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It was back to film last night and boy the print looked and sounded good here are a couple of stills that were taken last night just before starting. Its hard to believe, that this year it will be "40 years" since we first watched it at the cinema, how those years have passed.
PS You can click "Watch On Facebook" to see extracts from a previous screening, that's if it works
Fancy a "Happy Meal" I did hear of a case in the US where a certain person is taking McDonalds to court, as he had gone in for a "Happy Meal" and came out more depressed
Anyway it was fun putting all our existing McDonalds adds onto one reel plus a few trailers. One such trailer "Whale Rider" did bring back memories of putting this film together for the city charity premiere screening, with the actors director etc turning up for it on that night. In saying that I am glad to be retired and away from cinema work these days. Those major earthquakes and continues daily aftershocks during 2011 was enough for me being in that projection room during that year.
Here is a blast from the past with a reel running through the Ernemann 2, I put together of adds and trailers a while back now, but its always fun to run through every so often
It seem that 110 years ago yesterday, after a rough day hobnobbing with the elite of society, the captain of a large British luxury ocean liner retires to his cabin, where he calls room service and orders a large glass of ice water. Unfortunately, the ship had just run out of ice and being British, everyone knew this could mean disaster. Fortunately, the first mate sights a large ice cube floating off the starboard bow. Unfortunately, disaster still ensues. For the 110th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, I watched my 35mm print of A Night To Remember (1958). This is my favorite version of all the Titanic films.
"A Night To Remember" is my favorite Titanic films as well, your 35mm print looks stunning, its really goes into the "wow" that's fantastic category
I have to admit I have been a bit slack on screening films of late, to much of the silver disc thing, reading about Mitchell brilliant film print above, did make me last night to make the move to screen "The Artist". This film has been sitting on the deck for a weeks now, but I just kept putting it off.
To fix that, I screened it last night, one thing I like about this film is the fact, the story is based during the 1920-30s the same era as the Ernemann 2 projector itself, so it sort of makes a nice match.
Anyway a couple of screen shots from last night. I picked out Malcolm McDowell in it, I remember him in the action packed 80s film "Blue Thunder" also well known actors such as John Goodman and James Cromwell. "The Artist" was actually shot in the 1:33.1 ratio, so moving the side masking and curtains in to complete its screen presentation did look good. The music I should add was also excellent being Dolby Digital 5:1.
Good masking really pays off with analog projection. Fuzzy edges really detract from the presentation. There is less payoff with masking and digital projection since the edges are sharp, but proper masking always look better. In my screening room I settled for wall to wall scope screen with static masking which works fine for most aspect ratios. The way they play with aspect ratios today, you still get unexpected results.
One thing I have always done Ed in particular if I am asked to put on a film show for others, is to just run either the film projector with the right lens with the lamp on, or the VP in that case, using the proposed blu-ray before folk arrive to get the masking and focus etc just right. All round black masking really makes a big difference. Even last night watching "Bullitt" on blu-ray I just had to get up and adjust the side masking to get right. Other times on my own I might not bother with VP projection, but showing others its a must.
When I worked at the cinema, the top and bottom masking was fixed, the side masking would motor out. The trailers and ads were in the flat ratio, the lights down tag was fitted near to the end last trailer, so that when the Scope tag went through attached on a certain length of black film the cinema would be in total darkness while the masking would move out. The next thing you should see is the much larger Scope image...da da...
I like your approach Graham. It's nice to dial-up the "showmanship" for guests in your screening room. What I would prefer to have, never matches what my budget will allow. Yes, I have fully automated lighting, a scope screen, 7.2 channel sound and a popcorn machine, but what I really need is automated full screen masking and waterfall curtains. But then I stop a think, "How many movies could I buy for the price of nice curtains?"
Your comment, "I just had to get up and adjust the side masking to get right" reminded me of a downtown 2nd run theater I used to go to when I was a kid. I could always tell when the next feature was in scope. The person who sold refreshments would walk down the aisle, reach behind the curtain and pull on a draw screen to move the side masking out for scope. I wonder if the projectionist pushed a button to alert the refreshment staff to change masking for the next feature?
Well its Saturday night and during the week I loaded up the platter for another screening of ET so it was really a ET night tonight, I must admit I do enjoy running the 35mm every so often. Once started I can sit back and enjoy, leaving the Ernemann 2 projector and the platter to do there thing
I could not help myself by not taking some more screen shots tomorrow morning as usual, I will give the Ernie a good clean and lube the rollers for its next run, only a couple more years and Ernie be 100 years old.
Well its not the weekend at the moment, its Tuesday night but just had to give the Epson VP a rest for actual film, with a repeat screening of "2010 The Year We Make Contact" This time round I had added a couple of Scope trailers on the front, however even though this you-tube video is of a previous screening, the stills were taken tonight. I will be screening 2010 again over the weekend if anybody wants to come .
I threaded 2012 up a couple of nights ago, but watched the National Geographic "The Rescue" instead. So last night I thought I better run this film as its still threaded up, so I did. When it comes to disaster films, this one in my view is the ultimate Its full on, the down side is I have to be careful with the sound levels not to blow my speakers, thankfully out neighbours were out last night, compared to running blu-ray etc through the amp, the Dolby Digital multi channel input on the amp for the 35mm film really kicks butt.
So there you have it, 2012 at around 2hrs and 37mins the platter and my old Ernie ran perfect, with as usual a rock steady picture. Its not the first time I have screened this film and its another one that it wont be the last, but have to make sure that once again everyone nearby have gone out.
A couple of screen shots from last night the others from a previous screening
Last week I ran about a 30 minute Scope reel through the Ernemann2, one of the things you can find with movie trailers they can vary. Two examples on this reel show it on the Scope, 2:35.1 ratio, but the feature prints themselves were never released that way, but in flat 1:85.1 .I have one flat trailer Chicken Run, which is full frame, you can see the studio lights etc if you look at on a light box. You cant see those studio lights on the screen as the projector aperture hide it, although in saying that I wonder what it would be like if I used the Scope plate instead. I might do that for fun one day.
The two Scope trailers are Hugo and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas its interesting to see them in the Scope format knowing that the features were 1:85.1
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Sometimes this kind of thing leaks out onto Super-8 too. I have the Derann Boundin', which has got to be among their last new releases. It's 1:85/1, but unlike anything else 1:85/1 I have it is not letterboxed, it's anamorphic. The reason is it was shown as a short to go with The Incredibles, which is 'scope.
The result of all this is it's got a unique projection setup among all my films: I have many that get just a regular 12-25mm zoom projection lens. I have others that need the anamorphic and a 25-50mm zoom auditorium lens to stay within the width of the screen without moving the machine forward.
This ONE print gets the 12-25mm zoom and the anamorphic. (It makes it harder to watch on the spur of the moment! It requires a little preparation and take-down from the previous reel and before the next one.)
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here are a couple of stills that were taken last night just before starting. Its hard to believe, that this year it will be "40 years" since we first watched it at the cinema, how those years have passed.
so it was really a ET night tonight, I must admit I do enjoy running the 35mm every so often. Once started I can sit back and enjoy, leaving the Ernemann 2 projector and the platter to do there thing
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