Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: China has no respect for movies

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 08-22-2014, 08:08 PM:

You got that right Mark Gulbrandsen! Check out this horrible nonsense they are doing.

quote:

Chinese Theaters Test System of Onscreen Text Messages During Movies

For a relaxed movie viewing experience, don't go near any of these theaters

Theaters in major Chinese cities have starting experimenting with “bullet screens” on which audiences can send text messages commenting on the film, which are then projected directly onto the screen.

If you're sensitive to people using their cellphones during a movie, then going to the movie theater in China would be far from relaxing experience. Rows of underlit faces and chiming ringtones punctuate the show, despite requests asking patrons to turn their phones before the movie begins.

This experience is set to become institutionalized during some movies for younger viewers who can’t spend five minutes away from their tablet or phone, according to a report in the China Youth Daily.

The inspiration behind the idea appears to be that it mimicks that of watching a movie on mobile media, which is how most Chinese people watch films, with people sending messages about what they like or dislike about the movie.

In a censored environment like China, precautions are taken to remove sensitive or forbidden words.

There are several Chinese movie websites, based on a Japanese idea of bullet screens, where viewers can spend their whole time making remarks on the film via SMS.

The experiment involves a number of theaters in China, including in Beijing and Shanghai, but also in smaller cities such as Hangzhou.

Earlier this month, the Luxin cinema in Shandong province in northeast China tried the system with a screening of the domestic 3D animated movie The Legend of Qin, a TV adaptation that has taken $9.25 million in box office in China so far.

The manager, surnamed Zhang, said the theater was 90 percent occupied and that “bullet information” was sent by SMS at 0.1 yuan, around 10 cents, per message.

“People like it right now, as it’s a new thing," he said. "In the long term, it might affect people’s concentration. We are trying to continue with some bullet screen activities and play some films that young people like. Time will tell.”

Shen Leping, director of The Legend of Qin, is very enthusiastic about it, ran a report on the Nanfang website.

“We are exploring how the response from the audience can affect the movie itself… We are, in fact, putting the director and viewer on equal terms, and I think many of the opinions of the viewers are very helpful for film makers,” he said.

Fellow film director He Ping, formerly head of the China Film Directors Guild, said that no way could what was being screened be changed by the audiences.

“A film with bullet screen must be authorized by the writer when they sign a contract with the producer,” said He.

On the social media sites, the reaction was mixed.

“I hope bullet screens don’t become big in Chinese cinemas to help save poor Chinese films,” Hesheng commented on Sina Weibo, while Riya Sang wrote: “I don’t like bullet screens. The point of watching a film in the theater is to put away whatever is in your hand and focus on the film. Sometimes, it blocks the screen.”

Jinxi Hexi WY also wasn’t a fan. “When the audience complains during the screening, it interrupts our independent thinking and affects our concentration on the film. I don’t like it.”

But others enjoyed the interactivity.

“This is a real way of watching a film. For us, it is exciting and fun,” wrote Xu Huilin. “It is a reform in terms of the commercial model. It is just like when popcorn got into cinema for the first time, a lot of people protested that it would affect the film viewing experience.”

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 08-23-2014, 12:03 AM:

Reminds me of that incident in India a few years back when a patron who thought that the movie he was watching at a drive-in sucked, and expressed that view by firing a bazooka at the screen and obliterating the entire structure.

Though related specifically to screens, I've often thought that an effective way of dissuading their use would be a system that captures a video stream of whatever is on the screen of a cellphone in the auditorium selected at random, and then suddenly projects it onto the actual theater screen for just long enough for 500 people or so to read whatever text message or Facebook post they are working on. Though presumably in China, the reverse psychology would apply and the owner of the selected phone would consider it an honor.

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 08-23-2014, 03:52 AM:

I think I would be tempted to pull out my own bazooka and fire it squarely at the screen if somebody ever tried to pull this kind of crap around here. I never thought I would say this, but for once, we can hail the DCI copyright gods, because it will be hard to impossible to make this stuff work for encrypted DCI content.

A year a so ago, some horrible local production called "App" already encouraged cellphone and tablet use as second screen and I'm glad that whole thing largely bombed.

Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 08-23-2014, 07:49 AM:

Re: APP, Disney was trying something like that here, and it seems to have disappeared, thankfully.

