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

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Community   » Film-Yak   » Shhhhh....laughter?

Author Topic: Shhhhh....laughter? Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 11-02-2003 05:20 PM                    Everyone knows Thou Shalt Not Talk During the Movie. But surely laughter--not necessarily loud guffaws but quietly chuckling to oneself--is a normal audience response. Thus, is it acceptable to shush someone simply because one didn't think a given scene was funny?  |  IP: Logged Martin Brooks Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 900 From: Forest Hills, NY, USA Registered: May 2002 posted 11-02-2003 05:37 PM                        No!  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 11-02-2003 06:59 PM                        If the reaction to the movie is genuine (laughter, screams, applause), it is fine. If someone is just trying to draw attention to themselves, or impress their group with their antics, they deserve censure.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 11-02-2003 07:59 PM                        Hmm. I suppose if the movie is "Schindler's List" and some nimrod is guffawing at something he/she finds "funny", that might be a case where censure is warranted. OTOH, if the movie is, say, "Gigli", and someone laughs at something not necessarily meant to be funny, that person deserves a gold star for recognizing crap when he/she sees it. I laughed all the way through "Kung Pow: Enter The Fist". But few others in the audience found it that funny. On that basis, was I in the wrong?  |  IP: Logged Chris Hipp Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1462 From: Mesquite, Tx (east of Dallas) Registered: Jul 2003 posted 11-02-2003 08:39 PM                     Is it wrong? I dont know, but it is extremely annoying to me. I hate when people laugh during movies, even if it's a truly funny scene. I dont laugh out loud and for the above reason and people kicking the back of my seat, I will rarely watch a movie unless I am screening it alone. I don't even allow other managers or staff to be in the same auditorium with me. [ 11-02-2003, 10:08 PM: Message edited by: Chris Hipp ]  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-02-2003 09:39 PM                        What's extremely annoying to me is: People who laugh at stuff that's not supposed to be funny at all - like a person getting hurt in a serious movie. People who keep laughing and laughing and laughing long after the funny scene is over. (Teenagers are the worst.)  |  IP: Logged Chris Hipp Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1462 From: Mesquite, Tx (east of Dallas) Registered: Jul 2003 posted 11-03-2003 12:09 AM                     I should also add that if for some reason I attended a public showing, I wouldn't tell anyone or try to get the people to shutup. People reacting to the movie is the norm, it jsut bugs me. Not to mention the smell of 600 people crammed into one auditorium.  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 11-03-2003 01:09 AM                        quote: Not to mention the smell of 600 people crammed into one auditorium. A properly built auditorium with adequately sized air exchangers wouldn't have a people smell.  |  IP: Logged Ron Lacheur Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 650 From: British Columbia, Canada Registered: Feb 2002 posted 11-03-2003 03:41 AM                     What about laughing during a movie that just horrible? Steven Seagals' movies are a prime example.  |  IP: Logged Ron Lacheur Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 650 From: British Columbia, Canada Registered: Feb 2002 posted 11-03-2003 03:43 AM                     Sorry, Double posting.  |  IP: Logged Carl Martin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1424 From: Oakland, CA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 11-03-2003 05:46 AM                        i don't mind a bit of laughter _if_ it is restrained and doesn't obscure the soundtrack. there's a way to laugh when you're drinking with your buddies and there's a way to laugh during a film. they are different. i don't like people who laugh to draw attention to the fact they "get it". though i'm sure i've done it myself a few times. as for applause, save it for live performance. it's great if you're enjoying yourself. you can talk about it later. i don't need to know as soon as the credits start. i will allow that clapping is appropriate under one circumstance: the director/actor/whatever is there in person, announced. but even then, wait till the lights come up. bottom line: if you can't help yourself, don't feel too bad about it. if you can help yourself, please do. carl  |  IP: Logged Christopher Seo Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 530 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-03-2003 08:04 AM                     When I saw the original "Blair Witch Project", there was a group of teenage girls giggling throughout the whole movie. Obviously, this film was no "Citizen Kane", and definitely cheesy at times, but it was at least an honest effort (and I certainly wish I had made it as I'd be pretty rich now). I refrained from telling them to shut up during the movie, but afterward I went up to them, dying to find out why they were giggling so much. "Uh... we were laughing because they were scared," came the rather dim reply. I think the reason they were so annoying is that they were the only ones laughing... even though they weren't loudly guffawing, the fact that we knew they were laughing was distracting. They, as part of the social contract of theatregoing, need to be aware of the rest of the audience. If they are the only ones laughing repeatedly, then they should realize they are sticking out like a sore thumb and giggle quietly and aspiratedly to themselves. Still, there has to be some give and take with laughing at unintentionally funny scenes. This seems to be true of older movies especially, where a shot, action, line of dialogue, scenario, etc., that was serious enough at the time is now dated or seems silly. One could probably say that entire styles of acting that worked in the 1930s now seem silly. Perhaps theatres could advertise certain showtimes as being for Serious audience members only! (but that will never happen). I had a friend comment that seeing "Jaws" at my theatre was a better experience than seeing it another theatre, which had a higher contingent of jaded, disaffected college types prone to laughing at the movie.  |  IP: Logged Mark Hajducki Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 500 From: Edinburgh, UK Registered: May 2003 posted 11-03-2003 11:12 AM                     quote: Perhaps theatres could advertise certain showtimes as being for Serious audience members only! you would have to offer alternative "explained showings for the hard of thinking" to avoid being counted as discrimenatory.  |  IP: Logged Dave Williams Wet nipple scene Posts: 1836 From: Salt Lake City, UT, USA Registered: Jan 2000 posted 11-03-2003 01:27 PM                        There was the time I threatened to give an apendectomy to this guy one row back and four seats to the side of me for laughing during Star Trek First Contact, at scenes not intended to be funny to anyone. He told me to go F*** myself, he paid for his ticket and he can do whatever the F*** he wants. He however forgot the first rule of cinema, he who goes to the manager first, wins every time. So out he went. Ciao Dave  |  IP: Logged Paul Cassidy Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 549 From: Auckland, New Zealand Registered: Aug 2001 posted 11-03-2003 08:02 PM                        GOing to Mel Brooks movies it,s almost imposible to not Laugh out loud  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

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.