Technology Didn’t Kill The Projectionist, The Idiots Who Own The Theater Did

It used to be that training managers to thread film and start projectors was a method to lower labor costs by bypassing the unions.  It even happened in IMAX, where one well-known person in charge of a group of commercial IMAX theaters created the “projection manager” position when her IMAX theater opened in San Francisco.  That’s right – “manager,” not “projectionist.”

So along comes digital and projectionists around the country are losing their jobs because apparently theater operators believe there’s nothing people can do that computers can’t do better.

Right.

I’ve noticed in a number of chains I’ve visited that as theaters have transitioned to digital, the problems have gotten out of hand.  Out of synch sound, auditorium lighting issues, framing, focus – you name it.  And it’s only getting worse.

Here’s a great example.  This was taken last week during a REALD presentation of Hugo:

Theater owners – as long as you intend to project something on your screen, it’s in your best interest to keep professionals on staff who are experienced in the art and science of projection – they’re an elite force known as “The Projectionists.”

 

Ron Bartsch and the Chamber of Secrets

A great behind the scenes of one of the greatest IMAX theaters with one of the greatest IMAX projectionists.

http://blog.thehenryford.org/2012/01/on-a-mission-to-the-imax/

 

January 2011 UPDATE 1: My Worst Top 5 List Ever

So here it is, my top five list of giant screen films for 2011.  The problem is: how do you define “giant screen” in this digital day and age when any old film can be projected onto a screen that meets the GSCA standard?  I use the following definition:

1. It must be a documentary that would tradititionally be shown in the 8/70 or 15/70 formats

-or-

2. It must be a film modified by IMAX corporation for presentation on its digital projectors.

I’m certain the definition will change over time and may eventually include full-dome digital presentations as well.

So, here’s the list:

5. Sanctum

Once you got over the fact that it wasn’t a big James Cameron Canadian-American production filmed in a giant tank in Tijuana, but rather a $30 million Australian film, and once you got over the first 30 minutes of very bad character development, it was one hell of a beautiful, but claustrophobic experience made even more intense by the 3D.  A very personal film.

4. Flying Monsters

David Attenborough, dinosaurs, and 3D.  Couldn’t ask for more.

3. Contagion

Because Gwyneth Paltrow dies in glorious 12….8……4……2.7….2.5……what’s the resolution on that digital IMAX projector again?

2. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

I have seen this in LegitIMAX 1570, digiminIMAX, and Cinemark XD CopIMAX.  Say what you might about the story, it’s a fun film.  And if you can see it in 1570, the Dubai scenes are amazing.  Kudos to director Brad Bird for making us forget about the Michael Bay curse and putting IMAX cameras to the best use they’ve seen in a Hollywood film since The Dark Knight.  Kudos also for aiming that nuclear warhead at Pixar.  I know what you were thinking.

1. Tornado Alley

It’s not because I got to sit behind Bill Paxton in the screening, nor is it because I watched Twister last night.  My fears of this being a giant screen version of the Stormchasers tv show went away when I realized that this was the culmination of a lifetime of growing up around IMAX documentarians.  I still want to know what happened to the car in the driveway when the tornado hit.

And now for fun….

Here are five films that shouldn’t have been seen on the IMAX screen (also known as “Greg, what were you thinking?”):

• The Green Hornet
• I Am Number Four
• Mars Needs Moms!
• Sucker Punch
• Happy Feet Two

Thoughts and Prayers for a Colleague

My thoughts and prayers go out to Tammy Martin Thurmon, Executive Director of the GSCA, and her family this holiday weekend.  Tammy’s mother Gail, age 71, passed away on Friday in a single car accident.  The family requests that in her memory donations be sent to Lake Anna Rescue, an organization that Gail Martin was heavily involved with which delivers high quality prehospital emergency medical care and related services to any person in need.  She also was a reporter for The Central Virginian, providing a number of pieces each week about the community in which she lived and which she loved.  On this combined day of Hanukkah and Christmas, we should each take a moment and be grateful for the time our loved ones have spent with us and the lessons they have shared.

Ancient Chinese Secret

Bear with me on this.  What follows is a piece that ran yesterday in the Beijing Evening News.  I’ve run the piece through Google Translate and it can be a bit rough to digest.  So if you have issues with the translation, send your gripes to Mountain View.  This piece is titled “Domestic giant-screen IMAX film DMAX born fares cheaper than 40 dollars.”  I call it “On Tuesday, the Chinese government introduced a less expensive IMAX clone developed in-house.”