As for Bullet Screens, anything that drives the audience out of the multiplexes and into the arthouses is fine with me [evil]

Posted by Jarod Reddig (Member # 6363) on 08-23-2014, 05:21 PM:

Good lord the very notion of this just pisses me off!! Worst idea ever.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 08-26-2014, 01:56 PM:

Sounds about right for China. The heads of its collective populace are stuck way up in its digital ass.

I saw a news report a couple days ago showing surveillance video of a SUV rolling over the top of some kid playing in the street. The child was okay; just some bumps and bruises on his back from the SUV's under-carriage. The kid was between the SUV's wheels when it passed over him. The driver claims he didn't see the child at all. He must have been too busy tapping away SMS messages on his phone to bother noticing what was clearly in front of his vehicle.

I couldn't imagine this bullet points SMS message projection thing creeping into American movie theaters. But then again I suppose anything is possible. There are enough reality TV junkie dumb asses in this country to enable MTV to be a cable network that doesn't have a damn thing to do with music at all, other than its annual "video music awards" broadcast (as if MTV is actually qualified to be an authority to judge that sort of thing anymore).

If we can have illogical shit like that taking place here I suppose its possible to have text messages projected on a movie theater screen. Maybe they can upgrade the "service" by including a little video window of a screaming, crying baby down in the corner of the screen, just like one of those animated cable TV network slugs.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 08-27-2014, 04:40 PM:

It wold be fun to have someone's phone number that is attending a movie there... Hey such and such... your girl friend is pregnant!

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 08-29-2014, 07:54 PM:

quote: Bobby Henderson
I couldn't imagine this bullet points SMS message projection thing creeping into American movie theaters.

Yeah! As long as none of the biggest American movie theater chains will be acquired by a bunch of those crazy China folks, nothing like this will ever happen!!!

Hmmmm, wait...

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 08-29-2014, 10:34 PM:

If they do, maybe they could hire this girl to star in a "Please turn off your cellphones" snipe?

Posted by Richard Hamilton (Member # 321) on 08-30-2014, 09:45 AM:

1st of all, most of you know I have to jump in and defend my friends overseas, just like I would for anyone here. I saw two movies in China. One was Spiderman and it wasn't subtitled in English so I had no idea what was going on. I just sat back, drank my 6 pack and ate my KFC that I brought in. The second was some Chinese flick that the girl I was with thought it was in IMAX because of the 2 free coupons had an Imax ad for some new movie they were getting. It was a Chinese film and not Imax and it was spoken in Manderin and subtitled in Cantonese (again beer and KFC, then nap). Both movies had younger audiences and very few people. I doubt that the texting would bother any of them.

What bothers me most is when I'm watching something on T.V. and it has subtitles in an important part when the foreign bad guys are speaking and an ad for some new series pops up and covers the bottom part of the screen, blocking what I need to read and assume is integral in solving this action against the evil foreigners [Mad]

I don't know if anyone watched the Emmys, but there was one shot from the back, and half the audience was texting or reading texts. Yes, even actors do it in a setting where they should be cheering on their peers.

quote: Bobby Henderson
I saw a news report a couple days ago showing surveillance video of a SUV rolling over the top of some kid playing in the street. The child was okay; just some bumps and bruises on his back from the SUV's under-carriage. The kid was between the SUV's wheels when it passed over him. The driver claims he didn't see the child at all. He must have been too busy tapping away SMS messages on his phone to bother noticing what was clearly in front of his vehicle.

Bobby, so you're just assuming that? Crossing the street in China is a hazard. Very few stoplights so when you cross five or six lanes of traffic, you do it one lane at a time, judging the oncoming cars and trucks and standing in the middle of the street waiting for the next "opening". I've seen toddlers holding their mothers hand and six or seven year olds by themselves cross 6 or 7 lanes of speeding traffic. Texting is a way of life there,but out of the hundreds of cabs I took there, I think I had one driver text and one call somebody to try to find out where I wanted to go. I don't know how to describe their driving habits other than the most aggressive and defensive driving.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 08-30-2014, 12:11 PM:

quote: Richard Hamilton
I don't know if anyone watched the Emmys, but there was one shot from the back, and half the audience was texting or reading texts. Yes, even actors do it in a setting where they should be cheering on their peers.

