Films and Sessions

To set up your system so that you can schedule, track, and sell tickets to films and particular sessions, create the following records using the relevant maintenance pages in Head Office or Cinema Manager.

Note: The Session maintenance page is read only. To edit sessions, use Showtime Manager. When you review sessions, you'll notice that the cinema day starts at 06:00 am and ends at 05:59:59 am the following day so that the cinema day crosses the calendar day.

You'll link records of each time to the film records you create, and these details can be displayed in sales channels like POS or Kiosk.

• Distributor: When you create sessions in Showtime Manager, you can search for films by distributor.
• Producer: You can create reports based on producer studio or production company when a film's distributor is not related to the studio.
• Genre
• Actors and Directors
• Movie Formats: These records represent the mediums in which films are available and the technological capabilities required to screen them. By creating movie formats, you avoid having to create multiple film records (such as Avatar and Avatar 3D), and you can avoid scheduling a film in a screen that doesn't have the necessary projection equipment by using Movie Format/Screen Matching. These records are also used in TMS integration with Projection Automation Programs.

  Tip: If possible, use only one Format Attribute in each Movie Format record, and edit the Default Movie Format record to represent the format most commonly used at your cinema.

• Film Languages (optional): If you don't set up film languages, the language selected as the Default Audio Language for Sessions for each cinema site (Head Office or Cinema Manager > Maintenance > Sites > Site tab) always applies.
  

  Important! To set up film languages, first set the SessionFilmLanguageRecording system setting to Yes. Define each languages as an audio language, a subtitles language, or both, and then complete the audio and subtitle setup using the Attributes form. You must complete this set up before the language is available for selection in the Film maintenance form.

• Sales Profiles: The sales profile associated with a film determines how far in advance of a session customers can purchase tickets.
• Censor Ratings

When you've created each of the records above, you can create films and sessions.

Note: Key details you need to create a Film record include National Opening Date, Duration, and Film Rating.

You can also create session types. Use Session Type records to distinguish between different kinds of sessions such as normal and premium experience sessions, in reports. You can also use these records to distinguish between different projection and automation processes (such as picture ratio, volume, and house-light level), and to send a Projection Program code to your TMS for use by your cinema's automation units.

See also:

• Distributors form
• Showtime Manager
• Producers form
• Actors/Directors form
• Movie Formats form
• Film Languages form
• Attributes form
• Sales Profile form
• Censor Rating form
• Films overview
• Creating sessions in Showtime Manager
• Session Types form