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This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
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Author
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Topic: Attention Managers and Owners....
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Gordon Bachlund
Jedi Master Film Handler
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Posts: 696
From: Monrovia, CA, USA
Registered: Aug 1999
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posted 07-09-2001 02:21 PM
In a letter to the L. A. Times Entertainment Section of Saturday, July 7, a reader commented as follows:"I'm at the 11:45 a. m. screening of 'A. I.' at the Mann Village (a single screen first run theater) in Westwood. One hour and forty-five minutes into the picture, the framing goes askew. Chants of 'framing!' start. "Time passes. Nothing happens. More chanting. Still no change in the frame. In the lobby, there's confusion. They tell us they're 'looking' for the projectionist. Five minutes later, I walk out of the theater, taking a refundable ticket on my way out. "How appropriate: At a movie decrying the loss of 'human-ness' in the mechanized world, there's no human in the projection box." Call me a curmudgeon if you will, but when I worked as projectionist such a situation would never have happened. It would have been unthinkable to thread out of frame, and heresy not to correct framing and focus, if required, right after the changeover! Managers and owners, if you don't want to see the business continue to go down the drain, hire and retain competent union projectionists. Provide the entertainment experience that you are charging for.
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John Schulien
Expert Film Handler
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Posts: 206
From: Chicago, IL, USA
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 07-09-2001 06:35 PM
I went to see AI at the Village North in Chicago about a week ago. The first trailer started, and it was obvious that the picture was out of focus. I got up and went to the lobby. I told the usher that the picture was out of focus. He told me, "Don't worry about it, it will be ok once the movie starts." He wouldn't send anyone up to fix it, and wouldn't tell anyone. Needless to say, the picture was out of focus for the entire movie. I would have left, but I was with a big group, it was the midnight movie, and I didn't want to make an issue.That's another theatre scratched off my list. My problem is that, with the exception of the Music Box, which doesn't show first run movies, I'm running out of movie theatres! It's just been one bad experience after another for the last few years. I saw Chicken Run at Webster Place, and the image was so dark that I walked in during the previews, and literally couldn't see the floor in front of me. So are there any good first run theatres left in Chicago at all?
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Aaron Mehocic
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 804
From: New Castle, PA, USA
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 07-10-2001 01:16 PM
Greg: Don't apologize, you're right. I've got a Bachelors of Science in Education and I continue to work as a projectionist for a number of reasons including, as you say, "cares and/or sacrifices". I've worked with a number of people over the years with everything from GED's to law degrees and most of those who been to college are more ignorant about dedication and the future than those who struggled through high school and never went off to higher learning. It seems as if college does something to the masses. The idea that "I have a degree", makes most educated types belive that they are too good for the work and they won't stay. Being an operator is an honorable profession, but many times people ask me when I'm going to quit and become a "professional". Professional what? Teacher?, Manager?, Salesman? Hell, I'm a professional now. I use my degree to teach part time, and work in the booth because I enjoy it. Sure the bottom line sucks, but there is more reason to stay other than for a paycheck. I love to tinker with the equipment and try to put on a good show. THATS PROFESSIONAL. The college educated manager who is too meek to approach district about a full time projectionist - THATS NOT.
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Mitchell Cope
Master Film Handler
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Posts: 256
From: Overland Park, KS, United States
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 07-11-2001 01:10 PM
I spent some time away from home last week in Lubbock, Texas. There was a second run $2 movie house there, so I went every day to catch up on movies I hadn't seen. Well the first show was flat ("Angel Eyes") and the screen was fixed with masking for scope. The projector could be heard very well from inside the theater. The next day I saw "The Mummy Returns", a scope picture. While the masking was great on the sides and top, the bottom masking didn't quite reach the picture. I think the masking was set for a 2.2:1 image. Almost, but no cigar. Though I could survive this, the lighting from the ceiling was distracting. I remembered that they had more lights out the day before in the same theater. The third day I saw "Along Came A Spider", another scope picture. This time I was watching on a different screen. Same 2.2:1 masking problems on this screen. Framing was also off that the bottom of picture was on the top masking. If the top masking could have hidden this well, I might not have noticed. The projector needed to be reframed and pointed a little bit lower. Each day when the movie started up, the frameline was always in the center of the picture. Fortunately (?) the projectionist anticipated this and was prepared to correct immediately. When I got home, my wife and I rented the DVD "State And Main". No problem, good picture and great sound. While I may love the movie going experience, what's going to convince the general public to keep coming back? Something has to be worth the inconvenience to leave home and go out for entertainment. Shall it be Digital here vs. Digital there? Or will it be Digital here vs. A Great Movie Going Experience? If the latter can not be found, I'm staying home.