There was a Hollywood actor (not quite rich enough to fly across the country by private jet, hence slumming it on scheduled first class) who was kicked off a plane at LAX because he refused to stop playing Angry Birds on his iPad after repeated requests to do so from the flight attendant (can't remember who, but it was earlier this year). I suspect he thought that because he was a Hollywood actor, the rules didn't apply to him.

Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 08-30-2014, 01:16 PM:

Alec Baldwin

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 08-30-2014, 05:54 PM:

That Baldwin story happened somewhere in 2011, didn't it?

The only reason I do carry a cellphone all day is because I need to be reachable for certain emergencies. Otherwise, I would gratefully kiss that thing goodbye for ever, at least in the form of an "instant nag device". It's not that I'm against technology, quite the opposite actually.... The problem is not technology, but how this technology is being used.

I do like the fact that I can quickly retrieve relevant information on those things, what I absolutely detest is the fact that people now expect you to be reachable for everything THEY deem important 24/7.

Cellphones and all their little widgety thingies turn people into mind-hived zombies. If people sitting next to each other are communicating with each other via SMS, Whatsapp or whatever is hot today and think that's totally normal, then I slowly start to worry.

Personally, I don't really get stuff like Twitter. But, whoever figured that one out must laugh his ass off, because in this attention-span-deprived-world, this seems to be the perfect tool. Yet, it's the best example of the general shallowness of our current societies.

It's being reflected in everything: People's communication, movies, you name it or, the horrible thing they nowadays call TV:

After the break we continue with some more great shit for you! Let's turn up the volume and have a quick look at all it's greatness!

See you, after the break!

< 5 minutes of ... BUYBUYBUY ... >

Welcome back! Before the break, we showed you this crap and that crap, you didn't really miss a thing, but hey, let's just show you it all over again.

So, now let's get on and show just about two minutes of actual content. But first, let's turn up the music even a bit more.

You're still there? Be sure to stay hooked, because after the break we've got soooo much good stuff for you, let's have a quick look at it!

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-30-2014, 11:19 PM:

quote:
< 5 minutes of ... BUYBUYBUY ... >

That's all? Recently I happened to channel flip onto AMC showing one of my guilty pleasure movies, "Jaws." I settled into watching it and within about 12 minutes, they cut to commercial. Normally I would switch channels but I decided to count the commercials this time. They actually played TWENTY 30-second commercials. Finally back to the movie, 10 or 12 minutes and then another round of commercials began. Maybe this break would have been shorter, but too late: I was fed up and switched channels.

No wonder people are DVRing everything. TV commercials are probably a pretty dumb buy these days.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 08-31-2014, 02:39 PM:

quote: Richard Hamilton
Bobby, so you're just assuming that?

I'm not assuming anything. The incident took place in China. The motorist wasn't driving down some busy 6-lane street. This was some side street with hardly any traffic at all. The SUV rolling over the top of the kid was the only vehicle in the video. The motorist clearly had his head deep up in his ass.

Another obvious question: WTF was the kid doing playing in the street in the first place? Did the child's parents have their heads up their asses too, or did the kid have any parents at all?

Posted by Steve Matz (Member # 1890) on 08-31-2014, 05:55 PM:

Say what you will about CHINA; but if they quit all exporting to the USA,Most Americans would be in a world of hurt. Go look at how many products in your Home,even Business have a Made in China Label somewhere on them. They save millions of dollars a year for Consumers that don't need some Fancy Name Brand Product that's 4 times the price it should be and in many cases no better than the China made product.

In my case the Class B Professional Fireworks that I use to import from JAPAN,FRANCE,ITALY, became so ridiculously high in the 80's; even buying 12 or more Containers wasn't cost effective. I've been importing Shells from several Factories in CHINA since 1983 and saving a bundle compared to Previous Countries I dealt with that decided their Producrt should be jacked up 5 times what it was.If the USA banned imports from CHINA,I would quit the business the following day...

It's just too bad that the Country has such a Staggering amount of Population that people have to work for pay that we in the US would consider a Travesty,but that works to our advantage at getting a product for a Cheap Price even though the Person that made it probably lives below social standards. UNFAIR! YES, But that's the way of the World. Nobody ever claimed life was going to be Fair...

Posted by Richard Hamilton (Member # 321) on 08-31-2014, 07:38 PM:

quote: Bobby Henderson
He must have been too busy tapping away SMS messages on his phone to bother noticing what was clearly in front of his vehicle

Thats what I meant you were assuming!