For additional information about the Kodak Cinema Operations group and the ScreenCheck Experience, visit the Kodak Web site at www.kodak.com/go/screencheck.
Kodak ScreenCheck Experience Nears 500 Screens
Kodak announced at the ShoWest 2000 conference for motion picture distributors and exhibitors that the company has certified nearly 500 screens in North America for the Kodak ScreenCheck Experience. The program is designed to help exhibitors ensure that they are offering audiences a first-class movie-going experience certified by Kodak. ""Our purpose is to help exhibitors evaluate whether the image and audio quality on their screens measures up to industry standards,"" Sean Lohan, Manager, Cinema Operations, for Kodakís Entertainment Imaging division. ""We believe it makes a difference when audiences can see and hear all of the nuances in the images and audio. It can affect whether or not they become fully engaged in the story. We evaluate screens for hundreds of image and audio standards, and, if necessary, we make recommendations for bringing them up to par."" Kodak announced the certification program in 1999. After screens are certified, a variety of educational materials are provided to the exhibitors. These include trailers, one-sheets and advertisements designed to inform the public that Kodak has certified the screen. Most recently, Mann Theatres committed high profile screens in the Southern California area, including flagship theatres in Westwood, Hollywood and Glendale to the certification program. General Cinema Corporationís Avco Cinema in Westwood was the inaugural site for the certification program and the company has expanded its participation to screens throughout Southern California. The circuit followed up shortly after in its home base of Boston, Massachusetts and then further expanded to its theatres in Seattle, Washington; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; parts of New Jersey and Washington, D.C. The Movie Experience, a Southern California chain, has certified most of its screens, The Egyptian, which is operated in Hollywood by the American Cinematheque, and El Capitan, run by the Walt Disney Company in Hollywood, are also certified. Lohan notes that the London, England-based Odeon Cinemas has committed to the program for selected theatres in the United Kingdom, and has already certified their flagship theatre in Londonís Leicester Square, the site of premieres and royal command performances. ""Weíre hearing from the theatres that customers are noticing the trailers,"" says Don Lane, ScreenCheck Program Manager for Kodakís Entertainment Imaging division. ""We are beginning to succeed in our goal of raising public awareness about the quality of presentation. We anticipate this will be a long-term learning process before they begin looking for the ScreenCheck Experience signage when they select theatres, but we believe it is worth the effort because it is important to audience enjoyment - so itís also important to the future of the industry. ""A significant facet of the ScreenCheck Experience program involves the state-of-the-art training center in Los Angeles, California, where participants can learn or brush up on their booth skills."" ""We go over a lot of basics and we also go in depth with some issues that a lot of people who work in the booth may never get a chance to learn,"" explains Jim Ferguson, Training Center Manager, Kodak Cinema Operations group. ""We are teaching people basic projector maintenance, film handling, the ins and outs of lamps and lamp houses, and sometimes overlooked issues pertaining to audio. This is the only center in the industry offering standardized training."" ""The certification program and the training center help ensure a consistently high level of quality in presentation,"" says Lohan. ""And quality in motion picture presentation is what Kodak is all about.""