my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Digital Cinema Forum   » The studios think people who run digital screens are morons (Page 1)

This topic comprises 5 pages: 1  2  3  4  5

Author Topic: The studios think people who run digital screens are morons Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 12-15-2009 12:50 PM                     Is anyone else getting annoyed at the way the studios are treating digital cinemas? First off, I get spam notices about virtually every movie that are always the same thing. In slightly different wording they all say "Our new crappy movie requires extra-special treatment, blah, blah, blah. You must play at 7.0 on the volume and meet DCI brightness and cropping specs, blah, blah, blah." No shit. Really? You mean you actually want us to run your movie AT DCI SPEC?? Wow. Isn't that the entire point of having a spec everyone follows??? With the studios "crying wolf" on each and every movie, people are learning to simply disregard those notices. Because of that when a movie actually comes along some day that IS NOT to DCI spec and requires some alteration, absolutely nobody will read it because we are being trained to just toss them in the trash due to being bombarded with them from every movie. We all know what the spec is, and any theater willing to abide by those specs will keep it in spec and any theater not willing to bother will not be convinced to do so because the studios sent out a corny letter from the director or a technical spec sheet. But it doesn't stop there. Oh no they want you to clog up the internet sending an email every time you ingest a KDM successfully to each player. Ummm, no. If it doesn't ingest, I will contact you. All sending an email does is waste my time and your time. The most annoying thing though is on screenings. (All of the people who have ran digital screenings that are reading this are now starting to get angry inside at the mere thought.) Yes, I am speaking of the barrage of harrassing phone calls worse than a telemarketer. It starts with wanting to know if you have your KDMs and content loaded. "Yes it loaded fine. Had the hard drive not arrived or we had a problem loading the content, we would have called you, just like how we would have called you if we were missing a reel to a 35mm print. We are not morons." Then they want to know if your check-screening went ok. My response: "no it didn't...because we don't pre-screen. Can you please make a note of that so you will stop calling me with every screening to ask that?" That is when I am told "the studio requires (translated: "pays") them to call and ask me each time." Lovely, just lovely. But that's not enough. They then call an hour INTO THE MOVIE wanting to know if it is on screen! "No of course it is not on screen. You see we are such incompetent morons here we had a problem and DIDN'T THINK TO CALL YOU AND WE JUST CANCELED THE SHOW! Duh, YES it is running fine. We would have called otherwise." And my personal favorite, at the end of some screenings they want their security goon (who often isn't even smart enough to operate a computer on his own) to "watch us delete the content". Ok first off, the content is encrypted with a SUPPOSEDLY unbreakable code. If the code is unbreakable, then you have nothing to worry about. Second, any actual pirate who has managed to crack your unbreakable code can EFFORTLESSLY copy your content! It can be done over the network to another server, to the library, even to a laptop or some other desktop computer on the same network. Even moreso the hard drive once ingested to the player could be plugged directly into a computer and the files copied. So why the sheer panic in having this guy "watch us delete" the content when that does absolutely nothing? I can delete the trailer to your movie and this goon wouldn't know any different. To any studio person reading this, cut us some slack. You trust us with receiving the 35mm prints and making sure all of the reels are there, assembled correctly, etc. Why is there this COMPLETE lack of trust and faith in regards to digital cinema? Why are you paying these companies what is probably a ridiculous amount of money to have these people call the digital screens to perform a moron-check? Are you saying digital cinema has SO MANY PROBLEMS that you feel the need to do this? Please knock it off. We are not the morons you think we are.  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 12-15-2009 01:40 PM                     What amazes me is how the obvious bits are left to the last minute. We hit the screen with AVATAR to the general public in (glances at watch...) 10.5 hrs. I have the file...got that Monday. Last night I received the 35mm version. Yet as of right now, I still do not have the KDM. Will it come? Sure it will. But WHY oh why is it so darn late? I already have the file so my copy number has been known at least since last Friday. The whole point of the KDM is that they can control when you can first play it and when you can last play it. If it's a security issue, then just set the dates. If it's a 'we're so busy and we're backed up' issue, hire some more damn people, people. What's the saturation level of Digital? 10%? What the hell's gonna happen when the other 90% are on board? Will we get the keys four days after the movie's opened? It's an issue I just don't get. Even if I have the key and it's not set to go until 5 minutes before the movie, at least I have it and it's loaded ready to go. This way is just silly.  |  IP: Logged Ian Parfrey Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1049 From: Imbil Australia 26 deg 27' 42.66" S 152 deg 42' 23.40" E Registered: Feb 2009 posted 12-15-2009 02:49 PM                     Two things come directly to mind regarding this. The first is that as John says -: quote: What's the saturation level of Digital? 