posted 01-01-2004 03:36 PM                    

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1) What are some visible effects of "Film Done Wrong"
that can really put a dent in the film-viewing experience?
(I want to be able to tell her "Would you want to see/have
'xxxxxxx' when you see a film?" "Would you want 'yyyyyyy'
to happen?") Keep your explanations as non-technical as possible.

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2) How could I explain to her that I don't mean the grand 'roadshow' presentation of old when I talk about FdR? (She automatically thinks 'grand presentation ... expensive ... plush seats, etc.' when I talk about quality presentation.)

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3) Have you ever had any personal experiences at 'cheapo' theaters that don't practice FdR? What were they and how did you feel afterwards? (Personally, from a pure business perspective, I would not feel I had gotten a good return on my time/money investment (aka ROI) if I saw a poorly presented film. I'd rather get myself the DVD and have perfect presentation quality (or as much as my reproduction equipment can reproduce) and be able to view the film multiple times.)

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4) What theaters have you been to (in the Chicago suburbs area) that are 'midrange' theaters (ie. not the grand single-screeners, but not the lowest of the low-end) that _do_ practice FdR?

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posted 01-02-2004 10:19 PM                   

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And as for "Film Done Right", I don't mean a theater that is like the grand
houses of old (Remember the days of the 1950s/1960s and seeing 'South Pacific', 'Gone With The Wind', 'Ben Hur', and the great epic films?). I mean a theater that does these things:

* Attractive, well-maintained building (I don't mean a luxury Marriott
or Ritz-Carlton hotel type of building, but a building with good
outside 'eye appeal' and a general standard of cleanliness.)

* Reasonable ticket prices. (I don't mean super-expensive, I don't mean too
cheap, but REASONABLE.)

* Attentive management/house staff (both to customers (ie. customer-friendly)
and to issues that might arise during a film presentation (ie. auditorium
_cleanliness_, cellphone users, crying babies, and other distractions,
etc.)

* Other distractions might include drunks/hecklers who are talking
and chitchatting, etc.

* Reasonably priced and good-quality concessions (less relevant to me
because of health issues.)

* Comfortable seats (especially to sit in during long 2-3hr features such as
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (LOTR:ROTK is nearly 3hrs long
with NO intermission.) Don't you agree that is important?

(Especially with your knees.)

* Well-maintained auditoria. (ie. no excess light pollution, acoustic
isolation from other auditoria in the complex so no sound bleeds through
from other films and interferes with your viewing of the film you paid to see,
clean floors/seats, etc.)

* Professional and attentive projection. This includes:
* Images that are in focus and properly framed. (ie. no
image spills outside the screen area.)
* No dust/dirt on the image or jitter and weave. (Jitter
and weave are vertical and horizontal movement
as film passes through the projector.) The film should
(in a properly maintained projector) cleanly pass down
through the mechanism as each frame is projected
(there are 24 frames in each second of film and 30 frames
in each second of video.)

* A bright, clear image with no flicker. (Bright as in the
SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers)
standard of 16 footlamberts). Some theaters will
run their lamps at a reduced power level than standard
or neglect replacing them until they are close to
not working anymore... (BIG bucks for replacing the lamp and
lamphouse it sits in versus changing the lamp at the proper
number of hours of use.)

* No scratches or other damage to the film print which can
cause image artifacts (that is both prevented by
proper equipment maintenance as well as conscientious
film handling.) Would you want to see a big yellow
and green scratch right down the middle of the
picture? I wouldn't.

* Quality, well-maintained sound systems that are properly
calibrated. No buzzes, hums, or other sound-related
distortions that can detract from the film presentation.
If digital sound (ie. Dolby Digital or DTS) is
in that theater and used for that print, the digital
sound should switch in at the proper point in time
and switch out properly. The analog soundtrack should
also sound clear without any artifacts.

And, the theater should "Do Film Right", for ALL presentations, no matter
what time or what day.

Would you accept a meal at a restaurant that was undercooked, the staff
was getting bugs or other artifacts in the food, the outside (facility)
was ratty and unmaintained (or less care was taken in its maintenance),
the plates were paper and flimsy, and the only background
sound you heard was the sound of the machinery in the kitchen and a
cheap poorly-adjusted radio? Would you eat there (even if it's a lunch
special) NO!

Same with film presentation. (Airlines are different because the FAA
regulates "Piloting Done Right" and "Air Service Done Right".

Not so with film presentation.

When I see a film at a theater, I want to see it in the way the
director INTENDED and in its entirety.
If I 'could not afford' going to a quality theater, I'd just rent the DVD
or buy the DVD. Sure, it's different, but I know the image will be
stable and quality and the sound will be quality.

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posted 01-03-2004 12:55 PM                       

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(By the way, I don't understand why the "d" in "FdR" is lowercase.)

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posted 01-05-2004 02:33 AM                       

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P.S. Is it appropriate to compliment the projectionist after the show if the presentation was good?

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