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Folks take time to watch this, its really good. The one thing I take from watching this excellent short, is that no matter where you live, or what country you come from, the interest in film and film projection is the same.
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That was awesome and true in every way -
When you watch it you can't help feeing the sadness as the world of the cinema slips away from some who have known almost nothing else.Comment
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Graham Ritchie...Thanks for posting! As the proverb states...."Time and tide wait for no man (or woman
)" It is sad that the projectionist's knowledge and skill sets have become obsolete with the onset of digital technology. It's for certain that technology will continue to push forward and we must adapt as best we can. It's good with videos like this that we can look back and appreciate the evolution of film... its origins and the world-wide appeal it has. At this point in time...thinking on the positive side...we are lucky to be able to merge our enjoyment of the current technology with the past. This may not be practical in our future so I plan to just enjoy the options we have for now.
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I spent 50 years projecting 35mm in various cinemas. Never once did any patron ask the manager to thank the projectionist for a great show.
Change-overs about every twenty minutes (or less), trimming the carbons to be adequate for the next reel, using the follow spot on the interval ice-cream sales girls (two in the stalls and two in the balcony.) They hated it, and immediately walked away, but we then followed them panning with the light beam!
Then, xenon lamps with towers. And in the last years a five-screen multiplex with 3-tier platters.
But, I enjoyed giving pleasure to all the patrons, even if they didn't know me.
Maurice
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To all the projectionist on this forum I want to thank you for all the work and effort you have put into your jobs over the years. I'm actually feeling very guilty right now. I worked almost 3 years in a movie theater in San Francisco. I never visited the projection both even once. After closing I remember seeing the projectionist walk down the stairs into the lobby and we would politely wave and say good-night to him. Sadly I don't even think I knew his name. Most of us workingat the theater were just out of high school and starting college. We didn't have a clue or even question what went on in the projectionist's booth. Pathetically we were just too preoccupied with socializing and too young to care about anything more than our own jobs of being a cashier ... working at the candy counter... or being an usher. Now that I am a projectionist, at least in my own home, I see that the projectionist is really only noticed when something goes wrong.
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Great little film, and I'd like to second the thanks to all the professional projectionists on here. It reminded me of this superb little film from 2006, 'Salim Baba', about one of the last 'bioscope wallahs'. To me, this is as magical as Cinema Paradiso:
https://aeon.co/videos/a-shoestring-...nominated-film
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Thank you, Janice.
When people knew I was a film projectionist they invariably said :- How lovely to see all those films.
They never understood when I replied that I never saw a whole film, only snippets occasionally. With single manning there were constant change-overs, working out length of carbons, lacing each projector, checking focus and sound, rewinding each spool. And, often packing off the previous week's programme, and also checking the next week's films if they arrived early.
Click to see my favourite projector. British made !!
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...e_Model_21.jpg
MauriceComment
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In fact I once did something similar at the Ritzy cinema in Brixton. I went there in 2010 to see the film 'Bathory', which had a very limited release. By this time, a high proportion of screenings were digital, and in some cinemas you wouldn't know which format you would see. The scope presentation I saw was so flawless, with rich colour and contrast, edge to edge sharpness and virtually no movement, that although it otherwise looked like 35mm, I started to wonder if it might be digital. But I concluded it must have been 35mm - perhaps because of cue marks - and as it was such a stunning experience, I actually asked afterwards at the counter if I could have a word with the projectionist. A call was made and I was told that the projectionist would come down soon. In the context of this thread and the title of the short Graham mentions, I should mention that I then discovered the projectionist was female and probably still in her twenties. We had a pleasant conversation and I think she was pleased to meet a patron so 'knocked out' by the quality of presentation.Originally posted by Maurice Leakey View PostComment
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Adrian
Did you actually ask the projectionist what media was being used?
Maurice
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There was, and may still be, a theatre an old business district in Stamford Connecticut that had a sign hanging in the lobby with the Titles/Names of the staff. Directly below the manager, was the name of what they labeled "Master Projectionist". I always liked that, Master Projectionist.Comment
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Maurice - She did confirm it was 35mm, and mentioned that they then liked to regularly use 35mm at least once a week. I wanted to be 100% sure as it would have been sad to have left the cinema thinking it was an outstanding 'advertisement' for 35mm, if in reality it was digital!Originally posted by Maurice Leakey View PostComment
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Maurice, the booth I worked in had two Gaumont Kalees in just before it closed for refurbishment. Although I had seen those being worked, they were gone before I started actually working there. They were just dumped in a shed on the side of the building and left to rot.Comment
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Your welcome Janice
Maurice I used to get the same, people used to think that I spent my time watching films. This was never the case there was always film work to do, even though we were only three screens the ads and trls were changed weekly, finding the time to get the work done during the day or evening was always a rush. as the ads had to be on screen first thing Thursday morning, sometime the advertisement people would arrive on the Thursday morning with access to the cinemas, just to check the screen condition, plus they were placed in the right order etc according to the paper work received two days prior.
There were always films arriving to make up, or brake down for dispatch to other cinemas plus maintenance of projectors and everything else in the place. Other work for me, was doing the weekly film schedule according to each film contract, for us and the newspapers. The good thing about the cinema being a independent, was the ability for us to pick out the films that "we wanted" from the distributors. I was also involved in that. One thing I did, was to talk it all over with the downstairs staff, and take into consideration there thoughts with everything.
I will say this, I am glad to be out of it, they were good times, but after 10 years it was really time to move on and do something else, so in a way the closing was a good thing for all of us. Glad I took some film and video of the place back then, a bit of history, plus the cinema owners offering me my baby to take home.... the Bauer U4
During the last few weeks and the last school holidays, we gave away heaps of strips "24 frames", some of the staff offered to help cut the strips up between sessions, all old "G" rated trailers I should add.
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Graham
I see your cake-stand had five platters. I wish the Odeon multiplex where I once worked had the same. Ours were only three platters and this often caused problems if more than two films were needed to be shown. We had to physically remove a complete film and re-site another to accommodate the manager's timetable.
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