The birth of giant-screen films made ​​DMAX

DMAX 40 dollars cheaper than the IMAX Tickets

(Reporter Chen Bin) by the China Film Science and Technology Research Institute and the China Film Corporation, with independent intellectual property rights of domestic “Chinese giant screen” (DMAX) cinema system yesterday formally Shuangjing in UME International Cineplex store into use, the system uses 20 meters to 12 meters 2D and 3D large screen video projection. Yesterday, the reporter in Shuangjing UME International Cineplex DMAX by China to watch the 3D IMAX version of “Dragon Flying A” fragment and the 2D version of “Jinling 13 hairpin” clip, wear special glasses, feel a little better than domestic IMAX DMAX giant ocean screen IMXA poor, “DMAX” optical light, bright screen, good color, do not jump do not flash, the effect is more comfortable viewing. Slope in the audience seating area design, but also from the slope with a large, wide row spacing, low point of view of process design, to the audience and the luxury of brilliant viewing experience. By breaking the monopoly of foreign technology, ticket prices are reduced accordingly.

Currently the world’s most famous giant-screen system for Canadians invented the IMAX. Standard IMAX screen is 22 meters 16 meters, but can play on a larger screen, and so far there have been larger IMAX screen appears.

After “Avatar,” “Transformers 3″ and several films fueled, IMAX in China has been rapid development, currently has 37 screens located around the commercial theater cinema and science classes. While everyone knows that IMAX is a good thing, but the high cost of making some small-scale for the introduction of IMAX theater prohibitive. The earliest introduction of the Beijing UME Cinema IMAX projection system, the entire cost up to tens of millions. IMAX screenings brings considerable benefits, on the one hand the audience sought, on the one hand is the high cost prohibitive to most theaters. And IMAX, the Chinese giant-screen machines are dual-use high-brightness projection, the brightness of its screen brightness by nearly 20% higher than IMAX, even three-dimensional video and pictures showing the overall tone is dim or night performance, the audience can still enjoy the rich layers, details of the alleged assaults, full color images. This new giant screen showing the number of audience to bring the best visual experience.

The system Furuo Qing, deputy general manager of China Film Group, said the moment the giant screen cinema digital projection equipment is still the monopoly of foreign manufacturers, the fare is the highest of all the screens. “China’s giant-screen system” to establish the project’s success, no doubt it will completely break the monopoly of foreign technology and domestic brands, “big screen” to the market situation. As the domestic giant-screen viewing is not only to ensure quality, low cost, and no foreign monopoly of the giant screen technology, brand royalties, also abolished the giant screen with foreign brands high into the box office, a lot of natural decline in fares. In UME Huaxing Studios, IMAX film hall cost more than 10 million, while domestic giant screen, the same time the screening, the general 3D film fare 80 yuan, DMAX, ticket prices of 90 yuan, while the IMAX fare is as high as $ 140. In other words, DMAX 40 dollars cheaper than the IMAX, only 10 dollars more expensive than ordinary 3D. China Film Science and Technology Institute Yangxue Pei said, “China’s big screen” system not to charge exorbitant fees to obtain patents of interest, thereby ensuring the cinema, theater and audience benefits.

DEC 2011 UPDATE 1: Filmed in IMAX, Not Screened in IMAX -or- Marbles Gets Screwed Again

Here’s the 411:

My friends in the Raleigh, NC area are not too pleased.  They’re big comic fans and because the Wachovia IMAX Theater at the Marbles Kids Museum, one of the best performing DMR theaters in the South, switched to IMAX digital projection earlier this year, there’ll be no Dark Knight Rises Prologue this weekend.  In fact, nowhere in the state at all.

A small price to pay for going digital.

But imagine that there’s a filmmaker who’s spent years in a tank trying to film the impossible with an IMAX camera and you can’t even get the film in your IMAX theater.

It happened to Marbles.  This is an actual screenshot from facebook:

Tornado Alley did open in Raleigh almost three months later, complete with a visit by filmmaker Sean Casey and his Tornado Intercept Vehicle (TIV).   But instead of opening at the IMAX, it opened at a theater only a ten minute walk away.

