Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Star Wars: Last Jedi (10 seconds of no sound)

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Posted by Michael Brown (Member # 890) on 12-13-2017, 07:46 PM:

Apparently about 1hour 50mins into the movie there is an intentional sequence where the sound drops out for 10 seconds (while the image keeps on playing).

Posted by Mike Schulz (Member # 4297) on 12-13-2017, 10:54 PM:

I can confirm that this does happen but I don't think it will cause anyone watching to panic and think something is wrong with the movie. Without trying to spoil anything, this sound drop happens when the camera perspective is in the middle of space watching an event take place so we're meant to be hearing the emptiness of space as there is no sound in space. You know, except for all of the other ship battles and explosions that *do* have sound.

I've seen the movie twice now and I haven't heard anybody even talk about that scene and I scratched my head reading your comment to try and remember where and when it happened during the movie.

Posted by Thomas Hauerslev (Member # 566) on 12-14-2017, 02:32 AM:

Ever seen "2OO1"?

Posted by Peter Provorov (Member # 8455) on 12-14-2017, 03:35 AM:

Important Note: Star Wars: The Last Jedi has three areas of extended black screen or muted audio. This is on purpose for creative intent. There is sound that occurs during these sections although it is low in volume. These instances occur at the following times in the movie:

• At 10 minutes, 7 seconds (2 seconds, 6 frames of black screen and low sound)
• At 1 hour, 47 seconds (3 seconds, 6 frames of black screen)
• At 1 hour, 51 minutes, 44 seconds (8 seconds, 18 frames of muted audio)

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-14-2017, 09:59 AM:

Does this movie have an Atmos mix? I assumed it would, but I recently visited Dolby's web site looking at their page of movies with Atmos audio and Dolby Vision color. This new Star Wars movie isn't mentioned at all on the page.

Posted by Michael Brown (Member # 890) on 12-14-2017, 10:54 AM:

Yeah, I have at atmos/4k version.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-14-2017, 11:45 AM:

I pre-screened it last night and I have to say, I do not remember ever seeing the sequences of black that have been so widely talked about. Maybe I was just wrapped up in the story but it seems like there was always a picture on the screen to me.

The part where the sound "drops out," it doesn't really drop out completely, it just goes comparatively quiet (with everything in slow motion) for a few seconds. There is still a lot of sound going on during that sequence, especially in the surrounds. It's a great scene.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 12-15-2017, 10:15 AM:

Speaking of no sound

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-fans-left-fuming-as-sound-problems-hit-screening-last-jedi-1068191

There was a huge disturbance in the Force at an AMC theater in Burbank, California, as police were called in to calm irate customers.

After months of waiting and hours of queuing, Star Wars fans at one AMC theater in Burbank, CA. were left fuming after technical problems at a screening on Thursday night left them watching pictures with no sound.

There was near pandemonium at AMC Burbank 16, as fans who had settled in to be one of the first people to see Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi suddenly had their enjoyment cut short due to sound problems. With seemingly no improvement, and the theater not choosing or unable to restart the movie, fans began streaming out to the lobby to complain to management according to several Twitter users who live-tweeted the ruckus.

A video posted by YouTube user Lynly Ehrlich captured some of the mayhem, with customers screaming expletives at AMC staff to re-start the movie.

There was a huge disturbance in the Force at an AMC theater in Burbank, California, as police were called in to calm irate customers.
After months of waiting and hours of queuing, Star Wars fans at one AMC theater in Burbank, CA. were left fuming after technical problems at a screening on Thursday night left them watching pictures with no sound.

There was near pandemonium at AMC Burbank 16, as fans who had settled in to be one of the first people to see Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi suddenly had their enjoyment cut short due to sound problems. With seemingly no improvement, and the theater not choosing or unable to restart the movie, fans began streaming out to the lobby to complain to management according to several Twitter users who live-tweeted the ruckus.

