I love movies. I go to the theater to see both old and new films, I watch a lot of movies at home from my DVR and Blu-Ray, and I really enjoy 3D.
BUT… the movie industry frustrates me with many little usability issues that are causing me to start to turn away from their products. Many of these issues are really about their relentless focus on themselves, and not on their customers. Here's my list of issues…
In the Theater
- The automated ticket machines do not always work in the theater. I often have to stand in line instead of getting my tickets much quicker via the machines. Fix the dang machines!
- I then have to stand in line again to get a water. Why don't they just have a Coke machine or something that has water?
- I don't mind the endless commercials before the previews, but they don't have to be so loud.
- The previews are then WAY too loud. Its often louder than the level at which they play the actual movie. This is to make sure we watch what they want us to. They are focused on their goals, not on its effect on the customer.
- Then the movie starts… up to 15 minutes after the listed show time! I can understand a few minutes, but it is getting ridiculous.
- Better food would be great. How hard would it be for them to offer bananas, grapes, or apples? Or maybe even just some healthy sandwhiches? I am forced to bring my own food because I can't anything they have to offer.
- Clearly mark the area that are best suited for handicapped viewers so that people who don't know better do not take those seats.
- Appropriate cup holders please. More here.
During the Film
- Why do I have to sit through a procession of production company logos at the beginning of a film? With one or two exceptions (Pixar, Weinsteins…) I could care less about this. It is all for people in Hollywood. Please stop making me sit through it.
- Then we often have to sit through opening credits and some other type of attribution distraction. It would be great if this could be cut down to start the actual movie quicker.
- In some theaters bathrooms may be on the other side of the cineplex. That means you have to miss 10 minutes of the movie if you have to go. More bathrooms in better locations would be very helpful.
Watching DVD's and Blu-Ray's at Home
- There is no consistency in the interfaces of the opening menus. Sometimes things are highlighted in white, with yellow text, other times it is the reverse, sometimes it raises up and I can never tell which one is raised. Maybe 30% of the time I have trouble figuring out how to play the movie. I understand they all want to enhance the experience, but there needs to be more standardization here. Here's some other recommendations.
- I really do not enjoy when the default audio is the commentary tracks. Sometimes I start the movie and there is talking over it by the director or an actor. I then have to find my way through a menu maze to figure out how to get rid of the commentary.
- I can not choose to skip all the previews at once. That would be OK if I could just fastforward through them quickly but I often have to fast forward through them one at a time. This is very frustrating. If I knew what previews were there I may not fastforward through them all because I actually enjoy previews. Why don't they give me a list on the main menu page so I can choose which previews I'd like to see?
- Then there's the studio's branding clip that comes up that you CAN'T fastforward through.
- AfterI've gone through 5 to 10 minutes of fastforwarding stuff, now I get to see the procession of production comapanies to start the film…. grrrrrrr
- The volume levels are so high on noises (explosions and such) that if I keep the movie at a level that is not too loud for that, I can't hear anything the actors say. I end up turning the volume up and down through the whole movie.
- Why do some disks remember where you left off if you stopped in the middle and some do not? And why do they handle it in different ways? This should really be a standard behavior.
- Why is it so difficult to get 3D Blu-Rays? Some movies choose not to release their 3-D versions (Avatar), others make the ridiculously expensive. And Netflix does not carry any!
Image from phil.d on Flickr