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Topic: 1sec Ads

Anthony Matarazzo
Film Handler

Posts: 30
From: Brisbane Australia
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-21-1999 08:10 AM

The other week we received 3x 1sec ads. All three are different. One for the top, then a middle and the last one. Has anyone else played 1sec ads ? what do you think of it?.

What are advertisers trying to bring across to the public?

I was told that in the 60's or the 70's they did a study on patrons in a cinema. They spliced in frames of popcorn and sweets in a feature and ran it. The patrons very quickly saw the picture of the frame. Candybar sales went up a bit. It was to do with something deep in the brain.

Another thing was the smell of popcorn in the air con. Whats next ?

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John Walsh
Film God

Posts: 2490
From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 10-21-1999 09:28 AM

I have not heard of this. But I have no doubt that advertisers would do anything to attract attention.
In TV land anyway, I thought there were laws that prohibited some kinds of subliminal ads. For example, there was a Volkswagon ad where an voice just said, "Volkswagon Volkswagon..." over and over for 30 sec. I wonder if the law was written for TV and someone found out that it dosen't apply to ads in theaters.
I think people are more 'aware' nowadays, so most will probably see it and not be effected subliminaly.
Although, (to me) it's just another way the theaters are driving people to stay at home, trading a short-term dollar now for killing the industry in the long term.

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Ian Price
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1714
From: Denver, CO
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-21-1999 12:21 PM

I have heard about this, but it never happened while I was at a theatre. One-second ads sounds like a lot of splices. Who are the ads for? A slide lasts for 10 seconds usually. Is there any value for an ad to last one-second? Of course I would love it if Television adopted the one-second ad, and still kept it two 6 ads per break.

Do you think a cinema with a "Commercial Advertisement Free Zone" would be a good marketing gimmick? Or do you think the paying audience doesn't really care?

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Aaron Mehocic
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 804
From: New Castle, PA, USA
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-21-1999 02:12 PM

Depends. 99% of our customers don't care about slide advertisments, but I have seen that 1% mad as hell.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 10-21-1999 03:09 PM

When our slide projector bulbs burn out at my fancy-shmancy theatre, we just close the curtains, turn up the stage lights and leave them that way during the intermission. Then we specifically go out of our way NOT to order any more slide bulbs. The only person that I know of who likes slides is one of our Ass. Managers who will go out of his way to make sure we have bulbs and working slide projectors.

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Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-21-1999 04:42 PM

My personal opinion is that slide and film advertisements are pretty tacky. The only exceptions would be trailers for upcoming films and maybe a short "Drink Coca-Cola" tag or "Visit our Concession Stand" ad, since these advertisements all relate directly to the film-going experience. I don't mind small, tasteful advertisements on printed matter (theatre schedules, etc.), but the idea of on-screen ads is pretty offensive to me and many others who paid $4-7 for movie tickets. I want to see closed curtains when I walk into a theatre, not advertising slides.
Worse, most theatres are using standard Ektagraphic slide projectors with 300-watt EXR halogen bulbs. These projectors were designed for conference-room-size screens, not theatre-size screens. As a result, the brightness is often quite low and the contrast is terrible. I mean, if theatres are going to show slides, the least they can do is get a pair of xenon slide projectors (yes, they do exist) and a dissolve unit to fade from slide to slide, rather than installing the cheapest thing possible. The NCN slides that I have seen are actually printed at a lower-than-normal density to compensate for inadequate projector illumination. I take a lot of still photographs on Kodachrome and doubt that I'd get much of an image with a typical theatre's slide-projector setup. Similarly, the film advertisements might be less offensive if they actually had some degree of production value, rather than just being (typically) transfers from NTSC video to 35mm, which gives the "television" look...
On the other hand, if theatres cared enough about presentation quality to install a proper slide projector, they wouldn't be showing slides anyway...

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John Wilson
Film God

Posts: 5438
From: Sydney, Australia.
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 10-21-1999 07:23 PM

CURTAINS? Wow, Scott... I remember them. It's a pity more cinemas don't have them installed. I much prefer looking at a nice curtain than a blank imageless screen.

