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Topic: Rialto in India

Ian Price
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1714
From: Denver, CO
Registered: Jun 99

posted 07-15-2002 09:26 PM

My projectionist, Payal just got back from a 6-week trip to India to visit family. Here are a couple of photos of a Rialto Cinema in India. I guess the Rialto name is universal. It means a Theatre District in Venice, Italy.

Note that they only have three show times per day. I think they are passing up some opportunities for profit. But since most Indian films clock in at 3 hours + I guess three showtimes is enough.

Payal got in to one projection booth, but not this one. She said they are still running reel to reel with Carbon-Arc light.

It is said that India has more movie theatres than the United States and makes more films than we do.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

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

posted 07-15-2002 10:55 PM

I want some "sun goggles"!

We are playing "Lagaan" which is an Indian film and it is somewhere in the vicinity of 62 days long (it seems). I guess they like sittin' on their asses or something. Not like us Americans who NEVER sit on our ass!

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Brad Miller
Administrator

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

posted 07-16-2002 06:07 AM

Good to know Indian movies have just as lame of posters as American movies. Nothing sells a movie more than a head shot of an actor. No imagination or creativity is required.

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Bob Maar
(Maar stands for Maartini)

Posts: 28608
From: New York City & Newport, RI
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 07-16-2002 06:46 AM

I think they are very creative. If you look closely at the photo of the actor in photo 2 directly under the word "Rialto", it none other than the real Joe Redifer.

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Richard Fowler
Film God

Posts: 2392
From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA
Registered: Jun 2001

posted 07-16-2002 07:26 AM

The "Bollywood" movie goers are very "star" driven so a head shot on a poster is all they need. My partner was in India last year and noted the mass humanity the people have to deal with in a land of almost a billion people....you would rather sit in a darken cinema for 3 1/2 hours to escape in fantasy. Carbon arc is still standard due to power reliability but of course the new multiplexes have all the "new" features.
Richard Fowler
TVP-Theatre & Video Products Inc. www.tvpmiami.com

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Craig Hanham
Film Handler

Posts: 79
From: Wellington, New Zealand
Registered: Oct 2001

posted 07-16-2002 07:46 PM

As someone who regularly shows Bollywood ficks.
Actually its about all I show, and reel to reeel with arcs at that.
Point is Bolltwood produces a truckload of movies that are mostly the same. Fortunately the ones we get in the west are generally the better ones.
Done a coupla dates of Lagaan. Long mother. No good doing it reel to reel if you don't know cricket but. One of the better ones I've seen.

With a short Bollywood flick being 2 1/2 hours, 3 a day reel to reel is about more than I could take.
Maybe I should start a Thread on the watchable Bollywood films, those that have been subtitled anyway.
Titles like 'Mohabbatein' (sp?); Asoka...

"these are my projectors. 'Wow they're big'. Yup Carbon Arc, they don't bulid em like this any more.... thank Christ"

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

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

posted 07-17-2002 01:46 AM

Oh, and I hate laser scribed subtitles! Hmmmmmm.... which to focus on?....... the subtitles or the movie? Tough choice.

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John Hawkinson
Film God

Posts: 2273
From: Cambridge, MA, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 07-17-2002 02:04 AM

Problems with focussing on the subtitles, Joe?

We have the solution for you. A short screen on legs positioned at the front of the auditorium, just high enough to catch the subtitles. Focus on the main image, then go and move the short screen forward/back until the subtitles come into focus.

Not good enough for you? Try keystoning your projector higher or lower (you have a plenty of height and depth in your booth, right?) until everything matches up. Consider mounting your projector on a movable track for proper fine-tuning!

--jhawk

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Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 07-17-2002 10:23 AM

Has anyone noticed that the laser-etched subtitles seem to be getting better lately? Compared with the work that was being done in the early '90s, current laser subtitles look _far_ better and focus slightly closer to the emulsion layer than they have in the past. Then again, maybe it's just me.

Of course, proper optically-printed subtitles are still the best way to go unless the theatre has the DTS subtitling system.

