The Great Big UGC & Cinema Thread

[troyhark]

Film or digital images get to the screen the same way, projected thru a lens. If it's not focused correctly with either source it's the same problem. No digital projectors yet.

Ditz, the UGC may have the best legroom around, but it doesn't mean the films are shown properly, do you think the complaints are made up, like the scurrilous lies some people spread about the expensive food!!

The expensive food [which you don't have to buy] actually subsidises the films, as the distributors get most of the money not the cinema. Without popcorn it wouldn't make enough money. Though they'd sell more popcorn if the films were shown better.

My girlfriend and I have tried to buy some food at Bar b4 seeing a film, but we weren't allowed to - we were told it was too late, which was a bit odd as our film didn't start for another hour and this was midweek, not a late weekend show. It was just after 8pm I think.

[Rich]

I went to UGC on Friday morning to see Batman Begins.. And because I didn't have an access all areas card to get disabled rate tickets, the guy wanted to charge me £7.50 to get in.. WTF?!

 

What kind of an idiot pays £7.50 to see a film?!

 

Thankfully the guy decided to let me in for the cheap rate when I explained I'd only got £7 on me which included bus and tram fare for getting home afterwards..

[Beakerzoid]

OK...been a while since I posted on the boards, but am a bit concerned at the news that UGC had a shuffle of the projection team since the complaint thread started, and that the 'new blood' have improved matters.

 

The concern is due to the fact that the 'new' team look, talk, dress, and act just like the 'old' team....so much so that you would actually believe that they are exactly the same people!

 

I don't know who the 'uber manager' is who told you that they were new people, but they are not. They are exactly the same people as they have been in the past. If they have improved, then I'm pleased.

 

Rich....was the £7.50 for 2 tickets, as there is no ticket price for £7.50 on the system? Did you have any proof of validity for diablility living allowance on you? We would have gladly accepted that and set you up with an AAA card whilst you viewed your film. Without anything to prove that you are registered diabled, and thus entitled to discount, we are not obliged to provide the discount, much as in the same way that a student needs to have proof of eligibility to get the NUS discount.

[DanSumption]

Originally posted by Beakerzoid

I don't know who the 'uber manager' is who told you that they were new people, but they are not. They are exactly the same people as they have been in the past. If they have improved, then I'm pleased.

Beakerzoid, you need to read further down, specifically to the post where troyhark says "I shouldn't have posted saying the projection has improved, 2 out of 3 films I've seem simce have had problems."

 

Perhaps the "uber manager" was just lying to try and fob troyhark off?

[Hook]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I've been to the UGC at least 4 times a month since I've been here in September and never once had any issues with projection - bar the time there was a piece of paper in front of the projector, took them 5 minutes to remove it.

 

I've had far more problems with the projectionist at UGC in Middlesbrough, and the Showcase at Teesside park. The number of times the UGC in Middlesbrough manage to snap a film and not realise is appaulling.

[DanSumption]

Originally posted by Hook

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I've been to the UGC at least 4 times a month since I've been here in September and never once had any issues with projection - bar the time there was a piece of paper in front of the projector, took them 5 minutes to remove it.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I've been to the UGC three times in the last four months, and each time the projection has been atrocious. This may be because I have only seen films on the top floor, all either kids' films or films relatively late in their run, and presumably less attention is given to these films than to the newly-released blockbusters. Alternatively it may be, as you seem to imply Hook, because I'm a liar who has nothing better to do with my time than slander UGC.

 

I'm not singling UGC out - the Odeon is an appalling cinema which I avoid at all costs, and the cinema at Meadowhall is also pretty atrocious; UGC is better than either, although the Showroom (which I visit a lot more often than UGC) seems to be the best in town (shame they don't have the legroom that the UGC does). I'm just pointing out that there does seem to be a problem, and unfortunately it's one which affects me almost every time I visit UGC. Also, either the problem is a lot worse than it used to be, or I've got a lot better at spotting it.

