Posted by Richard on 10/24/05 19:13

Stan Brown wrote:
> Mon, 24 Oct 2005 07:13:58 GMT from NunYa Bidness
> <nunyabidness@nunyabidness.org>:
>
>>On 23 Oct 2005 23:20:53 -0700, "Jim Reid" <jimreid56@aol.com> Gave us:
>>
>>>There's another possiblilty. There's a theater chain here in Dallas
>>>that I have caught turning the lamp power down on the projector when
>>>it's not a full house. The picture looks dark and has what appears to
>>>be lag in it. I go get the mangager and yell at him and a few minutes
>>>later it brightens up.
>>
>> Do you even know what would be required to reduce the voltage going
>>to the projector bulb?
>
>
> (big snip)
>
>
>> Hypo-chondria? Perhaps.
>
>
> Or, if it's not just a fabrication, perhaps a lot of dust and dirt on
> the lens.
>
> Like you, I can't imagine any theater turning the lamp down to save
> money with a less than full house. The cost of running the lamp is
> such a small part of the total cost of operating the theater that it
> wouldn't be worth the effort.

Unfortunately, it is really happening. Roger Ebert has written about
this annoying trend on his website. It seems crazy, but they really
do it...

http://www.drafthouse.com/shared_web/dimbulb.html

Film critic Roger Ebert has long been a crusader for optimum film
presentation, which he has addressed repeatedly in his Answer Man column
in the Chicago Sun-Times, parts of which he e-mailed to me for this
story. He reserves particular venom for theaters that don't run bulbs at
their full wattage. This is called lowering the amperage, or juice.

"I first heard about this shameful practice from Martin Scorsese, who
actually visits theaters with a light meter to determine if the picture
is being projected at the correct light intensity," Ebert writes.
"Moviegoers in some cities may never have seen a properly lit image. The
result: sad, dim, washed-out movies. This is stupid for two reasons: (1)
discerning customers never return to such theaters, and (2) according to
the veteran Chicago movie publicist and distributor John Iltis, the
practice does not extend the life of the bulbs!"

In another column, Ebert writes: "Many theater chains routinely order
projectionists to turn down the bulb intensity in the mistaken belief
that will extend the life of the expensive bulbs. As a result, films
look darker than their makers intended. (I) quoted Carl Donath of Kodak
in February 1999: 'A dirty secret is that movies are under-lit in most
theaters. Films are produced with the intent that they be projected at
the brightness of 16 foot-lamberts. Field research by Kodak found that
they are often shown at between 8 and 10 foot-lamberts, well under the
SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) standard for
brightness.'

"Ironically," Ebert concludes, "testing shows that bulbs burn just about
as long at full power, so theater chains are not only cheap, but stupid.
Clip this item, laminate it, and have it ready to show theater managers
at a moment's notice."


Richard

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