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Topic: Infiltrator Premier Technical Glitches

Mitchell Dvoskin
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1869
From: West Milford, NJ, USA
Registered: Jan 2001

posted 07-14-2016 10:00 AM

Now that the world has gone digital, nothing ever goes wrong...

quote: News Story Link

Stars Walk Out Of Infiltrator Premiere After Technical Glitches

By WENN in Movies / TV / Theatre on 14 July 2016

Actresses Diane Kruger and Olympia Dukakis walked out of the U.S. premiere of their new film The Infiltrator after a series of technical glitches.

The film, which stars Bryan Cranston as real-life undercover U.S. federal agent Robert Mazur, was supposed to receive a glitzy debut at New York's AMC Loews Lincoln Square 13 venue on Tuesday (12Jul16).

However, a star-studded audience including Bryan, Diane, Olympia and co-star John Leguizamo were kept waiting when the film failed to start before a more technical glitches resulted in the temporary halting of the screening after 30 minutes.

"When they went to start the movie they had some issues," a source told editors at the New York Post's Page Six gossip column. "The screen was black, there was an issue with the subtitles... About 30 minutes in, the lights go up and they stop the film."

A representative for the film confirmed to the paper that the actresses had left the screening early, but claimed that their departure was planned.

Happily for Bryan and his co-stars, the critical reaction has fared better than their attempts to show off the film, as it has attracted generally positive reviews, with his performance as Robert, an agent who battled Colombian drugs king pin Pablo Escobar, earning particular praise.

The real-life crime fighter was also in attendance at the ill-fated premiere, but according to Bryan, he had to maintain a low-key presence at the screening due to fear of reprisals from criminals.

"I can’t point him (Robert Mazur) out to you or anyone else because he put a lot of people in prison, and they would like nothing more than to get back to him," Bryan told the publication.

The Infiltrator was released in the U.S. on Wednesday (13Jul16) and hits U.K. cinemas on 16 September (16).

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Jim Cassedy
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1661
From: San Francisco, CA
Registered: Dec 2006

posted 07-14-2016 12:57 PM

I did several press/preview screenings of this movie last week.
Had no trouble at any of my shows. Obviously, Mitch, they should
have hired one of us here to do the premiere.

>And I get really upset when they say "they had to stop the film".
- -if it was actually FILM they probably wouldn't have had to stop it.

It looked like a pretty decent movie, unfortunately, I didn't have
time to sit and watch any of it because I spent the entire screening
trying to straighten out a problem with another pre-release press
showing of a movie I had later the same day, where NONE of the KDM's
they were sending me were matching up with any of the 3 or 4 versions
of the flick on several hard drives I had received earlier in the week.

I don't know if it's the phase of the moon or if all the competent
people are on summer break, but I've had more KDM issues in the
last 2-3 weeks than I've had so far all year.

(But I manged to catch all in advance- so I haven't lost a show) [thumbsup]

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Stephan Shelley
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 854
From: castro valley, CA, usa
Registered: Nov 2014

posted 07-14-2016 01:42 PM

There has been a bulletin sent out about subtitle issues. The subtitles start a few seconds after the 16 minuet mark. It is scope and 2k file. I believe it is 4k projectors that were having issues. At least that was what the bulletin was talking about.

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Martin McCaffery
Film God

Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99

posted 07-14-2016 05:22 PM

No test screening? No backup file? Is that really how premieres are handled these days?

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Louis Bornwasser
Film God

Posts: 4441
From: prospect ky usa
Registered: Mar 2005

posted 07-14-2016 07:17 PM

More failed premieres in the last 5 years than in the history of film.

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Jim Cassedy
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1661
From: San Francisco, CA
Registered: Dec 2006

posted 07-14-2016 09:16 PM

quote: Stephan Shelley
The subtitles start a few seconds after the 16 minuet mark.

Since the movie is about a Mexican drug lord, there are subtitles
whenever they start speaking Spanish in the dialog. So they
are interspersed at various points throughout the movie.
But yes- as I recall they first start to appear abt 10-15min in.
I was running on a 2K projector, so we didn't have any problems
at the press previews I did.