------------------
John

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Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-21-1999 07:52 PM

Yes, you might say that I have a curtain fetish. The place that I used to work ("Williamsburg Theatre" in the pic gallery) still has the original curtains from 1933, so I guess that I was either blessed or cursed to become so accustomed to seeing curtains that I now expect to see them in anything that resembles a quality theatre.

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Anthony Matarazzo
Film Handler

Posts: 30
From: Brisbane Australia
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-21-1999 09:11 PM

The 1sec ads were for lemon Ruski. Their logo and the word Ruski appears on the screen.

One of the ads has a womon with a bottle of lemon ruski another has logo on film which moves ( Looks really sh*t). The first one is the film and it looks like the projectionist stuffed up. it looks really bad.

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Rick Long
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 759
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 10-21-1999 09:14 PM

The great thing about curtains was that they protected the screen surface from gummy bears and other wee sticky things.

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Anthony Matarazzo
Film Handler

Posts: 30
From: Brisbane Australia
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-21-1999 09:18 PM

Where I work ( pic in wearhouse Greater Union). We have use ektapro slide projectors 300watt lamps, and it really don't work well. In our two larger cinemas we use 550w zenon lamp projectors 35mm format, these a pritty good but they are a bit too strong for the film. We have curtins in all 5 cinemas - looks great !

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John Walsh
Film God

Posts: 2490
From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 10-21-1999 10:36 PM

Regarding screen ads and customer complants, I don't think you will see the ads go away anytime soon. Where I work, we put in those slide projectors about 7 years ago. At that time, we had about 25 screeens. I found out later we were getting almost $30,000 a year from the ad company. That's pretty serious money for doing almost nothing on our part. So put yourself in that position: having only a few people complain, or get a check. Although I hate them, I can see the appeal.

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Charles Lubner
Film Handler

Posts: 78
From: Milwaukee, WI USA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 10-21-1999 10:51 PM

I work at a Marcus Theatre, which installs curtains in every auditorium. All of our new theatres are very classly looking. However, Marcus just decided to start slide advertising. My question is: is the check from NCN big enough to cover the cost of the nearly 450 curtains on our 450 screens, since the curtains won't be used anymore?

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 10-22-1999 03:56 AM

Curtains are great! I'm glad I have them at my theatre. However I hav noticed a bit of red fuzz on the masking as a result. No biggie. The curtains cannot protect the screen from Gummi Bears because we must open them during the movie. That's when I think most people do that kind of crap.

We use slides as well, but the curtains are still used. 1 minute or so before the show begins, the curtains will close and the stage lights come up (curtain call---get your ass back to your seat!) Then they open on the greenband of the first trailer. After the movie is over they close again and stay until the auditorium is cleaned. But when a slide bulb burns out, we dance and sing songs of joy and the curtains stay closed.

We have side-to-side curtains, which I prefer. Do most people like curtains that open and close like this, or does anybody prefer the "waterfall" type cutains?

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Ian Price
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1714
From: Denver, CO
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-22-1999 10:10 AM

At the Crest Theatre in Westwood in LA they have 3 curtains. The first one is a side pull. The second one rises like a theatre curtain. The last one is a silver waterfall curtain and they show ads on that one. (I may have the order wrong, but I have the concept right.)

At the Cape Cinema, they have two curtains. Neither of them is used now. They have a traveler; (side pull) and they have panels that are painted like the sun.

I see a couple of plays a year. The disturbing trend in the "ligament" theater is not to use a curtain. When I was 14 years old, I worked for the Cape Playhouse. The set designers were famous for their wonderful sets. When the curtain went up there was always applause. The applause was for the sets, but it was always dramatic the way the audience never knew what they would see until the curtain rises. I miss that anticipation. I miss it in the cinema as well.

I like the way the British do it. They show 20 minutes of ads and theatrical trailers before the show. Then they bring the curtain down for a few minutes before the show. You can use the restroom or visit the concession stand. When the curtain rises again, it rises to the feature.

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