my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » The first movie you ran on your own was...? (Page 11)

This topic comprises 16 pages: 1  2  3  ...  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16

Author Topic: The first movie you ran on your own was...? Jeremy Jorgenson Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1002 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: Feb 2005 posted 01-20-2010 07:03 AM                        Oh, first one built was "Quest for Camelot" in the 6k blue plastic reels that we all know & love on these forums.  |  IP: Logged Elise Brandt Expert Film Handler Posts: 160 From: Kuusankoski, FIN/ Kouvola, Finland Registered: Dec 2009 posted 01-20-2010 08:23 AM                     I'm so glad this thread popped up, I had forgotten that panic-induced moment of running your first one... the first one I built was Pearl Harbour. I was so panicked I remeber almost nothing but the few creative moves I had to do to make it fit in one reel and the unbelievable sense of triumph that was felt, krmh, after all three of the bad splices were marked and corrected. Granted, I was wet behind the ears and still a bit damp...  |  IP: Logged Jim Cassedy Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1661 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Dec 2006 posted 01-20-2010 10:18 AM                     OLIVER! (1968) Projected by me in 1970- At the AIT North Massepequa (NY) Theater. Beautiful IB Techniolor 4-track MagOptical Print Changeovers, Motiograph AA's, Peerless Magnarc Carbon Arc lamphouses,(run by motor-generators) Motiograph "Magno-sound"(?) 4track Magnetic Sound System. (Using vacuum tubes)- MANUAL stage and house-light dimming systems. (no motors) The AIT N.M was a "2nd run bargain priced" theater located in sort of a Long Island strip mall. But it did good local business, and had stage curtains & lights, motorized maskings, and real union projectionists; all of which you rarely find even in many decent theaters today. Remember, NOTHING was automated. Motor starts, lamphouse striking, dowser opening, house lights, stage lights, curtain opening, sound source selection, etc all had to be done manually and smoothly and within a few seconds if you wanted a smooth opening to the show. And you always had to remember to load ennough carbon to last a reel. Old habits are hard to break. To this day, I STILL close the manual dowser when striking a xenon lamp! (For those of you who never worked with carbon arcs- - sometimes 'strking the arc' caused little bits of carbon or copper to fly off the carbon rods that could pit or crack the reflector. Carbon arc lamphouses commonly had a metal 'shield' that lowered into place around the carbons when the manual dowser was closed to protect the reflector.) The theater closed in the mid 1970's was converted to retail space. The location later became infamous when heavy snows collapsed the roof in January 1996 injuring dozens of people. I still have one of the 11x17 posters that were put up on telephone poles & places around town for the "OLIVER!" run. (It was a big picture then)  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 01-20-2010 01:03 PM                     OMG, I have been racking my brain (such that it is) to remember the title of the first movie I ran on my own..I do know it was in 1982 at the base theatre on Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, Az. Simplex XL's, RCA 9030's, Altec mono sound. If I ever remember which movie it was I'll update.  |  IP: Logged Rick Raskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1100 From: Manassas Virginia Registered: Jan 2003 posted 01-20-2010 01:47 PM                     The movie was "I'd Rather Be Rich" (1964) with Sandra Dee. Norelco AAIIs with Strong Furura II carbon arc lamps running 11mm trim. Sound was by Ballantyne and included Altec amplifiers and Voice of the Theater speakers. Long gone Beltway Plaza theater near the University of Maryland in College Park. Curtains, masking, house and stage lights and also side scone lighting all controlled from the booth. The theater had about 700 seats.  |  IP: Logged Dick Prather Master Film Handler Posts: 259 From: Portland, OR, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 01-20-2010 05:47 PM                     Psycho in 1961 and someone had put strange scratch ques on it. Walnut Park Theatre with Century CC's over Simplex SH-1000 soundheads. 