First bans of mobiles during movie shows

[Alexander Turcic]

You knew it was only a matter of time until the movie industry decided to take new "preventive" measures against inconvenient movie pirates. The Edingburgh Evening News writes today that at the Edinburgh Scotland Film Festival guests will be asked to hand over their phones for the duration of a festival screening. More dazzling even, the film distributors have hired "bag and tag" security companies that will do a thorough check of your bag and coat at the door, and confiscate any cell phone or recording device.

Charlotte Tudor, a spokeswoman for BVI, said: "The industry is very focused on combating piracy and we always try to protect screenings before an American release, as that is where pirates will want to strike. These people are criminals who are undermining the UK and international film industry, so we feel it is right to take these precautions."

So cell phone owners are criminals. I know for sure I'll boycott any movie theater or movie show where I'd be forced to hand over my cell phone.

[gadgetguru]

Hey cellphone at the moment only record poststamp-sized videos, do they think those will get burned and distributed as DVDs? Maybe, they are just afraid that their security can't tell the difference between a cellphone and a videocam...

[Mattoquai]

Hmm, that's pretty ridiculous if you ask me!
Something different about movietheatres and mobile phones: I just read 20th century Fox made a deal with some cinemas about using bluetooth for advertisement in theatres. In the following image (which I found on some German website) you can see how the company iSphere thinks about using bluetooth in cinemas. The idea is that at the entrance (transmitter nr. 1) you recieve the program of all the movies playing, inside the cinema you can recieve some trailers (don't ask why..), and when you leave you can get some cool wallpapers and ringtones of the movie you've just seen (nr. 3).


Besides technical issues (like sending large sized movietrailers using bluetooth) it seems like a pretty cool idea to me. Especially if there are no extra costs involved .

[clicclic]

Well, when the Nokia N90 comes out there will be plenty of reason to ban cell phones in theaters.

I guess they'll make us dress in white gowns before entering the theater. Or maybe nude cinemas will take off!

[hacker]

I sure hope nobody in any theatre from this point forward, has any emergency that requires calling 9-1-1, or any doctor that happens to be on-call during any emergency that comes into the hospital.

Quick, call 911, this man is having a heart attack!!!

Uhm.. wait, let me find my claim tag and run up front...

No no, the blue phone, with the white keypad. Not that one, the one over there! Oh wait, thats not mine, try that one over there! Damn, call the management, can SOMEONE call 911!?!

Phones during movies suck, especially when people are on them through the WHOLE movie, but banning EVERYONE from carrying a mobile phone is a bit ridiculous. Why punish EVERYONE for the bad deeds of a minority few who are trying to make copies of the movie?

If I purchased my ticket and had my phone or Palm confiscated at the door, you can bet I'd be turning right back around and getting a refund, and scratching that theatre off of my list of places to patronize with my money.

[Pride Of Lions]

Nice picture, Alex. That Keira Knightly is drool drool.

The movie industry is hurting from low attendance and ticket sales, primarily because the skyrocketing costs of ticket prices and ancillary popcorns and such are not worth the trouble of getting dressed and parking and everything, (especially when the DVD is out 2 months later) and because most Hollywood movies suck or are rehashes (that suck; the studios claim that they're not getting good scripts, but the truth is that they're just not willing to take a chance and produce anything not formulaic.)

People are choosing to forgo the "theater experience" in favor of staying home, microwaving popcorn, wearing pajamas and watching 2-3 movies at a time (and without the annoying trailers and commercials for 20 minutes into the time the movie's supposed to start (!). Idiot moves, like condemning the audience that's actually willing to come to the theater, typify the movie studios unwillingness to confront the real problem: getting seats in the theaters.

The theater only receives about 10% of the box office, the remaining 90% goes to the distributors and studios and such. (The theater makes it's money from the concessions, that's why they seem so expensive because they're what's keeping the theater afloat.) These studios are full of people who are more concerned with turning $1 million into $2 million and are not concerned with providing the best stories. That is the reason why the formula is adhered to so strongly. A car chase here, a sex scene here, an "A" list actor (or two) for box office credibility, and a nauseating 3 month massive marketing blitz that's designed to make that opening weekend's receipts seem so impressive, and VOILA! Another "hit" that will be used in negotiating the overseas releases and the DVD sales.

