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Prepare To Be Watched While You Watch a Movie
BussyB writes "Gaining entry to some movie theaters lately gives patrons an experience that is on par with going through a TSA security checkpoint at the airport. Then once you've gained access, there are cameras strategically positioned that record your every move. Unfortunately, the extent to which these companies monitor movie-goers is only going to get worse."
Only, this time it's "Who watches the watchers?"
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On the upside, Hollywood keeps turning out crap so I feel like I'm not missing much by waiting for the movie to come out on video.
bah.
The bigger problem we're facing with corporate practices like this is that, when the revolution comes, we won't have a wall big enough to put all these marketing departments against. We should really start to prioritize who will be first, and who goes second, third, etc.
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Hey, this can't be all bad... With video feedback, perhaps movie professionals could automate audience reactions to various scenes, and systematically improve their movie products. Also murders within theaters could go down... and when the couples in the corner start making out, maybe the theater employees would grab some popcorn and get a good show. See? It's not all bad... being watched all the time. Ahem.
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From the article: "Within the cinema industry this tool will feed powerful marketing data that will inform film directors, cinema advertisers and cinemas with useful data about what audiences enjoy and what adverts capture the most attention"
:-)
Hint: We don't enjoy the adverts, especially after paying almost $12 for a ticket. Perhaps if the whole audience gives the camera the finger through all of the ads, they will get the message?
This is a gross invasion of privacy - I would expect to be informed of any recording at the time I purchase the ticket, who was making the recording and to what purpose they were being used. I would also expect that I could opt out at that time and at any time in the future without penalty. If the only choice I have is to no longer visit cinemas, then so be it. Either that or I might have to find a certain mask to wear.
In 1995 I had a summer job as an employee of Buena Vista (the company that releases Disney's major animated pictures). My job? Auditing movie theaters by counting the people attending and comparing to the ticket sales, ensuring that during the screening, nobody was taking pictures or using other recording devices (if they were, we had an off duty police officer on site working security).
The buena vista hit squad (as we called ourselves) was nothing new when I joined up.
Fast forward to my weekend job as second shift manager of a movie theater while I was in college (1999) we had 2 "crowd cameras" at every screen, you could see the entire audience the whole time the movie was going, we used it to bust people who decided that the movie theater was an apropriate place to have sex (including some employees after hours *eyeroll*).
My initial thought is that they're recording peoples' responses to product placement / subliminal advertising, in an attempt to gauge the effectiveness thereof.
Did anyone else catch the giant cigarette advertisement in the last James Bond? It was right after he had sex with the blonde, what a hero.
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I had a man pat me down and perform a full cavity search, but theater management called the police and had him escorted out. Does that count?
Is it unethical to wear a mask to a horror film?
I know price has already been mentioned but my wife and I went to the cinema last week. Everywhere signs about the right of the cinema to search bags etc. That was bad enough, but once we had been vetted for snacks, we purchased some. By the time we had some snacks (Nachos, popcorn and 2 colas), and the cinema tickets, we had spent about $70.
I think in future, I will just stay home. Treated like crap and ripped off, and now VIDEOD like a common thief. No thanks. It's almost like they are trying to make me pirate stuff so they can sue me ;)
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Marketing surveys suffer from remarkably selective attention; sort of like asking "When did you stop beating your wife?" reveals a certain prejudice.
Instead of noticing that we loathe any and all of the ads, they are going to ask: "Which one did you enjoy the most?"
This assumes that we enjoyed any of the ads.
We don't, but that's not what they're measuring is it...
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...Thank you for watching.. We invite you to stay for out next feature presentation..'Deep Throat'
Almost, now it's: "In Corporate America, movie watches you" :-) I'm not from the US so I can't tell how bad it is, but one can get the impression that the level of surveillance is even worse than during the cold war... but most surveillance seems not to be done by the government any more but by corporations.
Well, I don't fly because of the TSA, I guess the movie theater owners down't want my money any more than the airline industry.
Stupid cowardly people...
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Just a couple of days ago I was watching a movie, and an attendant came in with what must have been a night vision camera and scanned the room with it :/
which is totally what she said
Yo dawg, we heard you like to watch movies, so we put you in a movie so you can watch yourself watching a movie while you watch a movie!
Literally NONE of my friends go to the movies anymore. They all have Netflix accounts and Blu-Ray players and big screens.
Movie theaters will essentially disappear within 10 years. I would say it's their own damn fault, but really, they simply had no chance once home theater technology got good enough and cheap enough.
see also:
Girl to Bond: "Nice watch".
Bond: "Omega"
Girl: (breathes) "...beautiful"
In the UK, film critic Mark Kermode let a successful campaign to have audiences shout "KERCHING!" at this point when watching the film. More of this kind of thing is required.
I used to go to theaters almost every week. But past 5 years, it's just once or twice. Getting a nice projector and having patience for DVD/BD release works for me.
And I can drink beer from bottle straight up.
My problem was not (just) theater owners, it had more to do with mobile loving teens.
Have the cameras identify the a-holes who can't stop talking during the movie and deliver a painful jolt of electricity to their seat until they stfu.
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If you're stoned anough, even Jar Jar is amusing.
Stop spreading your filthy lies!
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Yes, mcgrew, but you are an old coot. Old coots have the privilege of being able to say crazy things like "I won't fly on no gol-durned airplane no more because the security people want to look at my wiener" or "I don't go to movies because they are watching me." I'm actually looking forward to my coot-hood. I'm going to believe in something really crazy, like the basic decency of human nature, or the perfectibility of mankind or something like that.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
It doesn't matter how good or bad the items being advertised are, I don't want my attention distracted from the story the film is telling.
Basically, as long as the characters don't "advertise", I think the public is fine with it.
For example, if Q says to Bond, "now, let me tell you about the 'additions' to the BMW Z3...", and that's the only mention of the make or model of the car in the movie, it's probably OK. But if Bond were constantly asking people if they "want a ride in my BMW", it'd be too much (like the mentioned Omega watch example).
And Bond wore a Rolex Submariner traditionally
I suppose it's how you define "traditionally." OO7 hasn't worn a Rolex since 1973's "Live and Let Die." In fact, aside from the early Connery films Bond has usually *not* worn a Rolex.
Hence "traditionally" all other Bonds other than Connery are pretenders to the throne.