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Topic: Arclight LA Star Wars Disaster

Don Furr
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 509
From: Sun City, Ca USA
Registered: Nov 2002

posted 12-19-2015 01:31 AM

Just proves that even the high end theatres have problems.

http://laist.com/2015/12/18/video_star_wars_freakout.php

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 12-19-2015 02:28 AM

Firstly, I think I'm safe in opining that this thread belongs under the Digital Cinema category.

Secondly, and much more importantly, let's focus this discussion on responses to breakdowns in shows that really, really matter, rather than let it head towards an unhelpful variant of the film vs. digital debate.

It will have been a really, really bad night for the poor guys working in that theater, especially front-of-house. We all know that whatever method is used to put the picture on the screen and however many failsafes, tech check screenings and precautions we take, such a breakdown can still happen, and an early screening of a much-hyped blockbuster in the heart of Hollywood ... not a good night. There is going to be some lesson learning to do once the initial fire fighting is done, and that's what I'm going to be interested in hearing about.

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Jim Cassedy
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1661
From: San Francisco, CA
Registered: Dec 2006

posted 12-19-2015 08:34 AM

Thanks, Leo, for being the 'voice of reason'.

I agree that film or digital systems can have "hiccups".
Even the best operators can have a 'bad night', just as
expert athletes sometimes have a "bad game".

But problems like this can be often be compounded by
having a less-than-experienced booth staff to deal with
situations such as this one.

As I've said many times before:
There's a big difference between knowing how to work things. .
and knowing how things work.

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Mark Ogden
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 943
From: Little Falls, N.J.
Registered: Jun 99

posted 12-19-2015 09:08 AM

According to Bill Hunt of DigitalBits, a guy from Christie named Don Shaw, who is apparently the product director for the system, was actually in the theater and introduced the show, promising a spectacular presentation. Bill went to the first show and said it went fine, so it must have been a later performance. Still in all, it must have been mighty frustrating, and at a premium price too.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 12-19-2015 09:16 AM

This is one big difference between film and digital, however. Film problems would hardly ever just pop-up out of nowhere during a presentation, especially if you'd already had at least one problem-free presentation of that print -- whereas digital problems almost ALWAYS pop up out of nowhere when you have a room full of people.

But yeah, information on how it was handled would be more helpful.

What's funny is the reaction of people. "You're ruining my life?" Come on. It's a movie, it's not botched open heart surgery. You've been waiting this long, another day won't kill you. Suck it up, come back tomorrow, we'll get it fixed.

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Martin McCaffery
Film God

Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99

posted 12-19-2015 09:27 AM

To be fair Mike, when you listen and watch the videos, the "You're ruining my life" and other things shouted out ("It's Jar Jar's fault") are fairly good humored. At least from the posted videos, the audience is taking it in stride.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 12-19-2015 09:56 AM

That's good -- I didn't get a chance to watch the video yet, only read the article.

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Daniel Schulz
Master Film Handler

Posts: 387
From: Los Angeles, CA USA
Registered: Sep 2003

posted 12-19-2015 10:50 AM

quote: Mark Ogden
According to Bill Hunt of DigitalBits, a guy from Christie named Don Shaw, who is apparently the product director for the system, was actually in the theater and introduced the show, promising a spectacular presentation. Bill went to the first show and said it went fine, so it must have been a later performance. Still in all, it must have been mighty frustrating, and at a premium price too.

The thing is, if you watch the video you can see the screening that took a dive was not in the Dome, but in one of the other auditoriums at Arclight Hollywood. So it wasn't the new Christie projectors that failed.

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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 12-19-2015 03:06 PM

When I looked at the video...the first thing that popped into my mind was...what equipment was being used?

One of the things we've prided ourselves on is our "up time" in that we have tried to use equipment that fails less (they ALL fail...it is a game of odds). Furthermore, given the choice, I'll take failures that happen prior to show time (boot up odd/don't connect to something) over failures that happen during the show (skipping, lock ups, lamps that drop out...etc.) Nothing is worse than canning or having a show stop that was already going.

Some equipment out there has a 100% chance of failure...as in they all will fail (of that make/model), sooner or later (and I don't mean in the 100-year sense but within what should be a normal lifetime of 10-15 years of the product). Other equipment just has a lower chance of failure.

So again, I'm most curious as to what server and projector are in use at the Arclight and what actually failed? My guess is it is server related.