3-point bases on raisers and very early Strong Mogul arc lamps running 60 amps. I was still in high school. Loved it then and still have that feeling now. Dick  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 01-21-2010 03:10 AM                     quote: Jim Cassedy (For those of you who never worked with carbon arcs- - sometimes 'strking the arc' caused little bits of carbon or copper to fly off the carbon rods that could pit or crack the reflector. ..and how the lot of us would take a single edge razor blade to scrape off and out the copper pits that would burn itself into the glass of the reflector. This was one of my daily opening duties before our first show of the day: to clean out the copper dripping tray (had tons of coffee cans in the back room full of copper drippings. One day, I took all of that copper for recycle and made decent bank..), clean the copper pits off the reflectors then scrub down the reflectors with a moisten rag and making a paste of "Bon-Ami" to get all of the soot residue off the reflectors. Then a nice rinse and polish shine being the results of a good drying and buffing....in our Magnarc lamphouses and Ashcraft lamphouses when I was doing drive-in's. -Monte  |  IP: Logged Jussi Siponen Film Handler Posts: 75 From: Mikkeli, Itä-Suomi, FINLAND Registered: Jan 2010 posted 01-21-2010 11:56 AM                     My first time "flying solo" was Rölli – hirmuisia kertomuksia Link. Change-over house, xenon (at this point only ~300 hours in on the first bulbs!), mono sound. The two projectors were different models, a Fedi and a Cinemeccanica Victoria. I don't remember the types. BTW: that Fedi is still in active use and it was old even back then! It has been retrofitted with red laser analog sound and Dolby Digital soundhead. The Victoria was retired to make room for a used Christie 3-platter tower. They will be converting to digital projection soon (June/July 2010).  |  IP: Logged Rick Raskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1100 From: Manassas Virginia Registered: Jan 2003 posted 01-21-2010 12:22 PM                     We used to take the drippings to the Union Hall and the cash was to be donated to Will Rogers Hospital. I'm not sure if any others did the same, but there was quite a lot of value in those chunks of copper.  |  IP: Logged Darryl Spicer Film God Posts: 3250 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 01-21-2010 12:49 PM                    The theatre I started at was a six screen location back in 1984. My first solo run that I can remember was for Starman. We had two auditoriums, one on each end of the complex that had reel to reel equipment. We were running Starman on a 30 minute start. Example First show 12:00 and Second show had to start at 12:30. So we would run the trailers on one reel, we had a reel of trailers ready for both booths, then when reel one changed over to reel two we had to rewind reel one and get it down to the other booth so it would be ready for it's changeover from the trailer reel. It worked out to where the closest time between having the reel ready to go and the reel change was about 3 mins. We only did that for one weekend. The next weekend we were running it on 60's along with The Cotton Club and Runaway between those two houses. It was nuts but fun...I miss those days.  |  IP: Logged Jim Cassedy Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1661 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Dec 2006 posted 01-21-2010 01:19 PM                     quote: Rick Raskin We used to take the drippings to the Union Hall and the cash was to be donated to Will Rogers Hospital. Oh Wow! I'd forgotten that little detail! We did that too. As someone else mentioned, you'd quickly wind up with a bunch of coffee cans (when coffee came in REAL cans!) full of copper drippings. We'd stash ours in the generator room. Once a year, usually around the time of the annual Will Rogers collection drive, some guy from the union would go around to all the theaters and collect the cans of driippings from the booths. I'd forgotten about that! As Monte mentioned, "Bon-Ami" clenser was standard booth equipment for reflector cleaning which had to be done often; and so was "Boraxo" powdered hand soap for getting the carbon dust off you hands at the end of a shift. Where I was, all booths had their own sinks & toilets (a union requirement) and at one theater I even had my own shower!  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Althaus Master Film Handler Posts: 435 From: Bedford, TX Registered: Dec 2008 posted 01-21-2010 05:00 PM                     Going to show my lack of age and relative inexperience here.... 1st show run: Eragon 1st digital show run: Cloudy/Meatballs 3D 1st film built: Bourne Ultimatum  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 01-21-2010 07:03 PM                     Jonathan, now you've 'outed' yourself...you've no excuse not to give us a profile picture.  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 01-21-2010 07:23 PM                  "Wait Until Dark" In 1967 at the Ft. Monmouth US Army military base theatre when I was 22.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-21-2010 10:35 PM                     quote: Phil Hill Firsts 4 me: 8mm = Some porno I "accidentally" bought at a garage sale when I was 13. Still have it. 16mm = "The Music Box" Old L&H film projected at home when I bought it from Blackhawk Films when I was 15. ...still have it. 16mm telecine: "The Happening" My production on national TV... still have it. 35mm : "The Odd Couple" at the Ft. Monmouth Army base. Well, I guess that base had a twin cinema...  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 16 pages: 1  2  3  ...  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.