That deaf, dumb and blind kid ...
Need a quick Halloween costume? Try putting on sunglasses, ear plugs and oven mitts - to impede your sight, hearing and motor skills - and go as a movie-theater projectionist.
At three recent screenings at Salt Lake-area theaters, the Cricket has endured blunders in the projection booth that no movie lover should have to face.
Tuesday night, at a radio-station promo screening for "American Gangster," the framing was off and the image wasn't properly centered. The bottom of the screen was cut off, and too much of the top of the image was visible - which meant the audience saw the boom mike about a dozen times. A simple turn of a knob would have fixed the problem, but that was apparently beyond the capacity of the projectionist.
The previous night at the same theater (which will remain nameless to protect the innocent), at a promo for "Enchanted," the problem wasn't vertical but horizontal. The projectionist had the proper wide-screen lens on - but the opening animated sequence, which is in a standard screen ratio, confused the poor souls in the booth. So they tried switching to the non-anamorphic lens (which caused the characters to look pencil-thin), then switched back. They also played with the masking, the black frame designed to block out light outside the frame. And they never did get the focus perfect - the closing credits were razor-sharp at the top and bottom of the frame, but slightly blurry in the middle.
Two weeks ago, at another theater, a "Lars and the Real Girl" screening suffered the same problem as "American Gangster": Improper framing, so the audience saw the boom mike in a half-dozen shots.
The Cricket chronicled a rash of similar problems in September, and heard promises from the theaters in question that the problems would be corrected. The audiences are still waiting for those promises will be kept.
At three recent screenings at Salt Lake-area theaters, the Cricket has endured blunders in the projection booth that no movie lover should have to face.
Tuesday night, at a radio-station promo screening for "American Gangster," the framing was off and the image wasn't properly centered. The bottom of the screen was cut off, and too much of the top of the image was visible - which meant the audience saw the boom mike about a dozen times. A simple turn of a knob would have fixed the problem, but that was apparently beyond the capacity of the projectionist.
The previous night at the same theater (which will remain nameless to protect the innocent), at a promo for "Enchanted," the problem wasn't vertical but horizontal. The projectionist had the proper wide-screen lens on - but the opening animated sequence, which is in a standard screen ratio, confused the poor souls in the booth. So they tried switching to the non-anamorphic lens (which caused the characters to look pencil-thin), then switched back. They also played with the masking, the black frame designed to block out light outside the frame. And they never did get the focus perfect - the closing credits were razor-sharp at the top and bottom of the frame, but slightly blurry in the middle.
Two weeks ago, at another theater, a "Lars and the Real Girl" screening suffered the same problem as "American Gangster": Improper framing, so the audience saw the boom mike in a half-dozen shots.
The Cricket chronicled a rash of similar problems in September, and heard promises from the theaters in question that the problems would be corrected. The audiences are still waiting for those promises will be kept.
9:14 AM
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