[Rich]

Originally posted by Beakerzoid

OK...been a while since I posted on the boards, but am a bit concerned at the news that UGC had a shuffle of the projection team since the complaint thread started, and that the 'new blood' have improved matters.

 

The concern is due to the fact that the 'new' team look, talk, dress, and act just like the 'old' team....so much so that you would actually believe that they are exactly the same people!

 

I don't know who the 'uber manager' is who told you that they were new people, but they are not. They are exactly the same people as they have been in the past. If they have improved, then I'm pleased.

 

Rich....was the £7.50 for 2 tickets, as there is no ticket price for £7.50 on the system? Did you have any proof of validity for diablility living allowance on you? We would have gladly accepted that and set you up with an AAA card whilst you viewed your film. Without anything to prove that you are registered diabled, and thus entitled to discount, we are not obliged to provide the discount, much as in the same way that a student needs to have proof of eligibility to get the NUS discount.

 

No, I was on my own.. Hence the at being charged £7.50 to see Batman Begins..

[Beakerzoid]

Totally baffled as to how they were going to charge you £7.50. Like I said, there is no ticket priced at that, with the most expensive ticket being the adult one (aside fro the Family ticket at £16). There is no method to put a £7.50 ticket through the tills. Baffling.

 

In addition, if you were alone then you wouldn't have been able to use an AAA card anyway. What the card does is allow the holder, when they pay for a ticket, to get a carer, or carers in free of charge. This way you get effectively 2 tickets for the price of 1 (or more if you require additional carers). The carers don't need identification as a carer, just your AAA card.

[troyhark]

Beakerzoid - the Uber manager is your boss, the manager of managers. She said things had changed and specifically mentioned people by name and how their responsibilies had now altered. And she also mentioned this thread and how upset some staff had been by comments posted.

Having said that, in most businesses the comments posted by some of the staff here would have got them fired - immeadiately. One person's comments [Andy..?] were on a par with Gerald Ratner's comments. Ratner's comments killed his business stone dead. I most certainly would not have renewed my Unlimited Card if I'd read those comments b4 I renewed a few months ago. I very nearly didn't, projection was so awful. But what are the options?

 

Hook, how many times have you sat thru a badly projected film and not even realised? Could you tell if a film was out of rack? Most people watch widescreen TV with it set to auto, so non widescreen progs [nearly all the American imports, BB and all the repeats] have top and bottom of picture missing

A friend of mine sat thru a film that was out of rack and poorly focused, his reaction - 'special effects were a bit crap' I'd seen film b4 and the effects were actually quite impressive [when sharp]. I had asked projection to sort it out, but nothing happened - BTW Dan, this was Screen 7 second week of a major movie. so it's not just kid's films, that suffer.

For many people they do not think/realise there is a problem with the projection, as my girlfriend put it, 'I always assumed that was how it was shot and there was no point complaining.

 

Some years back Coronation Street swapped form using Film to using Video and viewing figures dropped. The audience didn't moan about the lower vertical and horizontal resolution and poor dynamic range of video compared to film, they just didn't think stories were as good, because it didn't look as good. Perception is an interesting thing, if one has really good sound on a film the photgraphy seems better - more obvious the other way around.

Video has improved somewhat now, I worked on a HD shoot a couple of years ago and when it was shown at South Bank on a digital projector, it looked simply amazing.

[DanSumption]

Re: film/video, analog/digital: about a year or two ago I downloaded Atom Film's Hi-Def software application - it is absolutely stunning, the difference between watching this and watching the usual kind of Windows AVIs is as big as watching on a PC vs. watching on a ZX-Spectrum. But funnily enough, what really made me appreciate the increased clarity were the little crackles and flickers, the spots of dust and other imperfections that showed this was originally on film. It made all the difference, emotionally. I'm not sure whether digitally-produced digitally-projected content would have quite the same feel of authenticity to it, for my generation at least.