I’ll explain what happened in Raleigh and how this signifies a radical change in direction for the giant screen industry after these other brief updates:

• While television ads continue to tout a Dec 21 date for Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol in both conventional and IMAX theaters, most IMAX theaters (and Cinemark’s XD theaters) are opening the film at midnight on the 16th, with some actually having added shows as early as 6pm on the 15th.
• I was fortunate enough to meet ever so briefly with Tammy Martin Thurmon, Kelly Germain, and Eileen Pheiffer during their site visit to Sacramento last week.  In addition to Sacramento, the “matron saints of the GSCA” have also over the past three months visited St Paul, Austin, Ft Worth, Poitiers, Paris, Baltimore, San Jose, and Jackson Hole.  These ladies are so busy keeping the organization in top shape that I understand Mrs. Thurmon had to integrate her wedding engagement moment into a business trip.  Congrats!
• This week, I joined the staff of InPark Magazine as Online News Editor.  Unlike The Kinotech Blog, which is where I share my thoughts and observations, IPM is a fantastic outlet for you to share the latest news and developments about your company or organization.  If you are involved in the themed entertainment and attractions industries, please send your press releases to news@inparkmagazine.com.
• The rumors that Mike Slee is embedded with US Army Infantry troops on the Afghan frontlines are true.  But it’s not what you think.

Now back to Tornado Alley.  The film opened on Oct 29 at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, officially inaugurating the museum’s new WRAL 3D Theater.

So here’s the game changer: the company that sold and installed the theater system at Natural Sciences is D3D, a sister company to Giant Screen Films, the distributor of Tornado Alley.

Now, I’m not going to speculate about the relationship between Giant Screen Films and the Marbles Kids Museum.  That’s not what this post’s about.  It’s about what happens when theaters in close proximity start to compete.

In 1973, the second permanent IMAX theater (and first IMAX dome) opened at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in San Diego’s Balboa Park.  For almost thirty years, it was the only giant screen theater in the area (not including the Centro Cultural Tijuana which opened in 1982 but caters to a much different crowd on the other side of the international border).  In 2001, the San Diego Museum of Natural History, located on the other side of a decorative fountain from the Fleet, underwent a major expansion, adding an Iwerks Extreme Screen theater.

When I spoke with the management of the Fleet a number of years back, they didn’t consider Natural History to be competition.  After all, the theater had been built to show one film, Ocean Oasis, which had been produced by the museum.  Since the theater switched to digital projection with Dolby 3D in 2009, programming has changed somewhat.  In addition to Ocean Oasis, the theater is showing two films from 3D Entertainment, Sea Rex and Sharks 3D, both of which the Fleet is not set up to show in 3D.  Meanwhile, the Fleet is showing two nature films exclusive to IMAX systems, Born to be Wild and Under the Sea.  Five giant screen nature films at two institutions a thirty-second walk from each other.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg.  What’s happening in Raleigh is something bigger.  If my intuition’s right, over the next few years companies, such as Giant Screen Films/D3D and National Geographic, that are involved with both theater system sales or branding AND film distribution will make their product exclusive or available for priority booking much the way IMAX currently does.*  Additionally, other film distributors will partner into exclusive deals with system providers such as Dolby, REALD, or XpanD.

As current giant screen projection technology finds itself reliant on conventional cinema hardware and software, distributors will take full advantage in multiplatforming their products with minimal modification.  It’s already started.  Films that are shown in 1570 and smaller digital 3D theaters are also finding their way to full dome digital planetariums and, in some cases, conventional cinemas as well.

In the conventional cinema world, media providers, such as National CineMedia, Cinedigm, Screenvision, and REALD, are differentiating themselves from one another by offering exclusive content only to those who subscribe to their networks (or purchase their systems).  What’s in the process of happening in the giant screen/immersive cinema industry has the potential to cause not only great rifts within the industry, but between distributors and their existing exhibition clients.

Raleigh’s the first.  Institutions that potentially could be impacted by such a development, by having a digital 3D theater or planetarium installed either next door or a short distance away, include the California Science Center, the Franklin Institute of Science, and even the Smithsonian.  It makes perfect sense.  Lisa Truitt of National Geographic Cinema Ventures said, “Our goal is to help museums turn their existing theaters, live lecture halls or auditoriums into digital cinemas that will drive both attendance and new museum revenues with entertaining National Geographic movies aligned with the mission of the museum.”  So why not start with this one?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grosvenor Auditorium, National Geographic Society, Washington DC

Well, that’s it for now.  I’m off to turn on my Panasonic digital TV which I bought for the exclusive AVATAR 3D blu-ray in order to watch Transformers 2 which I had to buy at Walmart to get the exclusive aspect ratio change for the IMAX scenes.  Exclusivity can really suck.

Ciao.

 

*Regarding a previous post indicating that IMAX had discontinued distrbuting films to non-IMAX theaters, James Hyder of the LF Examiner writes:

[As far as I know], Imax has never directly distributed any of its films to non-IMAX   theaters of any kind, 8/70, 10/70, or 15/70….Imax made a sub-distribution  deal with MFF to do that. Later, a similar deal was made for Cosmic Voyage,   because it was supported with an NSF grant, which required maximum  exploitation….According to my records, [Cosmic Voyage] and [Destiny in Space] had 8/70 bookings as recently as 2009 and 2010, respectively.  I don’t show any 8/70 bookings of [Blue Planet], but it and the other two were under the deal I mentioned.