10%? Do the studios not think that THIS may well be a major reason why the saturation isn't as high as they would like? Not only are they wresting control of exhibitor-bought equipment from the exhibitor, the studios are now making the situation so complex as to be painful. The second is that this smacks of the studios ultimately short-circuiting the exhibitor all together, what with the shrinking DVD release window and VOD being pushed by the MPAA. Check this out - : MPAA push for window shrinkage The exhibitor is just another hand in the till as far as the studios are concerned and it is not in the studios interests to make things easy for them. Any reason to cut the exhib out of the loop. Greed may well come back to bite them on the arse.  |  IP: Logged Pietro Clarici Expert Film Handler Posts: 136 From: Foligno (PG) Italy Registered: Sep 2008 posted 12-15-2009 03:55 PM                        quote: John Wilson (...) It's an issue I just don't get. Even if I have the key and it's not set to go until 5 minutes before the movie, at least I have it and it's loaded ready to go. (...) Well, I guess it's a small world... I had the exact same problem in Italy with a distributor beginning with "S" and ending with "Y". As it turned out, their resident D-Cinema "experts" had no idea you could check a KDM's timeframe *without* actually playing the movie. They know now... still, KDMs usually arrive three or four hours before the engagement... and of course, you have to ask them for new keys every time - god forbid - you try and move the movie between screens. On the other way, Disney KDMs open three days before the first show, and are sent for every digital screen with up to 8 weeks of validity, even if the initial engagement is much shorter. Which is exactly how it should work.  |  IP: Logged Dustin Mitchell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1865 From: Mondovi, WI, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 12-15-2009 04:27 PM                     What I especially love is when they call Wednesday afternoon to ask how your pre-screening went. I've given up telling them the keys they sent us aren't good until Thursday morning, so now I just say, 'Yes, it went fine.'  |  IP: Logged Adam Martin I'm not even gonna point out the irony. Posts: 3686 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Nov 2000 posted 12-15-2009 06:46 PM                     1. Set up an email filter and autoresponder that says "Fine, Thanks." 2. Stop answering the phone.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 12-15-2009 08:06 PM                        Sounds like the studios are not confident at all with the reliability for this new cinema format they all pushed so hard. But in their defense, most theaters ARE operated by morons. You are the exception. Isn't that annoying?  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 12-15-2009 08:12 PM                     4 hrs to showtime.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-15-2009 09:38 PM                        Solution: Caller ID  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 12-16-2009 05:56 AM                     Finally got the key...75 minutes before the show. Luckily, we had a pretty big gap in programming before AVATAR hit the screen so was able to test it and add cues etc. and more importantly add the key to the system. Our unit will not accept a key if a show is in progress so that gap was a very lucky thing to have...a luxury that usually is not ours.  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Althaus Master Film Handler Posts: 435 From: Bedford, TX Registered: Dec 2008 posted 12-16-2009 02:51 PM                     I guess nobody cares about us. We havent been harassed one bit about digital screenings. Then again we are kinda lame, with our only 3D film being Meatballs and we got it 6 wks into release. (And no Avatar)  |  IP: Logged Carsten Kurz Film God Posts: 4340 From: Cologne, NRW, Germany Registered: Aug 2009 posted 12-16-2009 08:51 PM                     In germany, dozends if not hundreds of AVATAR 3D previews were canceled last night due to missing or wrong KDMs. They had to pay out audiences and sent them home. Some cinemas had been on the phone with Fox and Deluxe at London for hours without success. Some houses received their working KDMs within normal timeframes the day before. - Carsten  |  IP: Logged Dustin Mitchell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1865 From: Mondovi, WI, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 12-17-2009 02:04 AM                     After 3 1/2 years of digital projection, at least 2 1/2 of those being an all digital complex (memory is a bit fuzzy) I can honestly say we've had almost zero key problems. Closest we ever came to missing a show because of a missing key was very shortly after our initial rollout. We ended up having the key (it was for Superman Returns) force ingested into the player while the previews were playing with about 5 minutes to spare. Now that's pretty close, but other than that we've never had a problem that wasn't solved by a phone call the day before, and we haven't had to call to request a key for months now.  |  IP: Logged Carsten Kurz Film God Posts: 4340 From: Cologne, NRW, Germany Registered: Aug 2009 posted 12-18-2009 02:51 AM                     We now learned it was a pan-european issue. How many shows had been canceled is not yet known, and Fox will probably never publish it. They talk about a few hundreds all over europe. Some cinemas with multiple 3D screens did show on some screens, but not on others. Some people suggest that only new installations had this issue - which would mean there had been a communication problem with the server certificates to Deluxe at London (unconfirmed). Like everywhere in the world I guess, a lot of new installations had been done just in time for the AVATAR release. - Carsten  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 12-20-2009 01:31 PM                       quote: Brad Miller That is when I am told "the studio requires (translated: "pays") them to call and ask me each time." Google Voice them. Problem solved.  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 5 pages: 1  2  3  4  5

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.