[SML] Surveillance cameras on the audience?

[Stuart Wheaton]

They clearly have a rather extensive camera system in place, consider 
that Colorado has had some of the more noteworthy mass shooting events, 
also consider how helpful this is when the problem requires removal 
etc...  There is no way that the removed patron can claim that they 
didn't do the things they were tossed out for.  Certainly can protect 
the theatre from a lawsuit, allows the house staff to monitor reported 
bad behaviour without disrupting other patrons until the removal is 
required.  Seems like a pretty good idea.  Also clearly have someone on 
staff who edited together and released the multiple camera views.  
Curious if this was after she complained she did nothing wrong, or 
pre-emptively?

Stuart Wheaton


On 9/17/2023 5:12 PM, Me via Stagecraft wrote:
> In my theatres, the “conductor-cam” doubles as something of an 
> "audience-cam" (thanks to the geography of the pit) with no recorder. 
> Been that way for many years. But I first heard of an audience-cam 
> maybe thirty-five years ago, when some colleagues toured a panto into 
> a particularly big house. We didn’t think of any of these as 
> surveillance or security devices, instead they just were handy for 
> checking that the house was ready, etc. Times change.
>
> Tom
>
> Tom Heemskerk
> Head Carpenter/Assistant Technical Director
> Royal Theatre & McPherson Playhouse, Victoria BC
> 1(250)216-2894 tomheemskerk at mac.com http://www.rmts.bc.ca
>
>
>> On Sep 17, 2023, at 13:05, Jeff Forbes via Stagecraft 
>> <stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:
>>
>> I imagine by now most of us have seen the video of "Boebert Behaving 
>> Badly at Beetlejuice”. I look forward to seeing signs in theater 
>> lobbies now saying things like “Don’t Be A Boebert. No flash 
>> photography, no vaping, no crotch grabbing!”
>>
>> But my main question is, how prevalent is it nowadays for theaters to 
>> have infra red  surveillance cameras trained on the audience? I 
>> didn’t even know that was a thing and none of the theaters I work in 
>> engage in that practice. But I may go back to masking in theaters 
>> just for that reason alone.
>>
>>
>> Jeff Forbes
>> jforbes1956 at gmail.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
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