessive violence or adult themes and just leave the general gist of the trailer - then you could run it before PG or U movies!

This probably wouldn't work in practice though since trailers are designed to promote the story and themes of the movie. If it's a movie with lots of action, you'd end up with a virtually non-existent trailer if you cut out all the violence! [Wink]

Besides, it's not for the cinema managers and projectionists to decide - it's up to the movie companies who produce the trailers. Just a thought, though.

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 10-22-2007, 12:08 PM:

I have occasionally seen something like "12a trailer advertising 15 film" on the start of a trailer, but I don't remember seeing any of these recently.

Posted by Mark Hajducki (Member # 1732) on 10-22-2007, 01:25 PM:

quote:
This is something that's been bugging me - trailer certificates. Most cinemas in the UK usually show only trailers for movies that are the same or lower certificate to the actual movie being shown. For example, you wouldn't have a trailer for a 15-rated movie shown before a PG-rated movie.

But what if the trailers themselves were edited to omit any objectionable content that wouldn't be allowed under the lower rating? Cut out or digitally 'mask' shots of gore, excessive violence or adult themes and just leave the general gist of the trailer - then you could run it before PG or U movies!

Trailers are classified separately by the BBFC and (in the vast majority of cases) are rated the same or lower than the film. Larger films tend to have multiple versions of the trailers, usually at different ratings.

Posted by Ron Curran (Member # 3631) on 10-22-2007, 07:24 PM:

In Australia, the trailers are given the same rating as the feature and the screenings are enforcable by law.

The stupid thing is that the same trailer can be rated for tv ads and shown on most time slots.

Promotion of films in cinemas is problematic.

Posted by Thomas Pitt (Member # 4322) on 10-23-2007, 05:38 PM:

Many TV commercials are also being played in cinemas though. Whereas for TV commercials can be given time restrictions (ex-kids, post-9pm etc), commercials to be played in a cinema have to be rated by the BBFC before they can be shown. The certificate is usually shown in the corner of the screen as the commercial starts.

Just like the trailers, the commercials shown in a cinema are never any higher than the certificate of the actual movie. Come to think of it though, I've never seen a commercial in a cinema rated any higher than '12A'...

Posted by Peter David Bruce (Member # 4447) on 11-19-2007, 08:17 AM:

here at Empire Cinemas the ads and trailers combined last no longer than 20minutes. trailer number... no more than 5 max.

all ads and trailers only go up to the age restriction of the movie. for one-off kids showings on weekends we just bung in a couple of U-rated trailers to give people time to settle in their seats pre-film.

Posted by Ron Funderburg (Member # 4561) on 11-20-2007, 05:35 PM:

I put a DTS log to start off (as we don't have proper automation) then 2 to 3.5 minutes of rolling stock. I ad two or three trailers so there are never more than 4 trailers for a total time of no more than 11 minutes.

Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 11-20-2007, 06:49 PM:

At the theater I'm at we generally run no more than 4 trailers. There's one theater in downtown San Francisco I sometimes go to (shhhh...don't tell my boss! [Wink]

) that regularly runs 20-25min of 'stuff'. Even I've learned to get there about 18 min after advertised show time to avoid sitting through it all. Sometimes we get people who show up 20min late at my theater thinking that we do the same thing, and then they complain because that they've missed the first 12min of the movie. Sometimes ya' just can't win....

Posted by Scott McGuire (Member # 4508) on 11-21-2007, 12:19 AM:

Unless we get a film in with the attatched trailor in we run no tailors at all. The customers are starting to show up early not that they are getting used to no tailors.

Posted by Philip Jordan (Member # 4517) on 11-21-2007, 06:40 PM:

Are running time would be around 10-15 minutes

1. Carlton Screen Ads

2. 2 to 3 Trailers

3. Vodafone trailer

4. Harp or Guinness ads (depending on Cert of Film)

5. BBFC Cert then Movie

P.S.

New to the site, Love it

And to say Hello to Every one.