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Philip Wittlief
Film Handler

Posts: 57
From: Chicago, IL
Registered: May 2003

posted 07-15-2016 09:34 AM

I have had the issue on some 2K series 1 projectors. Does anyone know what technical glitches caused them to start 30 minutes late?

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Tony Bandiera Jr
Film God

Posts: 3067
From: Moreland Idaho
Registered: Apr 2004

posted 07-15-2016 10:59 AM

Philip, I would bet the issue was bad KDMs that didn't unlock the show. [Roll Eyes]

quote: Jim Cassedy
>And I get really upset when they say "they had to stop the film".
- -if it was actually FILM they probably wouldn't have had to stop it.

Here's an idea for such big premiers: Why not do it in 35mm with a DCP back-up? IIRC doesn't Lincoln Square have at least ONE 35mm house?

Of course even if they DID have a 35mm setup available, odds are there is no one left there that knows how to use it properly...

In my 30+ years of doing screenings, over literally hundreds if not a thousand or so shows, I can recall only TWO lost shows due to technical issues...one was the press/AFM screening of "Happy, Texas" at the Santa Monica 4 (some dumbass editor at the studio spliced in a studio logo without adding the mag track)....by the time we had figured out what the exact problem was the decision was made to cancel the show (not by us in the booth, we just cut the logo out and viola, perfect sync).

The other was a screening at UC Irvine of a short film where they sent us just the mag track reel with no picture reel...(plus we didn't have the dubber installed at that time anyway..).

In general, a 35mm premier would have less chances of a show-stopping issue... (of course certain film related issues could have still happened, but the odds of a quick fix were greater.)

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Stephan Shelley
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 854
From: castro valley, CA, usa
Registered: Nov 2014

posted 07-15-2016 07:43 PM

Philip, if the issues you are talking about with series 1 projectors have to do with subtitles, make sure the TI firmware is on the last release TI made. 15.x. It enables smpte subtitles to a certain degree. Series ones will not display smpte subtitles at all without this last version. There is a length limitation that series 2s do not have.

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Bill Gabel
Film God

Posts: 3873
From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 07-19-2016 07:00 AM

quote: Tony Bandiera Jr
doesn't Lincoln Square have at least ONE 35mm house?

Of course even if they DID have a 35mm setup available, odds are there is no one left there that knows how to use it properly...

Yes they do have 35mm & 70mm in the complex.
They still have operators from Local 306 to run it.

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Tony Bandiera Jr
Film God

Posts: 3067
From: Moreland Idaho
Registered: Apr 2004

posted 07-19-2016 01:36 PM

Thank you Bill. [Smile]

Let's hope they take up my suggestion and premier in 35mm with DCP backup. [Smile]

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Terry Monohan
Master Film Handler

Posts: 379
From: San Francisco CA USA
Registered: May 2014

posted 07-24-2016 02:03 AM

I just saw this film yesterday at the Cinemark/Century in Daly City CA. No subtitles were on the movie. I had to sit thur many minutes of Spanish with no subtitles on the print. To make maters worse like many Cinemark/Century theatres around the USA they play many scope movies on their square 1.85 screens. These smaller cinemas as well as the larger ones have masking that did move last year but now you have to sit thu a scope film with white screen shown at the top and bottom. At least our local AMC SF theatres have nice masking that moves at the correct time. If I had read this post before I saw the film I'd complain to someone If you can find a so called manager at any Cinemark Cinema. They even have, like so many of their cinemas the top level candy counter is closed (they think they are saving help money) but not having It open with a small sign to tell you to use the refreshment counter in the lower lobby. This is why their steps are filthy with spilled Coke and other things, you have to carry all your goodies up 3 flights plus go down to pay for them. I enjoyed the film but I'd wish I had seen It at a AMC theatre with a better screen set up in SF. No showmanship these days in the SF Bay Area at Cinemark/Century. Even old Ray Syufy who ran Century for many years before his sons sold out to Cinemark always used the proper masking. It's so much nicer and easy on your eyes when watching a wide screen movie. Some day AMC will buy out Cinemark and things will change for the better I hope. PS:I forgot to mention there was a small hole in the middle of the screen!!! Check out this film and see If your local cinema has It set up the correct way with subtitles at times.

