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» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Digital Cinema Forum   » Handing out 3D glasses (Page 1)

 
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Author Topic: Handing out 3D glasses
Frank Cox
Film God

Posts: 2234
From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada
Registered: Apr 2011

- posted 04-27-2011 12:10 PM      Profile for Frank Cox   Author's Homepage   Email Frank Cox   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
How do you deal with handing out 3D glasses?

I'm currently on my second 3D movie and haven't yet come up with a great way to get the glasses to the customers. On the other hand, I have no idea how anyone else does it.

Do you just put the box/bin out somewhere and tell everyone to take one? If so, how do you prevent some kid from taking six? Is there some kind of a dispenser/rack/whatever that makes this easier?

I'm currently putting the cardboard box that the glasses came in behind my ticket counter and handing out one pair of glasses with each ticket, but it's something less than an ideal situation because I end up with the box sitting on top of my popcorn pail and have to move it off every time I want to refill the popcorn kettle and make more popcorn.

I know, that probably sounds silly but hey -- this is life in small theatre. I sell tickets and make popcorn, my wife handles the concession. I've been thinking about how to handle those darn glasses; maybe someone here has a brilliant idea that I've not considered.

Again, I've never seen how anyone else does it. I'm rarely in anyone's theatre other than my own, and I don't think I've been in another theatre when a movie is actually playing in over a decade...

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

- posted 04-27-2011 12:30 PM      Profile for Mike Blakesley   Author's Homepage   Email Mike Blakesley   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
We hand them out with the tickets. On busy nights, we have one person who sells the tickets, and another person stand there and hands the glasses to the ticket seller, who passes them to the customer, after the cash transaction is finished.

On slow nights, the person selling tickets does both jobs -- hands the glasses out after the transaction is done.

We just dispense them right out of the washing rack (Dolby glasses). If we only have a few glasses left in a rack and we need that rack to wash other glasses, we put the clean glasses in a plastic tray and dispense from that.

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Adam Martin
I'm not even gonna point out the irony.

Posts: 3686
From: Dallas, TX
Registered: Nov 2000

- posted 04-27-2011 12:38 PM      Profile for Adam Martin   Author's Homepage   Email Adam Martin       Edit/Delete Post 
Either the box office cashier gives them out after the ticket purchase or the ticket taker gives them out for the appropriate movie.

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Mark Lensenmayer
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1605
From: Upper Arlington, OH
Registered: Sep 1999

- posted 04-27-2011 01:14 PM      Profile for Mark Lensenmayer   Email Mark Lensenmayer   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Agreeing with Adam, most places I have visited just hand them out either with the ticket or when the ticket is torn. This seems to work very well.

The local AMC Imax Jr. locations put out a rolling metal cart with trays of glasses outside the theatre. You have to pick out your own glasses there, which is nice because they are frequently dirty and it takes awhile sometimes to find a clean pair.

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Caleb Johnstone-Cowan
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 593
From: London, UK
Registered: Mar 2006

- posted 04-27-2011 02:58 PM      Profile for Caleb Johnstone-Cowan   Email Caleb Johnstone-Cowan   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I'm surprised your local digital IMAX location is that sloppy. We have someone in the screen handing out glasses and hosting every IMAX Digital show, and someone in there at the end to collect the glasses as people leave. It would have to be a truly dead (less than ten people expected) show before we even considered doing less than that.

How you issue the glasses depends on if they're disposable or not. For disposable glasses you can always buy a small plastic storage tub and transfer them in a tray at a time to save space compared to the box they come in.

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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

- posted 04-28-2011 09:22 PM      Profile for Manny Knowles   Email Manny Knowles   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Mark Lensenmayer
You have to pick out your own glasses there, which is nice because they are frequently dirty and it takes awhile sometimes to find a clean pair.
Yuck.

We don't let the guests handle the glasses -- we don't want to contaminate the rest of the glasses. The Dolby glasses in the new "60 at a time" trays can get a little tangled up with each other and it's highly likely that someone will inadvertently grab one and pull out two and...touch the other one.

Instead we have the ushers distribute them as they tear tickets. They wear white cotton gloves.

Personally, I think I liked the "18 at a time" trays better -- although that would result in a lot more wash cycles.

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Michael Brown
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1522
From: Bradford, England
Registered: May 2001

- posted 04-29-2011 08:10 PM      Profile for Michael Brown   Email Michael Brown   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Manny Knowles
We don't let the guests handle the glasses -- we don't want to contaminate the rest of the glasses. The Dolby glasses in the new "60 at a time" trays can get a little tangled up with each other and it's highly likely that someone will inadvertently grab one and pull out two and...touch the other one.

