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Hello All,
I am just wondering, for theatres so equipped, what the response from patrons is using the Rear Window Captioning system. We have one in Boston and so far everyone who has used it is very happy they can see a first run movie with everyone else. So far, I think our patrons are happy we made the investment.
Is anyone going to Showest in March? I would love to meet people in the LF industry as I have only been in it about 15 months. I would also like to try to visit the Atlantis and Luxor booths. Besides Boston I have only visited Metreon in San Francisco. I am curious what other booths in the country look like. Does anyone know who I can contact to possibly visit these places??
Thanks,
Robert |
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| Robert: I'll send you a pix of our booth here at the Mall of Georgia in Atlanta. Contact MattW@regalcinemas.com and he can line up a tour for you at any of our locations. Anybody else want a pix, I'll send one on! Our E3D GT is pictured with my stats on the "industry directory". :) |
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 Monte Brock posted on Monday, January 17, 2000 - 08:47 am
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Hello Robert,
We have gotten some interesting feedback on the RearWindow Caption Sys.
We use the polarized 3d and have had quite a few folks push the reflector aside and continue the film uncaptioned, saying that they found it anoying to try and focus on the caption and the 3d image. On the other hand during captioned traditional IMAX (2d,) everyone that has used the system has loved it.
With the 'focus' issue in mind we ask each person that uses the captions to tell us how well the captions became a part of the show, almost all said they stopped noticing the reflector in a 2d but more of those using it for 3d found it obtrusive....
I've viewed captions during both 2 and 3D and for me, I see the captions 'floating' in front of the screen and afer a minute or two, I don't see the reflectors.
I think that you hit it right on the head- accesiblity- now anyone can enjoy a first run movie. |
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| Thanks for the great Link Patrick. Monte I didn't even think about using the captioning with 3D system. I am surprised that it works at all with the head gear trying to stay focused on the screen to keep the effect and read captions. I am glad though that your patrons are enjoying it as much as ours. I am hopeful that other people with the system will let me know how successful theirs is. |
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| Jim Walker posted on Thursday, November 16, 2000 - 03:05 pm
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A few questions for Monte and others who are using the RearWindow system...
Where do you distribute the reflectors? at the theater entrance? ticketing? some other location?
How and where do you retrieve the reflectors?
Do you also provide audio descirption and assistive listening recievers? Do you distribute these in the same manner/place?
Soon to open a P3D with all the accessability bells and whistles and we're not sure how to deal with the equipment... |
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| Monte Brock posted on Friday, November 17, 2000 - 10:34 am
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Hi Jim,
We keep the reflectors and the ADD and audio Williams sound units in a closet at the theater exit, when we have a request for either, an usher escorts the guest into the theater via the exit and gives them the units as they sit down. This is usually done before the 'main' part of the crowd has begun seating because most folks will either request the service at the ticket window or even by reserving tickets in advance.
For the Williams units,the guests are met by that same person after the show and the hardware is put back into the closet. For caption reflectors the guests are asked to leave them in place and the theater staff gathers them while cleaning for the next show.
Here's an observation; we had been running the caption board whether or not anyone was using it. Way too distracting as people would turn around and watch it during the test captions and MANY would request a reflector for the show. That's all well and good-but we were running out of reflectors before we ran out of curious folks and we received a few complaints that we should be able to provide a reflector to EVERYONE that asked.
Now the caption board is on only when in use, and we still have an occasional last minute request, but it's rare and not 100 people at once. |
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| Jim Walker posted on Friday, November 17, 2000 - 12:44 pm
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Monte...
You guys probably seat around 400 or so, right? How many of each piece of user equipment do you have on-hand? ADA requires something like 4% of total seats, but that seems way too low. |
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Monte, that's similar to how we do it here, except we keep the caption mirrors and DFB recievers in the booth. Sometimes the patrons will ask the usher for one as they enter the theater, but most often the folks who need them call in advance or at least tell the box office what their needs are. We keep them in the booth because our ushers sometimes forget to retrieve them, and if they have to come to us to get it, we know what is gone and we can remind the ushers to get it back. (though most ushers have no problem with it, some inevitably do)
Then there's the people who think that their ticket price has paid for the reciever or mirror in full and that it's now theirs to keep. Always a fun customer service conversation.
We do run captions even if no one has asked, mostly to make sure it's still working right,etc. We haven't had any problems with this so far, but I can see how it might stir up trouble for us as we only have about 30 caption mirrors.
All in all, however, we might have two (2) people per month, *tops*, that actually use the caption thing. The mirrors literally gather dust. But like they say, it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. |
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| Monte Brock posted on Friday, November 17, 2000 - 01:31 pm
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We seat 406 and have 15 each ADD and audio assist, and 32 reflectors.
Most of the people we have come in with audio assist needs are carrying thier own, and we get precious few request for the ADD and captions, but it is a nice to have.
It's probably a better idea to have that equipment in the booth where you can keep an eye on it and keep the Batts fresh and all, but our floor staff is a completely different operational division than the IMAX , so they look after 'em. |
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Robert, if you're ever up to Toronto, you're welcome to visit us at Famous Players Colossus in Vaughn. We give tours to anyone from IMAX or anyone involved in the LF industry.
We don't use the captioning system here. Don't know why, never asked. And its never been asked for here. We do have audio receivers(24), but I've never seen them go out. We test them about once a month. We seat 252, stadium style seating. |
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| Pete Herb posted on Sunday, February 11, 2001 - 01:35 pm
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Greetings fellow 1570 professionals. I have some questions I'd like to get your input on. The Detroit Science Center is currently under-going some major renovations. One of the areas we are upgrading is 'assisted listening/viewing' equipment to accommodate our customers with disabilities. I am aware of 3 types of systems; Rear screen captioning systems, Infrared receiver systems, and Radio frequency receiver systems. I have no experience with any of these.
The question(s) I pose here are:
* Which type of equipment better suites the IMAX 2D Dome venue? Rear screen captioning, Infrared receiver, or Radio Freq. systems?
* Is there a preferred brand for receiver systems? IE; Sennheiser, Sony, Sure, Williams, Listen Systems, Telex, Gentner, others.
* How much use do you get from your systems? Once/week? once/month? etc.
* Do you use any resources to inform potential customers that you have the equipment available? And, what are the results?
* Also, any technical or house keeping recommendations you may have.
To Those of you who have such equipment or who have explored this area we would greatly appreciate your opinions. There are probably others reading this who would also benefit.
If you have any thoughts on this please post here or if you'd prefer email me directly.
Thanks,
Pete Herb, pahl@usa.net
Detroit Science Center
Michigan, USA |
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