Monday, March 15, 2010

Environment & Etiquette - My Experience

By environment, I don't mean the current global warming, pollution & other environmental problems. What I mean is the effect that proper surroundings bring to the movie viewing experience.
I had a very unique experience last week when I went to watch Alice in Wonderland (3D).

The Bad

That was the opening day morning show. My first surprise of the day was when I saw only 20-30 people in the theatre. Considering Johnny Depp's popularity here, the attendance was a real surprise. I was happy for a while as I was the only one in my row. The show started, I put my 3D glasses on. But wait a second, the movie started in 2D. I thought perhaps the movie will be in 3D after Alice goes to Wonderland. So I removed my glasses. After 5 mins, two people came, sat adjacent to me. The typical late comer questions followed - How much time had passed since the movie started? Did we miss anything?

30 mins passed. No signs of any 3D. Add to this the constant talking of my neighbours, laughing absurdly at almost every scene. There is actually not much humor in the movie. After another couple of minutes I said to them (in a somewhat serious tone) lucky you for finding so much humor & left to sit in another row. 

40 mins passed. No 3D yet & I understood that some problem is there in the theatre. I thought atleast normal movie is running & guess what - unbelievably even that was gone. Actually theatre stopped the screening. The theatre usher came & told that they were facing some technical problems which will be resolved in 5 mins. The 5 mins became 15 mins at which point I was completely frustrated. After 15 mins the movie started, this time in 3D but since I was in no mood to continue watching the other 1/2 of movie, I went to the manager.

The Good

He apologised for the inconvenience, offered me a refund or the ticket for the next show. I took the later since I had no other engagements. After window shopping for 1 hour, I came for the next show this time to find at least 150 people. A lot of kids were present. Thankfully this time the show started in 3D. After a couple of minutes, the same 2 idiots returned & sat beside me again. They only saw me when they are about to sit. This time they were absolutely silent.

One of the good things about kids in theatre is that when they laugh whole heartedly you become a kid yourself for a second. It is something like that Peter Pan opening day scene in Finding Neverland. The presence of kids & calm surroundings really changed the overall effect of movie on me.

Another positive thing that has happened was I can see the difference in 2D & 3D a bit more clearly since there was only 1 hour gap between the shows. Roger Ebert doesn't like to watch heavy colours and animation in 3D as he finds 2D more charming. But I would differ as I felt there was a lot more depth & sharpness in colours while watching in 3D. Hence my different ratings for the two versions.

Note: The 2 people who sat beside me for 1 1/2 movies actually inspired me to add a page about movie etiquette in the blog.

If you have any such experiences do share your views.

3 comments:

  1. Hi Amar
    I'm not sure exactly what your concern is about the position of your 'labels' - they seem to be under the last paragraph of your post ...
    "If you have any such experiences do share your views.
    Labels: amars tales
    Link to this post
    Reactions:
    0 views/comments"

    Thanks for your comment, too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Okay, now I know what you want. It may be a restriction of the Template you're using, I'm not sure. I have never seen the labels immediately below the title/heading, although it may be possible with some 'tweaking'. Sorry.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yup ! You've got it, now. Changed your template and now it works! Great work.
    It also works on Minima Stretch, but not others.

    ReplyDelete