I saw the movie avatar yesterday. At the IMAX flat screen in 3D. I suspect these movies need not be seen in 3D. It seems to be the latest Hollywood scam. For some reason I don’t particularly enjoy the 3D googles. First I hate the fact that I have to really clean the grubby sticky pop corn fingerprints from the lens. Then they seem give me a mild headache. So thanks to that many times in between I keep removing them, and voila… the scene is as pretty. Any who has seen the floating mountains scene without the 3D will also love the visual spectacular. Avatar and others seem to be movies that were converted to 3D as a last minute decision. So while you see the depth but there is no real need to see it in 3D. I guess there is no point in 3D unless you have things flying at you and keeping the third dimension well utilised. Almost all who saw India first 3D movie – Chota chetan, will invarialbly remember the scene in which the protagonist offers the melting ice cream cones that come right at you. Wow… even the alice in wonderland trailers show the magic of 3D where they keep throwing stuff at you. One movie I liked in 3D was monsters versus aliens.
But why am I making such a hullabaloo over this? Real reason: The price of the ticket was 350 bucks a head. Luckily Jispa wasn’t interested so we went while she was at garnny’s house. I weigh the movie by the price tag. 700 bucks for jasmine and me, plus a 220 for the soup and ginger rice. Was it worth a grand? … hold on…220 for what? Well at imax, we always go to Zenzibu and order some soup and rice. The special part begins here, we ask or it to be served to our seats around 30 minutes into the movie. So right in the middle of the movie the guy sends us hot food, while treading on everyone else’s toes, while the movie is on. Hopefully (for the others) it’s not a delicate time of the movie’s narrative. So in the cold theatre we get our warm lovely tasty soup.
But did I tell you the best part? Zenzibu is a south east asian joint. So yes the aromas are packed inside the food waiting to be released in the cinema hall as soon we get the lid off. I am sure that disturbs everyone else. But what the hell, at a net cost of a grand I am having my soup and eating it too.
Showing posts with label imax adlabs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label imax adlabs. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
a little bit of humility, please.
We had gone the other day to Imax Adlabs, now called Big Cinemas. We wanted to watch the dark knight on the Imax dome theatre. Should be fun, we figure, to watch batman and his nemesis magnified a zillion times. It is quite a crazy complex movie. I have already seen it once when it had originally released. Sitting back, researching it and then understanding it; made it important to see it again.
We sit nice and happy waiting for the movie to start at 6 pm. Five minutes on – no movie. Suddenly the national anthem starts with no warning. Everyone gets up. Oops. 54 seconds up and we sit again. More waiting… some music starts. Ok. Then suddenly the producer logo starts playing without the lights being dimmed. Ok. Then its stops. Ok. Then some more waiting. Some activity near the pursers cabin. The purser comes out and announces a technical snag. Five minutes more. The air conditioning is off. We start feeling warm. Then people start shouting for the screen to come on. Wise cracks fly all over the place. Suddenly the movie starts, sputters for a brief moment, dies a natural death. Now this is getting unnerving. It does seem like the joker is on the loose. 30 minutes up and the joke is on us. 40 minutes and lot of shouting and reassuring later the movie starts, but mind you, this is not the beginning, it is 5-10 minutes into the movie already. We resign to our fate and sit. Then we realize something is amiss. Oh come on… the soundtrack was not in sync. In the action scene it didn’t make a difference. The bullets were whizzing all over the place. But when the dialogues started one realized that the sound was actually five seconds before the scenes. Weird.
Every one got up, screamed. They stormed out. In a few minutes one came back and announced that they were giving refunds. The crowd and the action moves to the box office. The manager is trying to pacify the crowds. The crowd is asking for something more than just a refund. The manager does some calling and figures that he can give a refund along with a chance to watch the movie again till Thursday. Who watches movies on weekdays?
We see an ironic poster – if you have feedback please sms us. Type WOW followed by your feedback to xxxx. What shit? How preposterous. Forcing me to type wow automatically turns me off when I want to send negative feedback regarding something. Eliminating negative feedback is how people grow.