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Justin Hamaker
Film God

Posts: 2253
From: Lakeport, CA USA
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 12-19-2015 03:31 PM

quote: Mike Blakesley
Film problems would hardly ever just pop-up out of nowhere during a presentation, especially if you'd already had at least one problem-free presentation of that print

In terms of problems with the film, I would agree. But there were more than a few occasions when I had things happen like a platter motor fail, or a Christie platter roller break. I've had prints that played fine, then started having static problems - even resulting in a thrown print.

The biggest thing I see with the description of what happened is the 'projectionist' failed to note the playback time on the movie before stopping/restarting. This is something my staff is trained to do, as well as restarting a minute or two prior to where the movie stopped.

When I'm training people to run projectors and/or as managers, one of the first lessons I always try to teach is when a problem happens to stop and take a breath. Then assess the situation before trying to take action.

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Mike Schulz
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 122
From: Los Angeles, CA
Registered: May 2007

posted 12-19-2015 03:44 PM

quote: Steve Guttag
I'm most curious as to what server and projector are in use at the Arclight and what actually failed? My guess is it is server related.

Unless things have changed, they have Christie 4K's with GDC servers. After watching the video, Dan is correct. This was definitely not the Dome. It still sucks majorly though. I feel bad for whoever the operator was that night because they were probably running all over the place and then have to try and deal with this at the same time. My only criticism of the operator is why in the hell they didn't at least douse the projector and mute the audio while seeking through the playlist trying to find the right spot to restart the thing? That is just crazy. They must have been really flustered [Frown]

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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 12-19-2015 04:00 PM

One thing with DCinema is that while all of the systems can probably claim somewhere in the 99%. something uptime...when you look at all of the shows over the entire world, you still get a significant number of botched shows. Thus stuff gives you a false sense of confidence because it really does work the overwhelming majority of the time. However, this also means people have less (and less trained) skills on how to deal with the failures when they happen.

On the GDC server front...do you know the model? SX2000 with the old IMB, SX2000AR or SX-3000? Again, I'm not looking to pick on anyone...just trying to keep tabs on things that have issues...they ALL have issues and sometimes issues are dealt with but the end user doesn't do a necessary upgrade...conversely, some upgrade all the time and get to find bugs that the latest upgrade brought.

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Frank Cox
Film God

Posts: 2234
From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada
Registered: Apr 2011

posted 12-19-2015 04:02 PM

quote:
But there were more than a few occasions when I had things happen like a platter motor fail,

I had a platter motor not start once. Since it was the payout motor for that movie, I stood in the projection room for the duration of the movie and spun that platter by hand. The timing wasn't as critical as it would have been for the takeup motor -- I don't think I could have managed a whole show spinning takeup without having the dancer bottom out.

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 12-19-2015 06:02 PM

Wonder, with GDC, if they performed any server reboots prior before these events, since being in the VPF world, these units remain on all the time-actually any device connected via network remains on.

I do mine one a week so these units avoid the hiccups and freezes, but still not a guaranteed procedure since, being computers, they have a mind of their own.

I just get the addicted ones that tell me that my surround channels aren't working too well, or left and right screen speakers are too hot than with center, and so forth. This is real sad when you have that bad of addiction.

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 12-19-2015 06:07 PM

My main beef with computerized equipment is that there is often no way for a human to take over or to solve a problem by running things manually.

I was once in charge of a show on the stage where the visiting TD wanted to put an electronically controlled capstan winch on the fly system so that he could fly scenery in and out using the lighting control console. I thought it was a great idea until I discovered that there would be no way for a fly operator to take control. I was 99% sure that the winch would work the way the guy said it would but almost all of my crew were Work Study students. There was no way I would put college students in a situation where things could go wrong, even if it was only a 1% chance.

Yes, I know that there are fly systems that can be remotely controlled but, (A) our system was not designed for it. This winch would have been a retrofit. (B) Those systems have a lever you can pull or a button you can press so that they can be operated manually if necessary.

In a traditional movie theater, you can swap out a platter motor, replace parts or run a show manually, even if that means spinning a reel by hand. In a digital cinema, if a hard drive fails or if a computer crashes, it is likely that there will be no way to save a show.

I'd rather have a 10% chance of failure but have the ability save the show 90% of the time than to have a 1% chance of failure with only a 1% chance to make a save.

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