FOX in the Wind

Thanks to Jason Paride of the Esquire IMAX Theatre for telling me about this.  Last night’s episode of the FOX television show Bones was about storm chasers.  But it was also about filmmaker Sean Casey and his IMAX film Tornado Alley.  If you subscribe to huluplus, you can view the episode in its entirety below.  If not, the full episode should be available in about a week or so.

 

VIDEO: John Carter IMAX Trailer

NOTE: John Carter’s Andrew Stanton is the second Pixar alum to direct a big budget flick showing in IMAX theaters.  He follows Brad Bird, director of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (and I’m not even counting the legendary Ben Burtt).

Enjoy!

The Official Official Batman List

UPDATE: I had originally posted this as an “unofficial, official list” since it came via a huge “via.”  This information, was originally originally posted on www.nolanfans.com and came to The Blog via www.colider.com via a facebook posting by one of the darned best theater directors on the East Coast.  And if she’s posting it, it must be pretty darn true.  I listed it as “unofficial” because IMAX and WB had yet to officially announce the Prologue as actually existing.  This could be because the December 16 launch date for MI4 that used to be exclusive to IMAX is exclusive no more.  Cinemark seems to have struck a deal with Paramount to show the film on the earlier date in their XD theaters and possibly other chains are making similar deals as well.   Of course, since the Prologue is running only in the dying medium of 70mm film, the reasoning could be something different altogether.

I have since come across the official press release from Warner Brothers, which follows.  I highly recommend seeing the Prologue at the Franklin Institute, but that’s only due to my dome fetish.

Warner Bros. Pictures’ “The Dark Knight Rises”—the epic conclusion to filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy—is one of the most anticipated films of 2012, but moviegoers won’t have to wait until next year to see the six-minute opening sequence of the film. The film’s prologue will be unveiled exclusively in select 70mm IMAX® theatres worldwide. The announcement was made today by Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution, and Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, President of International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.

The Prologue will be released in North America on December 16, and in the UK on December 21, 2011. Additional international dates vary by territory and will be announced soon.

In making the 2008 blockbuster “The Dark Knight,” Nolan was the first to use IMAX® cameras in a major motion picture release, and, as now, audiences were given an advance look at that film’s prologue months prior to the Summer 2008 opening. Nolan employed the extremely high-resolution cameras even more extensively on “The Dark Knight Rises”—including the film’s prologue—to achieve unprecedented crispness and clarity and a truly immersive experience for the moviegoers.

Christopher Nolan stated, “Our experience on ‘The Dark Knight’ shooting and projecting IMAX 15 perf 65mm/70mm film was inspiring. The immersive quality of the image goes beyond any other filmmaking tool available, and in revisiting Gotham, we were determined to shoot even more of the movie in this unique format.”

“Giving the fans an early look at an IMAX sequence is a great way to draw attention to what I believe will be an incredible way to experience our story when it comes out next summer.”

Following is a list of the theatres in North America in which the Prologue of “The Dark Knight Rises” will be revealed on December 16th:

Austin, TX || IMAX Theater Austin 

Boston, MA || Jordan’s IMAX 

Boston, MA || IMAX 3D Theatre in Reading

Calgary, AB || Scotiabank Theatre Chinook 16 + IMAX

Chantilly, VA || Washington, DC Udvar-Hazy Center IMAX 

Chicago, IL || Navy Pier IMAX Theatre 

Des Moines, IA || SCI IMAX Dome Theater Des

Detroit, MI || Henry Ford IMAX 

Edmonton, AB || Scotiabank Theatre Edmonton + IMAX 

Harrisburg, PA || The Whitaker Center for Science & the Arts IMAX 

Houston, TX || Houston Marq*e Stadium 22 + IMAX

 Indianapolis, IN || White River IMAX 

Los Angeles, CA || Irvine Spectrum 20 + IMAX 

Los Angeles, CA || RAVE 18 + IMAX 

Los Angeles, CA || Ontario Palace Stadium 22 + IMAX 

Los Angeles, CA || Citywalk Stadium 19 with IMAX 

Madison, WI || Star 18 Fitchburg with IMAX

Miami, FL || AutoNation IMAX 

Minneapolis, MN || Great Clips IMAX 

Montreal, QC || Cinema Banque Scotia Montreal + IMAX 

Nashville,TN || Opry Mills Stadium 20 + IMAX 

New York, NY || Lincoln Square 13 with IMAX 

New York, NY || Palisades IMAX 

Omaha, NE || Star Cinema 16 with IMAX 

Orlando, FL || Pointe Orlando Stadium 20 + IMAX 

Ottawa, ON || Silvercity Gloucester + IMAX 

Palm Springs, CA || Desert IMAX Theatre 

Philadelphia, PA || IMAX & the Tropicana 

Philadelphia, PA || Tuttleman IMAX – Franklin Institute 

Phoenix, AZ || Arizona Mills 25 with IMAX 

Providence, RI || Providence Place 16 with IMAX 

Quebec City, QC || IMAX Le Theatre At Quebec 

Sacramento, CA || Esquire IMAX 

San Antonio, TX || IMAX at RiverCenter 

San Francisco, CA || Metreon 16 with IMAX & ETX 

Seattle, WA || Boeing IMAX – Pacific Science Center 

Tampa, FL || Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI)

Toronto, ON || Coliseum 12 Mississauga + IMAX

Toronto, ON || Scotiabank Theatre Toronto + IMAX 

Toronto, ON || Colossus 18 Woodbridge + IMAX 

Vancouver, BC || Colossus Langley + IMAX

 Vancouver, BC || Silvercity Riverport 18 + IMAX

Below is a list of the theaters in the UK in which the Prologue of The Dark Knight Rises will be revealed on December 21st:

UK || BFI London 

UK || National Media Museum IMAX Bradford 

UK || Glasgow Science Centre IMAX Cinema 

UK || Odeon Manchester IMAX @ The Printworks

Opening on July 20, 2012, “The Dark Knight Rises” features an international all-star cast, led by Oscar® winner Christian Bale (“The Fighter”) in the dual role of Bruce Wayne/Batman. The film also stars Anne Hathaway, as Selina Kyle; Tom Hardy, as Bane; Oscar® winner Marion Cotillard (“La Vie en Rose”), as Miranda Tate; and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as John Blake. Reprising their roles from both “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight,” Oscar® winner Michael Caine (“The Cider House Rules”) plays Alfred; Gary Oldman is Commissioner Gordon; and Oscar® winner Morgan Freeman (“Million Dollar Baby”) plays Lucius Fox.

Nolan directed “The Dark Knight Rises” from a screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer. The film is produced by Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan and Charles Roven, who previously teamed on “Batman Begins” and the record-breaking blockbuster “The Dark Knight.” Benjamin Melniker, Michael E. Uslan, Kevin De La Noy and Thomas Tull are the executive producers, with Jordan Goldberg serving as co-producer. “The Dark Knight Rises” is based upon characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. Batman created by Bob Kane.

“The Dark Knight Rises” will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company. The prologue has been rated PG-13 by the MPAA for “some violence.” www.thedarkknightrises.com

MEDIA WATCH: Paul Franklin Bats in the Dark, Making My Mission Near Impossible

Remember when AMC’s blog posted that the six minute IMAX prologue to Dark Knight Rises would be shown only  in 1570 film based theaters before Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, only to have the post removed the next day?  Well now it’s happening all over again.

Over the weekend, Paul Franklin, the film’s visual effects supervisor tweeted:

The Dark Knight Rises IMAX prologue will be released on Dec 21 with M:I4, but *only* in theatres with a proper film projector – no digital!  So make sure it’s a proper 70mm projection otherwise you’ll be disappointed!

Now here’s the problem.  When I noticed that the international media had picked up on this tweet and was running wild with it (especially the fanboys in the blogosphere), I went back and took another look at Mr. Franklin’s twitter account to see if there were any additions, comments, or responses.  There sure are!  Lots of information has been added about individual theaters and even links to the theater listings on the LF Examiner’s website.  BUT THE ORIGINAL TWEET HAS NOW BEEN DELETED!!!

I mean, WTH?!?!?

Twice now?!?!?

I mean, this doesn’t bother me, as I’ll be seeing the film on film at one of the finest IMAX theaters in the world, the award-winning Esquire IMAX Theatre in Sacramento.  But for my good friends in Raleigh (you know who you are), pack the suitcase, because if this is true you’ve got one hell of an overnight roadtrip ahead if you want to see the prologue.

I can only think of one possible solution to this issue.  If it bothers you that there’s no longer an IMAX 1570 film-based theater in your community, please contact the Hollywood studios and documentary distributors that provide IMAX films in your market and encourage them to STOP shooting films with IMAX cameras.  Contact information is available on the LF Examiner’s website.

Together, we can put an end to this greatest of issues affecting the IMAX community.