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John Pytlak
Film God
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Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000
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posted 07-11-2001 01:52 PM
It's hard to beat "Film Done Right". ![](http://www.film-tech.com/ubb/smile.gif) But the examples you cite of "Film Done Wrong" are a disgrace . Similar "sins" are likely to be committed against Digital Cinema in the name of cost savings. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, high-end HD "home theatre" will be the real competition in the future, and theatres will have to offer superior presentation quality to stay in business. Seven Deadly Sins ------------------ John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging Eastman Kodak Company Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419 Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243 E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion
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Steve Scott
Phenomenal Film Handler
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Posts: 1300
From: Minneapolis, MN
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted 07-17-2001 02:51 PM
I remember back in April, I went to see "Exit Wounds" at the Wynsong in Des Moines, IA. Just as the movie began, the focus and horizontal framing went bad & the sound defaulted from DTS to SR (Probably the wrong discs in the drives, or none at all). I know that the sound could have been worse (I've endured a bypass mono film in my day) but the fact that the movie was playing out of focus & on the bordering wall made me go ask a manager that he check the picture & sound of the movie. I couldn't believe that he made no effort to fix the framing as the film went on, and did little about the focus. As for the sound, he simply turned it up to a near distorted level! I sat through half of the movie and left (feeling that what I could see & hear wasn't worth the rest of my money). I agree that the standards (especially for large chain theaters) need & deserve to be higher.I consequently also saw AI at another Carmike in Des Moines and noticed that a good deal of the film was poorly focused. Really now, give your films the deserved, if any, effort!
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Gordon Bachlund
Jedi Master Film Handler
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Posts: 696
From: Monrovia, CA, USA
Registered: Aug 1999
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posted 07-18-2001 11:46 AM
Anent John's remarks, the July 2001 issue of the SMPTE JOURNAL contains the following in its “SMPTE Almanac” section (75 years ago in the Journal)...The September 1926 issue reported in an article by F. H. Richardson on The Useful Life of Film: “The ultimate and only purpose of the motion picture industry, insofar as theatres are concerned, is to provide a program which the theatre will be able to sell to the public at a profit and to continue to do so indefinitely. The purpose of the motion picture is, in the main, to supply entertainment and amusement. …the motion picture industry will succeed exactly in proportion to the general excellence of the entertainment it provides. …consider what your reaction would be…to a feature in which there were long, wide scratches and thousands upon thousands of small ones, all so filled with dirt as to be either opaque or semi-opaque, with breaks in the action of the play every few feet caused by pieces of film having been cut out in the making of repairs to the print, and with an occasional bobbing up or down of the picture as a whole as a wide, stiff splice passes through the projector…” Hmmmmm.
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John Pytlak
Film God
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Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000
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posted 07-18-2001 12:26 PM
Gordon: Film, projection, lens, and sound technology have come a long way in 75 years. We all know that "Film Done Right" provides unsurpassed presentation quality. But too often, the mentality of "good enough" or "we don't hear many complaints" has allowed cost-cutting to rule at the expense of presentation quality and showmanship. There is no GOOD excuse for a poor presentation, but plenty of BAD ones. ------------------ John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging Eastman Kodak Company Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419 Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243 E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion
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