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Manny Montes
Master Film Handler

Posts: 270
From: United States
Registered: Feb 2010

posted 07-24-2016 01:25 PM

I can't wait for the day where the "this wouldn't happen with film" circle jerk ends.

This is just poor presentation whether it was film or digital, there should have been a tech screening for a premier which would have most likely prevented this error.

I almost wish there was a way to check cinema logs for all cinemas in the country (or world) and I can guarantee that the instances of lost shows has actually gone down. The fact of the matter is that these guys clearly didn't care and we would never know if they would have cared with film either to have someone watching it 100% during the show to make sure it doesn't brainwrap or would they do a film tech screening to ensure that the film was built correctly. We will simply not know, I think the one thing that digital has done is create a "set it and forget it" mentality which should be changed. If you are 100% with your tech screenings and actually checking and triple checking your work, the chance of a public lost show is very low.

I could count on 1 one hand the amount of digital shows I have lost, and 2 of them were due to exploding xenons (thanks Phillips!). Film was the same way, if you did your checks and actually cared your presentation would go off without issues. If people broke the set it and forget it mentality, digital would be just fine (imagine quality argument aside)

Probably not going to attract any flies with this honey like post, but still, it gets old guys....

*edit*
Also terry I wouldn't get your hopes up, all remodeled AMCs have fixed masking, they aren't putting the money into masking or fixing masking motors anymore. I'm not actually sure of any the major chains that are...

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 07-24-2016 02:10 PM

If it's an older Series 1 projector, then, as Stephan notes, it probably had an old TI firmware in it. If it's a 4K Series 2 playing a 2K DCP with XML subtitles, then the screen or PCF file needs to be set up a specific way, or subtitles won't work (can't remember the specifics, but when I had this problem a couple of years ago, Steve Guttag very kindly posted the solution).

But yes, the staggering thing is why this wasn't caught in the preparation for such a high profile show. My only guess is that because there were only subtitles on one or two scenes, the projectionist previewing it didn't know that they were supposed to be there (e.g. thought that the Spanish scene was just for atmosphere and that the audience didn't need to know exactly what was being said) or maybe even only spot checked the movie and didn't land on those scenes while doing so.

Whenever we do studio premieres with VIPs in attendance, a tech from the studio comes on the morning of the show, shoots the colors, checks the light level, and watches the whole DCP. Usually a Dolby tech comes to tune the room, too. The studio tech is someone who knows the movie and has seen it many times before, and so would catch something like this immediately. Interesting that this clearly wasn't done for this show.

Also, we've been here before, with the Attack on Titan debacle, when a load of theaters that almost never played subtitled and/or SMPTE DCPs tried to play this one and discovered the old TI firmware issue the hard way. In the aftermath of that, the distributor announced that all its future DCPs would have burnt-in subtitles, not XML ones.

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 07-24-2016 03:37 PM

quote: Mitchell Dvoskin
Now that the world has gone digital, nothing ever goes wrong...

quote: Terry Monohan
...many Cinemark/Century theatres around the USA they play many scope movies on their square 1.85 screens. These smaller cinemas as well as the larger ones have masking that did move last year but now you have to sit thu a scope film with white screen shown at the top and bottom.

quote: Jim Cassedy
I don't know if it's the phase of the moon or if all the competent
people are on summer break, but I've had more KDM issues in the
last 2-3 weeks than I've had so far all year.

quote: Martin McCaffery
No test screening? No backup file? Is that really how premieres are handled these days?

quote: Louis Bornwasser
More failed premieres in the last 5 years than in the history of film.

quote: Manny Montes
I can't wait for the day where the "this wouldn't happen with film" circle jerk ends.

quote: Manny Montes
This is just poor presentation whether it was film or digital, there should have been a tech screening for a premier which would have most likely prevented this error.

Digital projection is little more than an excuse to be lazy.

People are too lazy to carry those "heavy" film cans up a flight of stairs. They are too lazy to splice film properly and take care of their machines and they are even too lazy to simply check their movie before a Hollywood premiere where all the principles are present.

People are simply too lazy to do the jobs that they are getting paid to do.

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