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Topic: Is it time to bring back the projectionist ?
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Gary Crawford
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 979
From: Manassas, VA. USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted October 28, 2015 07:45 AM
Sometimes in our anti-digital statements, we may forget the 70's..film still in flower, but presentation was abandoned...even worse than now. Large cinema's divided and subdivided ...screens shrunken....sound leaking from the adjoining theater....films out of focus...shown with the wrong lenses. Curtains? A trivial matter. Films scratched and dirty with terrible mono soundtracks. Seats ...dirty and uncomfortable. Pre-made popcorn that was in worse shape and harder for the viewer to digest than the films themselves.
With today's well designed theaters...and, in many cases, excellent, but expensive, food....I find going to the movies a much more pleasurable than in those dark 70's.
True...I prefer the brightness and quality of a film presentation and I do love the very few theaters for which showmanship is important, but things are better than they were at one time. And...running theaters and making films was,is and always will be a business, and the people in the business are IN business to make money. If they don't make money, there WILL be no theaters and no movies to watch.
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted October 29, 2015 11:02 AM
Digital may be scratchless, but I have over 70 year old film in my collection, on standard 8mm and otherwise, and I can still play them and except for the occasional "scratch", they can still be enjoyed just as much as when they were first screened ...
How much do you want to bet that there won't be a single DVD, Bluray or videotape that I'll be able to enjoy much beyond 30 years? In fact, far less time, (though I do have a few palmcorder VHSC that are still playable, with lines, oops, what was I thinkin?g ... SCRATCHES!!
-------------------- "All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted October 30, 2015 12:36 PM
Brian's comments remind me of that trnd from about 20 or less years back, that still continues today ...
You'll have family that will bring they're standard 8mm and super 8mm films to a telecine "expert" and then, after having them put on a DVD, will toss the films!
... but then, alas, most or all of these people are never informed, (as there are dollars to be made), that a DVD, even the best of them, have a limited life span. Even the best of DVD's (that are supposed to be good for, what, 100 years?), can only remain that way under certain circumstances and storage.
Quite frankly, I don't see how those estimates for long life DVD's can be accurate, as there is no real way to gauge that. Different "ingredients" which make up a DVD, decay at different rates, (much like the Cyan layer on Eastman prints, GRRRR!), so, even if the rest of the DVD would be fine, one element decays quicker, and the DVD will not play.
There are quite a few DVD's in my collection (soon to be tossed, as soon as I find out as to whether the "data" on them can be rescued), major studio DVD's, that are pristine, not a mark on them, no bad storage (humidity ect), and yet, they won't play.
-------------------- "All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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Paul Adsett
Film God
Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted October 30, 2015 03:53 PM
quote: There are quite a few DVD's in my collection (soon to be tossed, as soon as I find out as to whether the "data" on them can be rescued), major studio DVD's, that are pristine, not a mark on them, no bad storage (humidity ect), and yet, they won't play.
Exactly Osi, and its called 'Disc Rot', and it can happen almost overnight. A perfect playing DVD one day, that refuses to play the next. I have had many in my collection, all from the major studios, and some only 5 years old.
-------------------- The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection, Elmo GS1200 f1.0 2-blade Eumig S938 Stereo f1.0 Ektar Panasonic PT-AE4000U digital pj
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