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Author Topic: What is up with all of these sound level notices lately? Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 06-06-2009 11:31 AM                     Seriously, its getting ridiculous. It is as if every movie that has been released in the last month or two is sending out the generic "play this movie at 7", or my personal favorite "play this movie at 7db" (which shows they don't even know what they are talking about). I get this in email form and a fax is received for EVERY location playing the movie too. This certainly isn't very environmentally friendly, and is a complete waste of money on toner. WE GET IT! This isn't anything new. ALL movies for a really long time now have been mixed and designed to be played back at 7, but what these studios don't understand is that probably less than 10% of theaters actually DO play them at 7 anyway. Since most sound systems out there are not properly designed or tuned, many theaters can't possibly run the movie louder than 5 anyway. Is it too much to ask to not waste people's time on sending out noticed of the painfully obvious? What's next, sending out alerts that "remember this movie is 7 reels long"? I am also getting really tired of the studios calling halfway through a screening wanting to know if we got the cans opened ok and if the screening was running. Really??? Do you seriously not think you would have been getting angry calls from us if there was a problem??? It would appear there has been a recent outbreak of the stupid virus.  |  IP: Logged Jarret Chessell Master Film Handler Posts: 288 From: London, Ontario, Canada Registered: Jan 2009 posted 06-06-2009 01:02 PM                     I couldn't read your post because it was too loud, try turning it to 5. I think it was Wall-e where I received a note in the can asking that I adjust the lenses and masking to show 2.4:1. I think it even suggested how bright the picture should be. Also something about installing a new lamp as well. I believe the manager said "here, do this" and I said "sure"... which the notice was then filed under "G" and never seen again.  |  IP: Logged Victor Liorentas Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: london ontario canada Registered: May 2009 posted 06-06-2009 01:37 PM                     I collect those notices! I like to read them years later when they become really funny!  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-06-2009 01:46 PM                        I like the Pixar notices. At least they go to the trouble of making them look nice.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 06-06-2009 02:51 PM                     I like Woody Allen notices...he always signs them like he is giving it a personal touch and that we are all in this together. Mostly...he is just telling you that his film really is in Mono and please play it that way. Steve  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-06-2009 03:39 PM                        I still don't get the point of these. Theatres that care will already have good sound and light, and those that don't will not schedule a service call just because a note comes with a print. I also dlslike the implication that some films are more "important" or worthy of making an extra effort for quality presentation than others. Doesn't each and every film deserve the best presentation possible? At least the Woody Allen ones make some sense, as he mixes in a non-standard sound format (mono with SR).  |  IP: Logged Mark Strube Master Film Handler Posts: 322 From: Milwaukee, WI, United States Registered: Feb 2007 posted 06-06-2009 04:26 PM                        If they want their movies played at a good level, I think their first line of attack should be normalizing the volume of all the trailers on both the DTS discs and the digital tracks on the film! Especially in the case of DTS trailer discs, I can't imagine it would be all that hard to apply a standard volume level to every trailer. Many theatres have their volume lower to account for such loud trailers, and then since most theatres don't have advanced enough automation, it never gets turned back up for the feature unless someone complains. A good example of that now is the trailer for Funny People. I'm not sure about the Dolby, but the DTS audio for that is much louder than the other trailers. I understand they're trying to draw attention to their previews, but the studios are really shooting themselves in the foot here. In doing so, they're causing their main feature to have a subpar presentation in many cases.  |  IP: Logged Christos Mitsakis Expert Film Handler Posts: 242 From: Ag.Paraskevi, ATHENS, GREECE Registered: Sep 1999 posted 06-07-2009 04:10 AM                     These are nothing compared to the absurd "anti-piracy" instructions to the projectionist/theater owner/theater manager that came with "Angels and Damons". Actually I laughed even more with those instructions - notes that came with "The DaVinci Code" two years ago. C.