#audience-experience

#audience-experience

Tipped for the Oscars, "Hamnet" was released on November 26th. When the movie showed at film festivals, the director, Chloé Zhao, invited the audience to join her in an act of collective meditation before the screening. Among her instructions: "Close your eyes," "Feel your own weight," "Take deep breaths with sound," "Sigh out loud," and "Gently say to yourself, 'This is my heart. These are our hearts.' " Would this ritual not have improved the viewing experience of many earlier films?

Reddit users angry about their overstuffed, overloud theatrical experiences swap stories of other guests illegally filming the screen for the 'gram, propping up laptops and participating in Zooms, bringing toddlers into R-rated movies and letting them watch their iPads without headphones, and yelling and screaming and throwing things. People are disgusting! Wouldn't it be better, one person wrote, to be at home, where you can pause Killers of the Flower Moon to pee and get dinner, rather than in a theater, "sitting in a chair some idiot was farting in for three hours"?

To pass the time, David and Trevor compared hearing aids. One in slacks, one in jeans; one in purple polo shirt, one in purple button-down. Their wives nattered among each other, laughing, leaning in, touching the forearm of the other supportively. The men had already covered some important details: One had worked in insurance; one was in cattle ranching. Now they were talking earpiece specs and swapping tips on where to get the very best deals.

If you've ever watched an episode of Jeopardy, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, or any TV game show or competition, chances are you've wondered what actually goes on behind the scenes. So, Redditor u/Meme_Lord4522 asked, "People who have been on game shows, what are some things that watchers don't know?" Here's what people said, along with some members of the BuzzFeed Community. Note: These stories have not been verified. The people who submitted stories are supposedly speaking from their own experiences.