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Topic: Video-camera monitoring of screens/equipment?

John Walsh
Film God

Posts: 2490
From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 04-14-2000 02:46 PM

Just wondering which states require a video camera at all tims monitoring the screen or equipment.

Here in Connecticut, if there is more than one booth, you need video monitoring, ie: if there are two booths, you need a camera and monitor in each to see the other.

At first (from 1975 to about 1988) the camera had to be pointed at the screen.

After that they changed the law to say the camera must point at the projector/platter.

Does any other state require this?

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Dave Williams
Wet nipple scene

Posts: 1836
From: Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 04-14-2000 04:35 PM

Utah, the great state of pointless godworship, we have many great laws, like you cant teach about birth control to children and anything other than the missionary position will land you in jail. But its ok if your mayor is a criminal who steals millions of dollars on an annual basis and gets re-elected for it....

Political rant over, but we here have no laws on security cameras...

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"If it's not worth doing, I have allready been there and done it"

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 04-14-2000 05:55 PM

Hey Dave.......Have you gone off the deep end? I'm originally from Chicago. If you think Utah has problems go live in Chicago. Things are way better here then they ever will be in Illinois. Perhaps some of the better out here is due to those god worshippers.
Com'mon This thread is about video cameras, not our ex-mayor or any religous beliefs.......
And for the record Utah, Colorado, Idaho, and Oregon don't require video cameras
Mark

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Jason Burroughs
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 654
From: Allen, TX
Registered: Jun 99

posted 04-14-2000 07:25 PM

Here in Texas there's hardly any laws governing what's in the booth. Only one that I'm really aware of is the banning of non Saftey films (ie Nitrate).

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Greg Anderson
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 766
From: Ogden Valley, Utah
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 04-14-2000 07:37 PM

Utah, schmootah. (People in Utah always seem to attempt to turn every discussion into something about themselves.)

What, exactly, is the point of having those video cameras in Connecticut? Where are the monitors supposed to be placed which allow you to watch the exciting images from those cameras? In a megaplex, do you need 17 cameras pointed at your 17 projectors?

And what incredible disaster in a booth moved the legislature to require these video cameras? (And... could such disasters ever happen here in Utah?)

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 04-15-2000 05:27 AM

Our dream at my theatre is to have a video camera aimed at each projector (in color and HDTV). The angle would be so that you could see the platter spinning, the soundrack and its status, and the reflection of the picture off of the port glass. This would all go to a massive videowall array installed by the world's greatest video tech, Ian Price.

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John Wilson
Film God

Posts: 5438
From: Sydney, Australia.
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 04-15-2000 06:12 AM

The cinemas I'm at now used to have cameras in the booth looking at the plate and the projector. They were removed because the managers grew tired of watching the operators at that time scratching their er, heads.

Now only the cameras pointing toward the screen remain. (That's all I need anyway)

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"It's not the years honey, it's the mileage".
Indiana Jones.

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Joseph Pandolfi
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 213
From: Milford, CT.
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 04-15-2000 06:56 AM

John: The eight screener where I mostly work at has a camera on each screen with a monitor in the small booth and a monitor at each end of the larger booth. I would only use this in case I am threading up one in one booth and I would have a projector start up at the far end of the other booth some hundred yards away. We have no cameras in our booths here. The other place where I work at is a four screener with no cameras at all except in the lobby area for the manager.

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Stephen Jones
Master Film Handler

Posts: 314
From: Geelong Victoria Australia
Registered: Jun 99

posted 04-15-2000 08:02 AM

The only video monitors we have are for monitoring the screens in all 8 cinemas.There is a monitor in the booth,ticket box and the managers office.Thats all we need,as for the booth its all on one level and we can see all projectors and platters from the make up area.

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John Walsh
Film God

Posts: 2490
From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 04-15-2000 08:55 AM

I should clarify my first post a little:

Currently, (in CT) you only need one camera and monitor per booth- not screen. So, if you had a 10-plex with 5 projectors in two booths, you only need two cameras/monitors.

I don't know of any disaster that started video monitoring. The state is pretty small, so I think I would have heard. Probably just an over-zealous state offical. Originally, it was one camera per screen, but that probably cost too much, so some offical had to be bribed to change the law. In CT, the state police have jursdiction over theaters.

Missionary position only? How dull....!

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Dave Williams
Wet nipple scene

Posts: 1836
From: Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 04-15-2000 08:47 PM

The answer to your question Mark is NO! I was always in the deep end! Actually I find I just cant shut my yapper!!!

I think it would be nice to have video survailence, just so that I can go back and see who left that spilled popcorn and drink mushie in aisle four.

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"If it's not worth doing, I have allready been there and done it"

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 04-15-2000 10:54 PM

I've never heard of this, but I'm all for booth cameras for the projectionist. I wonder just how much the studios hate the idea of a videocamera pointed at the screen for potential bootlegging purposes though.

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Andrew D'Vrey
Film Handler

Posts: 92
From: St. Paul, MN USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 04-16-2000 12:20 AM

Cameras in the booth??!!??!! My boss would see me stealing his Pepsi!

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"And the monkey flips the switch."
- Major Don West, "Lost In Space"

Andrew D'Vrey
IATSE Local 219

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Joseph Pandolfi
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 213
From: Milford, CT.
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 04-16-2000 05:51 AM

Brad: I doubt if any bootleg copies are made here, ours cameras are all time lapse setup. Instead of the normal 30 frame rate per second for video ours is slowed down to 3-4 frames a second. For example if you seen the security video from The Thomas Crown Affair it is much like it.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 04-16-2000 06:00 AM

Yeah, I know...but we all know how paranoid the studios can be! After all, that is the main reason I keep getting told as to why Technicolor will not deliver prints on Wednesdays. Apparently no one would ever consider bootlegging a film on a Thursday night, whereas Wednesday night bootlegs would be commonplace. Yeah, right. That's how it works.

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