I will not mention all the one's associated with employees and customers. Here are a few of mine:

1. Delivering film in a single cardboard box. The traditional 'two can' method allows you to balance when going to booth. It's almost impossible for some employees to lift the single box.

2. 4 reels Tails, 2 reels Heads. If the reason this is done is because they did an integrity check, they missed a few reels. I'd like to know that they checked the entire thing before shipping it to me. All reels should be heads up.

3. When getting a circuited print, the previous theatre did not leave at least one frame on the head/tail so we can verify the reel number!

4. Broken reels - although I have had very few in the past few years since they finally took notice.

5. I'd like to flush every cell phone down Dave's urinal when he gets it fixed.

Aw, come on Jason, you can vent about employees and customers.

1-I agree. But I assume the film co's are under the impression that everyone has a mega plex with a fancy freight elevator to handle getting those to the booth.

2-This is caused by the way prints are struck at the labs. The high speed printers can do there work in both directions. It's simply luck of the draw if you get print's heads or tails. Heck, from all the flaws in most prints it appears that no ones doing an integrity check on them. The darn prints are barely dry when we get them.

3-Teach them. I've had to teach a few around here as well. Too many kids with 5 minutes of training being turned loose in booths.

4-This is most likely a function of a particular depot. We still get lots of broken reels. Reels assembled wrong, etc.

5-I'd simply like to find a cure for the "It'll stop up during a rush" curse.


Here's one of mine to go along with #4.

"Most" megaplex's that have "threaders" in the booth. They don't deserve to be called projectionists. They do a HORRID job of presentation. No one seems to have a clue as to what the knobs marked Focus, Frame, and Volume do.
Why do I care? It makes us ALL look bad. And the few in the public that care about a picture you can actually see on screen simply remembers "Wow, last time I went to a movie, it was a terrible experience. Think I'll go rent a DVD instead."

I relish going to my local competition's mega plex because I don't have to look very hard to find something to complain about. This is a 4 yr old plex. They "attempted" to install Dolby Digital in all screens, I say attempted because they used Peavy Speakers. PEAVY? Give me a break, no theatre owner with any sense of quaility use anything but JBL's. And it shows, their Dolby Digital sucks. Anyway, 30% of the time, the sound in this theatre will be mono. Someone in the booth fails to turn something on. I go out and complain to a manager I say "There is a problem with the sound in auditorium number 86. It's running in mono, instead of surround." Response from manager is a blank stare. He/she hasn't a clue as to what I'm talking about. So I continue. "Your $50,000 dollar sound system is playing like a cheap radio". Continued blank stare then the question. "Is the sound off". "NO, it's screwed up!" "I didn't pay $8 to listen to a crappy sound system".
Oh, I'll send someone up to check on it. 10 minutes later, I can hear that someone in the booth is adjusting on the OPTICAL reader, which as you all know, has nothing to do with DD. I give up, we get to listen to badly adjusted MONO the entire film. It goes nicely with the out of frame, scratched to holy crap picture.
This is my pet peeve........

One more, the stupid padlocks they're putting on film cans. You know, the really secure ones that if you hold them at the proper angle, you can open the hasp anyway.

Jason I can send you a box of rotary dial phones for you to throw at the cell phone users.

The last visit I had to the megaplex the picture was 2 feet over the top of the screen. So on close ups you only saw from the nose on down.

Added to all the above:
Masking tape. If a "projectionist" HAS to use masking tape on tear down, why do they think they have to use a roll per reel. That stuff is terrible to get off, esp. when it goes up 5 or ten or more frames. We also get lots of broken reels.

Masking tape should be banned from all booths.
If tape must be used, it should be artist's tape. And then only a 3" strip.

"One more, the stupid padlocks they're putting on film cans. You know, the really secure ones that if you hold them at the proper angle, you can open the hasp anyway." If you get your film in metal tins you are lucky down here it is a cardboard box. And security of the prints is a piece of tape. and the biggest deterent to the pirates is putting a different name on the film box, now this will definitely stop the piracy.

Jon, It makes no differance. Locking the can's is a joke. It's just as secure in a cardboard box. Most of the piracy is taking place before it gets to us.

But keep in mind, each print has CAP code imbedded in it. This can be seen if you watch closely during a movie. This allows the MPAA to track where that print's been if they find a bootleg copy. They can get the code from the bootleg and For example, if it was copied in your theatre, they "may" be able to determine that.

up there does anyone have trouble with "clubs" advertising and running films on dvd in halls, and charging admission but not being authorised to do so by the film/distribution companies? and hence not paying film hire?

I'm sure it happens. But they also get caught once in a while. Disney has sued day care centers around here.
If you know of such activitys, contact the MPAA and report it. You can report it by sending an email to: hotline@mpaa.org
It hurts us all.

My biggest pet peave are those customers that have stood in line for 5 minutes staring at the concession menu and then when its their turn to order, they still don't know what they want. I've gotten to the point now that if they don't decide in a reasonable amount of time (oh say, 1 or 2 minutes) I ask them to step aside so I can wait on the next person that already knows what they want. I almost come close to being like "the soup-nazi" from "Seinfeld" - "NO POPCORN FOR YOU!;NEXT!"

-Jeremy

Jason here is a solution to your cell phone problems. http://www.local6.com/news/3581522/detail.html#

I did not know you were a security gaurd too!

Chains....hehe.

A hidden blocking device would have prevented this scenario or customers who followed rules (and we know that will never happen).

while on the subject of cell phones does anyone have the kids yes big ones too playing with their phone during the movie sending txt messengess to their friends on the other side of the cinema? or doing the smae before the trls/movie begins?

damn things light up like Christmas trees as the lights dim.