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John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 07-17-2002 02:04 PM

Scott Norwood said: "Compared with the work that was being done in the early '90s, current laser subtitles look _far_ better.:

Kodak VISION Color Print Films were designed to have improved laser subtitling performance. The titles are much clearer, with less likelihood of being charred in the laser subtitling process.

Here are some links:
http://www.titrafilm.com/TitraEn/pagesEn/laser_subtitling.html#Haut
http://www.titra.com/film.html
http://www.lvt.fr/Lvt_En/index_LVT.html

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: +1 585 477 5325 Cell: +1 585 781 4036 Fax: +1 585 722 7243
e-mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

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

posted 07-17-2002 07:13 PM

That could be possible, as some of our laser subtitled prints do look fine. It could be a case of the theater having some bad lenses in certain auditoriums as well. You don't really notice how bad they are until subtitles pop up!

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Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 07-17-2002 08:50 PM

Wow, John...I guess I'm not seeing things after all. Until now, I hadn't correlated the improvement in laser subtitling with the introduction of the new print stocks, but now that you mention it, I think that's when things really started to improve. Presumably the laser subtitling equipment continues to improve as well. I almost never see the black "crackling" lines in the subtitles which were so common and annoying as recently as five or so years ago.

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Craig Hanham
Film Handler

Posts: 79
From: Wellington, New Zealand
Registered: Oct 2001

posted 07-17-2002 10:02 PM

Personally I focus the image as my audiences are 99% Indian speaking. If it was different I would try to get the best compromise.
I get some good giggles from the house when the translations are out. I get a good laugh when the short bits of english dialogue have subtitles that don't match.
The main problem I have with the subtitles is when the clarity comes and goes. Had a a few instances where about every foot the s'titles would go noticeably out then regain then out ..... Gave me the willies thought my proj was having a fit. A good look at the main image soon showed where the problem was.
Usually seems to be lab dependent.

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Don Sneed
Master Film Handler

Posts: 451
From: Texas City, TX, USA
Registered: Aug 2001

posted 07-18-2002 07:41 PM

Speaking of India movies, I service a India theatre in Texas, they only make their money on the weekend, come Monday or Tuesday following the Friday night opening, the feature film is already being release on DVD & VCR (Figure that one), so the theatre only has to make their money on the weekend inwhich they do....plus there is only about 4-6 regular actors, I had been to a theatre where the same actors were on all 3-screens, in different movies....now the theatre has stereo & digital sound, the lows are turned down & the highs are so up there, when the actors sings, they destory your ears, but that is the way the theatre wants it, a little bit of lows, and alot of highs.....hey the theatre pays me good to keep it that way...when I oinstalled the new sound system a few years ago, I set up the EQ's as we do in any theatre in the world,the system "ROCKED".. I was called back by the owner, raising hell the sound was not right, not enough high's, I kept tweeting until he had the sound he was looking for, the low's rolled off at 250hz, went out to 16K hz with a boost starting at 4K....I told the owner, this is not good, he said it was perfect for the india movies....I said OK !!!

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Gerard S. Cohen
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 975
From: Forest Hills, NY, USA
Registered: Sep 2001

posted 07-18-2002 09:34 PM

Don,
When I visited India in the '60's Lotta Mangeshca and her female relatives had the "playback" vocal soundtrack business nearly all to themselves. They sang in a high soprano that to me sounded unnatural, like a male singing falsetto, but was much appreciated by the audiences. Sort of like the way the voices in classical Chinese opera have little relation to normal singing; they are highly stylized. Now I like this Indian type of vocalization, though it drives my wife nuts when I have it on TV.

So what you found of the theatre audience wanting you to boost the highs and minimize the lows fits in with the style of movie music
I found popular. Seems different cultural groups must have different
pitch preferences. I wonder if they are acquired or inherited?

I note that US teenagers seem to always turn up the bass to max, to feel the vibrations. Perhaps they have already blown their hearing
at 120db rock concerts...

Gerard

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