If you've ever noticed how, especially in the summer months, you'll see a thousand commercials a day for a certain movie that's not even coming out for 2 months, but after the movie comes out, you can hardly find a commercial for it (even when it's still in the theaters?) That first weekend is all-important, which is why some movies come out on Wednesday instead of the usual Friday, it boosts the receipts to make it seem like just millions upon millions of people flocked into the theaters to see this movie. It's all bollocks. (I live in the U.S., so I don't really know what bollocks means. It sounds cool to finally slip it into conversation.)

Studios: Make better movies and you'll get the customers in the seats and you won't feel the loss of piracy. Also, release movies at the same time worldwide and decrease the anticipation (why wait 3-6 months?)

Mattoquai: That's an interesting use for BT. I have a hard time believing that it'll be free and I'm concerned for the security of the phone users. Will they ask us if we want to accept the attachment? They should. Then, what'll stop malicious people from sending out similarly-sounding attachments that are intended to separate people from their money (or worse, their identities?) I might have to decline BT offers from the theater (if I ever find another movie worth seeing in the theater.)
POL9A

[Chaos]

Originally Posted by Pride Of Lions

It's all bollocks. (I live in the U.S., so I don't really know what bollocks means. It sounds cool to finally slip it into conversation.)

Definition. =) You used it correctly though.

And I agree with you - most movies made only advertise before and not after, mainly because they only do well on the opening weekend, often because the movie's crap and no one will see it more than once... The exception I've noted to the rule over the past few years, is the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Even months after the movies have hit theatres, they were still being advertised. I suppose that's because LotR were actually pretty good movies, as opposed to most of the current movies which are crap...

Personally I am looking forward to Serenity, though... Firefly was a good series, but Fox chopped it's head off before it even had a chance...

[hacker]

Originally Posted by Pride Of Lions

People are choosing to forgo the "theater experience" in favor of staying home, microwaving popcorn, wearing pajamas and watching 2-3 movies at a time (and without the annoying trailers and commercials for 20 minutes into the time the movie's supposed to start (!). Idiot moves, like condemning the audience that's actually willing to come to the theater, typify the movie studios unwillingness to confront the real problem: getting seats in the theaters.

You haven't rented a DVD recently, have you? Most of the DVDs released this year (from major studios) prohibit you from jumping past the commercials into the main menu of the DVD. You HAVE TO watch the previews and commercials before your DVD player's remote control buttons for the menu navigation work. I've tried this on 3 DVD players I have here, and its consistent.

The industry is talking about doing the same thing with regular broadcast television cable, through the use of the Broadcast Flag. That's roughly around the same time I'll be throwing my TV out on the curb and giving up on watching the news, cable, movies or videos.

(Though I suppose ripping the DVD, encoding it and stripping out the commercials would work, I'm not about to go try that with my DVDs).

Mattoquai: That's an interesting use for BT. I have a hard time believing that it'll be free and I'm concerned for the security of the phone users. Will they ask us if we want to accept the attachment? They should.

This has been around for at least 6 years (though using IrDA for the same exact purpose). A company even took our project and created an entire business model around it, specifically to "beam" content to users at tradeshows, theatres and restaurants. Pretty impressive stuff. The bluetooth angle is interesting too, but you'd have to associate, authorize, authenticate, and accept whatever it was sending you. Not a wise idea in these times. Anyone nearby could sniff, record, and play back bluetooth "conversations" without you even knowing about it.