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-08-2009 11:07 AM                     Y'See... This is where digital presentation fits perfectly into the movie theater: Trailers, previews and advertisements. The film program on the platter (reel) should contain only the feature and the opening policy/introdution trailer. ("And now! Your Feature Presentation! Brought to you by Googolplex Cinemas!") All of the other junk... Advertisements, public service announcements, movie previews, etc., should be on digital medium, projected from a video projector. It is the ads which change frequently... On a weekly or even daily basis. Heck! With all the new on-line ticketing systems being deployed these days, marketing data gleaned from all the users' on-line demographic profile, the ads could change automagically. Many theaters already have their on screen ads being served out from a central location and updated electronically. There's no reason ads can't change on a show-by-show basis, depending on the demographics of the audience present for a given show. This can all be done with equipment that exists today. The hardware, software and network infrastructure are mostly in place, already. There is no need to develop newfangled junk to project movies digitally. We already have everything we need. And, as such, projecting ads digitally: 1) Takes care of the bitch work that most people complain about doing. What most people don't like about working with film is changing out trailers and ads. (I know I don't!) People throw the baby out with the bath water because of it. 2) The problem with varying and often LOUD trailer volumes could be solved because the volume of the video player can be controlled separately from the movie. Automatic volume limiting/normalization can be done by the video player. Digital projection does have a place in the theater if only people would quit fussing around and take a look at what's available to them instead of trying to push bad products on an unsuspecting population... in an economy where people aren't spending money for things like movies the way they used to.  |  IP: Logged Charles Greenlee Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 801 From: Savannah, Ga, U.S. Registered: Jun 2006 posted 06-09-2009 02:20 PM                        Seems to me there needs to be some sort of article on recycling these notices into something useful. I remember such an article, or list, on how to recycle the AOL discs quite a few years ago. Like tiling your pool, etc. Maybe someone here with some creativeness need to post something in the Film Yak forum. I'm glad AOL stopped spamming us with discs.  |  IP: Logged Jim Cassedy Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1661 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Dec 2006 posted 06-10-2009 12:01 AM                     quote: Charles Greenlee I remember such an article, or list, on how to recycle the AOL discs quite a few years ago. Like tiling your pool, etc. I smashed a bunch of those AOL disks a couple of years ago, then drilled small holes in the shards and strung them up on a piece of fish-line near a west facing window. They'd create a series of moving rainbows on the walls of my apartment every afternoon when the sun hit them. A neighbor drilled small holes in the edges of a bunch of disks and strung them over his outdoor balcony & said it worked great for keeping flying rats and other birds away. (thus keeping their poop off his balcony furniture)  |  IP: Logged Joe Elliott Master Film Handler Posts: 497 From: Port Orange, Fl USA Registered: Oct 2006 posted 06-10-2009 10:30 AM                     I love the bulb notices in with digital 3D prints. Bulb should have 100 hrs of time on it, and should have at least 600 hours of warrenty life left. We're using 6500W osrams, warrenty life of 500hrs. That leaves us out totally. Maybe we should be running 2k's in there.  |  IP: Logged Jon P. Inghram Expert Film Handler Posts: 124 From: Wichita, KS USA Registered: Jan 2007 posted 06-10-2009 01:53 PM                     A simple solution: move the projector closer to the screen and project a tiny picture. I've never seen the notices say how big the picture needs to be...  |  IP: Logged Robert Madara Film Handler Posts: 18 From: Millville, NJ. USA Registered: Sep 2006 posted 06-14-2009 12:23 PM                        I got a call from Technicolor the other day telling me to run my sound at some db level for "Land Of The Lost". I said "certainly sir!" But I was thinking, ..this is a drive-in theatre. Do I walk around the field & knock on each car window & tell them to turn their FM radios up& down?  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 06-14-2009 12:51 PM                     Yet another reason why the studios are absolutely clueless as to how to spend their money. I would love to know how much Technicolor and Deluxe charges for all of those broadcast faxes, email alerts and phone calls. I'm sure it is quite the money-maker, and yet in real life it has absolutely zero benefit. So long as the trailers are recorded way too loud as they are, most theaters will play the movies at whatever level their customers can tolerate for the trailers...and that's it, no further adjustments! Idiots. Still for the record, we play our trailers at 4.0 without subwoofer or surround. The features then play at 7.0, but few people have that kind of proper automation to do that.  |  IP: Logged

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