Instead we have the ushers distribute them as they tear tickets. They wear white cotton gloves.
Seems a little extreme if I'm honest, It's only glasses not sterile medical equipment that's being handed out.

I have OCD but I think I'd still cope with glasses that someone else had touched already.

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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

- posted 04-29-2011 09:24 PM      Profile for Manny Knowles   Email Manny Knowles   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Well, that's your rotten opinion.

Personally, I don't see what's extreme about it. We take the time to sanitize them.

I think the patrons feel better knowing that nobody has touched their glasses. I know I'd feel better.

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Chase Pickett
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 142
From: Irving, Texas, USA
Registered: Nov 2010

- posted 04-29-2011 09:36 PM      Profile for Chase Pickett   Email Chase Pickett   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I don't care if other people have touched the glasses I am wearing for a movie. I just care if they have touched the lenses. Thus cotton gloves = Badass.

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Chris Slycord
Film God

Posts: 2986
From: 퍼항시, 경상푹도, South Korea
Registered: Mar 2007

- posted 04-29-2011 09:44 PM      Profile for Chris Slycord   Email Chris Slycord   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Honestly, I'm of the opinion that someone who is afraid of touching a pair of glasses that someone else touched shouldn't be out at a movie theater at all. Just think of the doors they touch to enter that other people have touched or the fact that the ticket seller and taker both touched their ticket or sitting in chairs that haven't been sanitized since the last person and so on.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

- posted 04-29-2011 11:10 PM      Profile for Mike Blakesley   Author's Homepage   Email Mike Blakesley   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I was thinking about the glasses they hand out for the 3D attractions at Disney. They are just in big trays, so people almost can't help but touch at least one or two other pairs besides they pair they take for their own use.

Of course it's a good thing to clean the glasses between uses, but I think this whole "avoid germs at all cost" mania that's sweeping the country is quite silly. We are given an immune system for a reason. There are germs everywhere -- you can't avoid them. They're in the freaking AIR. People let their baby crawl on the floor, or put toys in their mouth that have been laying on the floor, but they make sure the bottles and blankets are sanitized....it's insanity.

It's a big beautiful dirty world; grit your teeth and enjoy it. If you are felled by some random germ, well it was probably your time to be felled.

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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

- posted 04-30-2011 08:25 AM      Profile for Manny Knowles   Email Manny Knowles   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Fact is -- a lot of people are germ-phobic, and some of them are your customers.

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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

- posted 04-30-2011 08:48 PM      Profile for Manny Knowles   Email Manny Knowles   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Mike Blakesley
Of course it's a good thing to clean the glasses between uses, but I think this whole "avoid germs at all cost" mania that's sweeping the country is quite silly. We are given an immune system for a reason. There are germs everywhere -- you can't avoid them. They're in the freaking AIR. People let their baby crawl on the floor, or put toys in their mouth that have been laying on the floor, but they make sure the bottles and blankets are sanitized....it's insanity.

It's a big beautiful dirty world; grit your teeth and enjoy it. If you are felled by some random germ, well it was probably your time to be felled.
Is this THE SAME MIKE BLAKESLEY who also said THIS..?

quote:
When I go to the bakery and they use a tissue to transfer my chosen pastries into a bag, and then they PUT THE TISSUE WITH THEIR GERMS ON IT INTO MY BAG.

This one dork at the bakery uses a different tissue for each donut.
Film-Tech Thread

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Adam Martin
I'm not even gonna point out the irony.

Posts: 3686
From: Dallas, TX
Registered: Nov 2000

- posted 04-30-2011 08:57 PM      Profile for Adam Martin   Author's Homepage   Email Adam Martin       Edit/Delete Post 
It's one thing for some douche to scratch his butt and touch something that will touch your skin; it's another for those same germs to touch what you will eat.

But then again, there are theaters out there that don't even wash the glasses between uses any more because it takes to much effort and/or payroll and those chemicals are expensive.

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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

- posted 04-30-2011 09:02 PM      Profile for Manny Knowles   Email Manny Knowles   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Even so, Adam -- that sounds like the same rampant germ fearing that he's crying out against.

I'm wondering how long it will be before 3D finds itself embroiled in the scandal of a conjunctivitis outbreak. I think that's when the 3D honeymoon will end.

I find it fascinating that people around here can be so picky about doing everything "perfectly" - until someone goes a little further than them. And then it's "insane." Utterly fascinating.

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