[Mattoquai]

Originally Posted by Pride Of Lions

Mattoquai: That's an interesting use for BT. I have a hard time believing that it'll be free and I'm concerned for the security of the phone users. Will they ask us if we want to accept the attachment? They should. Then, what'll stop malicious people from sending out similarly-sounding attachments that are intended to separate people from their money (or worse, their identities?) I might have to decline BT offers from the theater (if I ever find another movie worth seeing in the theater.)
POL9A

About the 'spam-problem', you are totally right about that. I also think that privacy of users could be a big problem. But I think it will work if they place some special displays which are recognizable as advertisement. There you can choose to authorize the display to send you the ringtone or wallpaper, or maybe something else (like movie-reviews or whatever). This way only people who want to have the advertisement stuff for fun will get it. It doesn't have to cost anything, the film-studios will pay for the displays and the content, because it will be free publicity for their films. Security issues will ofcourse remain a problem with current bluetoothtechnology, but maybe that will change when new standards arrive. Anyway, I still think it will be a cool application for bluetooth . I think there will be a lot more discussion about using bluetooth (and other wireless technologies) for advertisement, because marketeers just don't know yet how to use it. If you're interessted you can find some more discussion on bluetooth advertising here

[Pride Of Lions]

Originally Posted by hacker

You haven't rented a DVD recently, have you? Most of the DVDs released this year (from major studios) prohibit you from jumping past the commercials into the main menu of the DVD. You HAVE TO watch the previews and commercials before your DVD player's remote control buttons for the menu navigation work.

I have noticed the trend towards non-forwarding commercials on DVD's, but the difference is that at home you can be doing other things while that crap is playing: making popcorn, one last bathroom break, brushing the dog,... The commercials that ruin movies come after someone has planned to see the movie, synchronized their schedule with their woman to get there on time, spend time parking, walking to the theater, waiting in line, paying too much for the tickets, waiting in line for the concessions, finding a seat (and praying that you're not sitting behind a beehive hairdo or in front of a loud-ass kid who's kicking your seat and then having to sit through 20 minutes of commercials and another 10 minutes of trailers. At home, you can start the movie in the DVD player without even turning the TV on, because the commercials will play out and then the DVD will hang out on the menu screen until you tell it what to do.

The theater experience needs to be streamlined and made more comfortable to the audience then it's become. When the paying audience is waiting for movies to come out on DVD instead of jumping through all those hoops, a paradigm has shifted and the studios need to adapt.

Originally Posted by Chaos

The exception I've noted to the rule over the past few years, is the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Even months after the movies have hit theatres, they were still being advertised. I suppose that's because LotR were actually pretty good movies, as opposed to most of the current movies which are crap...

I agree with you that LOTR had staying power, I think basically because the Tolkien fans (70 years worth) had such high hopes and the movies were done so faithfully that they were enjoyable to the books fans and to neophytes of the stories. That positive buzz generated ticket sales that lasted over a period of several months. I think studios know that their movies suck (for the most part) and try to create buzz and heat for those first weekends box office, before negative reviews and bad word-of-mouth kill the theatrical release. Ever noticed how a movie will be in the theaters only for about 3 weeks? It's because the studio was just happy to get it into the theaters and get more money and buzz for their DVD sales then they would've by just taking their chances on Blockbuster's crowded shelves.

I work on a lot of low-budget indy films that no one's ever heard of and probably never will. (I'm not just a purist who's only into it for the "art", I'm just kinda low on the totem pole behind the guys/girls who have the 20-30 years experience. I'd've loved to have worked on Matrix 2-3 or Hulk, even though I would have never watched them in the theaters.)

Some of these filmmakers are just trying to create some buzz in the community that they can attach to their names to make fundraising for the next project even easier. I know that they're hopeful that a studio will pick their film up after seeing it at one of the festivals, but realistically they want to get into the festivals, maybe win "Best Of" somewhere, and be able to put that on the DVD box and hope that it'll stand out on those crowded shelves and maybe make money in the long-term. If a movie gets picked up at the festival level, the filmmaker has essentially hit the jackpot. Now they will have more leverage in negotiating DVD sales and a little more notoriety and credibility when it comes to getting more money for the next project. (And hopefully they get more money, hire us all again at something more akin to our day rates and we all grow together. Unfortunately, most filmmakers move on to more "professional" crews when they get their money if they even decide to make more movies. Some are content having turned $100,000 into $200,000 and basically retire from the film biz.)

I'm glad the studios stopped trying to guilt-trip the paying audience away from piracy with those lame testimonials that made it seem like piracy was affecting the crew menber, when it really only affects the studio.
POL9A