Since @mgny441 asked, I've created a post here in case anyone wants to discuss films they've seen at TIFF this year. Feel free to add to the comments, but please try to keep it a discussion of the films themselves.
Thursday, September 15, 2016
Monday, September 05, 2016
Ticketing and Entry
I was talking with a friend about the new ticketing system for TIFF, and we were both wondering how this is going to work at each screening. Some random questions/thoughts:
- If you bought your tickets through the TIFF account manager site, then to use those tickets on a mobile device, you need to be able to connect to the internet to log into the mobile version of the TIFF account manager site and bring up your event.
- The mobile TIFF account manager site does appear to come up by default on phones, but when I tried a tablet, it defaulted to the full desktop site, which does not display mobile tickets. You can manually enter the URL of the mobile site at https://oss.ticketmaster.com/aps/m/tiff/EN/apimobile, and then it seems to work. So if you're thinking about using a tablet or an iPad, be sure you have the correct site bookmarked.
- If you bought your tickets through Ticketmaster proper, then their mobile app will show those tickets, but not any bought through the TIFF account manager from what I can see. I tried logging into the Ticketmaster app with my TIFF account manager credentials (which are separate from the credentials I use for Ticketmaster normally) and it would not log me in. I use the same e-mail address for both, however, so that likely is a problem; I don't know if it would be any different if I had different e-mail addresses for each account, but I suspect not.
- If you need to use the TIFF account manager site, as I expect many will, then how is this going to work in venues with limited cellular or wi-fi coverage? If you've ever been in the Lightbox, unless you're on the Bell network, you'll know that cell reception is terrible in that building. I guess you can fall back to wi-fi, but not every venue has public wi-fi, and you may not be close enough to connect until you're at the door.
- In past years, when they would let a screening in, it was quick and efficient, especially if they had pre-torn all the tickets; how is this going to work when they have to scan everyone in? What happens if people are fumbling around for their phones, or if the scanners have trouble reading the QR codes off the phones? Are they going to let people in earlier than they normally do to account for delays? It already takes forever to load up the Ryerson; can you imagine how long it's going to take if they scan every ticket?
- Speaking of the Ryerson, they usually take tickets at the doors to the main floor or on the stairs to the balcony; are they going to continue this, or will they scan people prior to entering the building?
- When my friend went to pick up our programme books, only one handheld scanner at the box office was working; it looked like the staff was trying to reboot the others. Is this kind of thing going to happen at the theaters? What's the backup plan?
I'd like to be optimistic, but I'm assuming the first day of the festival will be a complete gong show getting in, and then they'll work out all the kinks in the system. As an example, in past years, the lines are often a mess at some theaters on the first day until the staff and volunteers get organized and figure out a system.