A video posted by YouTube user Lynly Ehrlich captured some of the mayhem, with customers screaming expletives at AMC staff to re-start the movie.

https://youtu.be/SaJMiKQx27U

Posted by Dave Bird (Member # 490) on 12-15-2017, 11:39 AM:

Car horns (the night I first projected 35mm and messed up my first attempt) were far more civilized than these people. That said, was there a reason they wouldn't re-start it, or try to?

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 12-15-2017, 11:47 AM:

Sorry about the duplicate text in that post. I can’t change it now.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 12-15-2017, 01:41 PM:

Such is what happens when the technology is complicated enough that the human is purposely left out of the equation and automation is designed to "run itself" with the intention to eliminate the need for any human with advanced technical skills to be on the payroll -- at least not at every theatre or all the time. So now all you have left are a lower-level staffers who are not able to even reboot the system, and probably even specifically ordered not to try.

Anyone who's worked a Drive-In needs to get steeled against the nerves that accompany a break-down. Unlike breakdowns in a regular theatre booth where you focus in the problem and fix it in relative calm, at the DI, you have to learn to focus while car horns are blaring and headlights are flashing. It took a bit of time to get used to that mayhem on the field. And at the DI where I worked, we have a cheap owner who insisted I burn carbons that were short. Misjudging the lengths of those rods, even by a little, meant needing to stop and replace in the middle of a show. I learned how to do that amazingly fast. The owner didn't care if the show when down, as long as there only stubs left in the lamphouses. But then again, he was 90yrs old and certifiable. He'd cut into the audio during the show to hawk the hot dogs at his concessions with a slow-paced, long-winded speech while the show was running...did it every night. I wish I would have been there when he ran STARWARS New Hope. And Dave, you can bet they would have been just as rowdy as these folks.

And of course no automation can run itself when if it encounters a failure from which it cannot recover. Th. by-passed. the

Posted by Tyler Purcell (Member # 9213) on 12-15-2017, 02:12 PM:

I love digital... [Frown]

This is also the reason I don't give AMC theaters ANY MONEY EVER. They didn't even bother to have a "technician" on staff during the most important/critical screening nights of the entire year.

At Arclight where I go, they not only had a projectionist in the theater, but they also had dozens of extra staff to help organize and deal with the crowds. Looked to me like AMC Burbank thought it was a regular Thursday night! Idiots!

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 12-15-2017, 03:07 PM:

quote:
• At 1 hour, 51 minutes, 44 seconds (8 seconds, 18 frames of muted audio)

I've heard of one showing where the audience freaked out about the sound during this segment, but once the sound starts again, it's clear it was intentional and they settle down.

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 12-15-2017, 04:22 PM:

Even knowing the 3 black sections existed before watching the movie I didn't even notice them.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-15-2017, 04:52 PM:

quote: Dave Bird
was there a reason they wouldn't re-start it, or try to?

It's hard to know what happened from the video or the comments. Did SW:TLJ start without sound? How long was the sound out?

I always thought one of the best advantages of digital was that you would have a "NOC" where you could call in with a problem. Seems like this place should have been able to call their NOC and say, "We need to restart the feature in Auditorium 4." If the movie had been running for just a couple minutes, that could be easily done without disrupting the schedule, providing the sound issue was fixed.

If the management at that theater is given no way to deal with problems like this other than "offer refunds," that's pretty sad.

Posted by Dave Bird (Member # 490) on 12-16-2017, 09:27 AM:

It was sad all the way around. Shame people think they can act so rudely of course, but I can't figure not re-starting it other than equipment failure. We've sent rather large crowds home only twice (35mm, lamp exploded - then digital, power failure). In both cases we explained ourselves clearly and kindly and people were overwhelmingly apologetic to US on the way out, thinking about how difficult it was to issue so many passes/refunds, particularly the night without power. Other than that, I can think of only one or two times where there was some issue with the show (power flicker probably) where we had to stop it and call the NOC to find where it should start again. In such cases we get on the mic and explain in detail what we're doing and why. If that process takes more than a couple minutes, we'll give an update. Never had a complaint, ever. And I would never NOT complete a show unless: nobody was there to see it, OR, the delay was expected to be long enough that the sunrise would end the show before it could finish.