Harry Potter and the Goggles of Night Vision

[sobrique]

[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<a [...] </a>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

<A HREF="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/3763473.stm"</A>Apparently</A>, Vue Cinemas (formerly Warner) are issuing their staff with NVGs to stop piracy.

Now I need to get a job as a projectionist...

Although it does make you wonder. Spotting illegal recording gear is one thing. But what about couples having sex in the back row?

Given the showing schedule of showcase looks something like
Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban (PG) (159 mins)
Mon-Thurs 11.00 11.30 12.00 1.00 2.00 2.30 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 7.30 8.00 9.00 10.00

I'd say it looks fairly popular.

Comments

[mavnn.livejournal.com]

You having a slow day over there?

You seem to be posting every half hour at the moment :).

[sobrique.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's been busy and we've had a server crash.
But whilst waiting for it to start up, and re-initialise, I get to bash out stuff for LJ.

Well, along with the stuff I was thinkin' about last night.

[mavnn.livejournal.com]

Makes sense...

I remember posting an insane number of message board posts on the day our financial systems went down all morning.

When did you start the whole Synergy reffing thing, anyway? Last time I heard you were a random grunt like everyone else. And is the Graham on the reffing team Graham, or another Graham? (I'm assuming that last will make sense to you).

[sobrique.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm the one fixing the server, but the 'down' part is stress, punctuated with waiting for system start ups. So I blow off a little steam by doing LJ.

I started on reffing... almost a year ago now I think. I was in germany doing an EMC training course, and had some time to think up a few plot lines.

Got given the go ahead to run them, and after fumbling about with the usual sort of lack of self confidence, and inexperience, finally got a few to 'work'.

Since then, I've run a few more, and got asked if I wouldn't mind being 'Full' ref (aka Yellow Jacket) and running session.

Mostly because Darren and Graham had Real Life issues, and ... well benefited hugely from a bit of a break.

Oh and Graham used in this context isn't one you'd know. Otherwise known as 'Mr Beard'. After his fixer character.

[mavnn.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes. I've met him now you mention it.

[nuala.livejournal.com]

How funny is that. Ok, granted, I posted my link AFTER you did, but I actually posted before I caught up on my reading. Not that I could prove that, mind you. :)

I can't get into the Vue website, so I have no idea when it's showing locally. I found a few times for it at the Odeon. I don't think I have an opinion on which theatre for viewing. They're all Leicester Square, and they're all expensive. But they're all fairly nice, so there ya go.

[sobrique.livejournal.com]

Well, Leicester square is good.
In a piece of trivial, 2 of the 5 70mm film projectors in the UK are located in the Leicester square cinemas. One of the others may be found at the Warwick University Student cinema (where I "worked" as a projectionist)

[nuala.livejournal.com]

Oooo. I bow to superior movie geekiness! :D

[sobrique.livejournal.com]

It's all a natural consequence of being 'in da biz' even peripherally.

Warwick student cinema is one of the few student cinemas in the country that turned a profit. Well, not an _official_ profit because they were a society and weren't allowed to, but they did have plenty of capital for new toys.
And then it all disappeared pretty quick, because Cinema grade audio visual kit is very expensive. Not to mention how much a replacement 4kW bulb costs.

But we were very well equipped - better than some of the local 'real' cinemas. The only drawback being that we were using a 300seater lecture theatre rather than a 'proper' cinema. (tables are good for head resting, but less comfortable from a sitting down point of view).

Showings almost every evening, sometimes 2. Amateur projectionists and management, but given the levels I've seen at local cinemas, actually all the more professional for that.

ok, so every now and then we had strange things like having a reel of 'Speed 2' in the middle of 'Leon' or someone putting a film in backwards, but they were almost always well focussed, racked, and fixed immediately, rather than having to run out of the auditorum and complain to 'someone' that the film is wrong.

Nostalgia rules, but not like it used to.

[ehrine.livejournal.com]

Actually, it was a real of Leon in the middle of speed 2. The working theory was that the projectionist was subconciously trying to improve the movie ;)

I also remember an incident when they showed titanic where the 5th reel was shown twice... Once after the 2nd reel and once in the right place... Apparently none of the audience noticed :P

NVG

[crashbarrier.livejournal.com]

you'd think instead of forking out for individual NVG they'd fix NV cameras to the front part of the auditorium ceiling then use em to scan the audience.

Re: NVG

[xarrion.livejournal.com]

Nah, I reckon that'd be more expensive - having an usher going in and out of the auditorium once or twice during the movie isn't going to be as expensive as hiring someone to monitor 10+ nightvision cameras all day. Maybe *shrug*

"Please remove and turn off all electronic devices - this auditorium will be EMP'ed approx every 10 mins throughout the film. Thankyou"

[huwjones.livejournal.com]

So. When you wanna go?