I don’t understand this stuff. There is no power given to any manager. The dome runs on 5 to 10% capacity in any case. The cost of the screen, staff and AC is fixed in any case. If something goes wrong, why can’t you just offer a complete refund instantly along with a free voucher to see the movies again? This way if the guy comes in again at least you make money off the popcorn and cola, which is a ridiculously high margin item. I would have given at the very least a free movie ticket and a free upgrade your pop corn voucher. This way I am sure he will but some pop corn and hopefully some colas along with. But no… these chains will spend on the décor, the funny irreverent advertising but will have no standard procedures for any delay, technical snags etc. Instead of converting customers to ambassadors they will ensure dissatisfied customers. I understand arrogance when your halls are full, but the dome runs empty. Use it you idiots. Give tickets left right centre. Do anything. But have a customer appeasement program, please. Even the marginal cost of the pop corn tub and Pepsi cannot be more than 5-10 bucks. If some stupid tax laws do not allow you to give free tickets use the dam pop corn. BUT for heaven sake do something. Aagggghhhhhhhhh.
I once had a chat with the brilliant guy (not a sarcastic comment) who did the Adlabs advertising. They did some smart stuff on the posters etc. My take was simple. That’s lovely stuff, but if your staff is unable to follow through then you risk having a higher expectation and ridiculously high difference in expectation standards. This is exactly what played out. This makes me hate advertising and marketing. Sometimes it better for your organization to talk less and behave better. Humility pays.
We sit nice and happy waiting for the movie to start at 6 pm. Five minutes on – no movie. Suddenly the national anthem starts with no warning. Everyone gets up. Oops. 54 seconds up and we sit again. More waiting… some music starts. Ok. Then suddenly the producer logo starts playing without the lights being dimmed. Ok. Then its stops. Ok. Then some more waiting. Some activity near the pursers cabin. The purser comes out and announces a technical snag. Five minutes more. The air conditioning is off. We start feeling warm. Then people start shouting for the screen to come on. Wise cracks fly all over the place. Suddenly the movie starts, sputters for a brief moment, dies a natural death. Now this is getting unnerving. It does seem like the joker is on the loose. 30 minutes up and the joke is on us. 40 minutes and lot of shouting and reassuring later the movie starts, but mind you, this is not the beginning, it is 5-10 minutes into the movie already. We resign to our fate and sit. Then we realize something is amiss. Oh come on… the soundtrack was not in sync. In the action scene it didn’t make a difference. The bullets were whizzing all over the place. But when the dialogues started one realized that the sound was actually five seconds before the scenes. Weird.
Every one got up, screamed. They stormed out. In a few minutes one came back and announced that they were giving refunds. The crowd and the action moves to the box office. The manager is trying to pacify the crowds. The crowd is asking for something more than just a refund. The manager does some calling and figures that he can give a refund along with a chance to watch the movie again till Thursday. Who watches movies on weekdays?
We see an ironic poster – if you have feedback please sms us. Type WOW followed by your feedback to xxxx. What shit? How preposterous. Forcing me to type wow automatically turns me off when I want to send negative feedback regarding something. Eliminating negative feedback is how people grow.
I don’t understand this stuff. There is no power given to any manager. The dome runs on 5 to 10% capacity in any case. The cost of the screen, staff and AC is fixed in any case. If something goes wrong, why can’t you just offer a complete refund instantly along with a free voucher to see the movies again? This way if the guy comes in again at least you make money off the popcorn and cola, which is a ridiculously high margin item. I would have given at the very least a free movie ticket and a free upgrade your pop corn voucher. This way I am sure he will but some pop corn and hopefully some colas along with. But no… these chains will spend on the décor, the funny irreverent advertising but will have no standard procedures for any delay, technical snags etc. Instead of converting customers to ambassadors they will ensure dissatisfied customers. I understand arrogance when your halls are full, but the dome runs empty. Use it you idiots. Give tickets left right centre. Do anything. But have a customer appeasement program, please. Even the marginal cost of the pop corn tub and Pepsi cannot be more than 5-10 bucks. If some stupid tax laws do not allow you to give free tickets use the dam pop corn. BUT for heaven sake do something. Aagggghhhhhhhhh.
I once had a chat with the brilliant guy (not a sarcastic comment) who did the Adlabs advertising. They did some smart stuff on the posters etc. My take was simple. That’s lovely stuff, but if your staff is unable to follow through then you risk having a higher expectation and ridiculously high difference in expectation standards. This is exactly what played out. This makes me hate advertising and marketing. Sometimes it better for your organization to talk less and behave better. Humility pays.
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