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Topic: Projectionist's Dictionary

Erika Hellgren
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 168
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: Jun 99

posted 12-07-1999 03:10 PM

We had a guy that worked in our booth for a while who drove me crazy by calling everything by the wrong name - almost as if he were making it up. We never knew what the hell he was talking about. He called "trailer packs" "cores". So I asked him what he calls the pieces of plastic that film is winded onto - he said "core rings". Drove me mad.

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

Posts: 9532
From: Toronto Ontario Canada
Registered: Jun 99

posted 12-07-1999 06:14 PM

I always have problems getting people to understand the difference between wow and flutter when trying solve a problem over the phone

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 12-08-1999 05:39 PM

Two-Minute Warning: The dirt and junk at the beginning and end of every reel that lets you know a changeover is comming up soon, even before you see a cue mark.

The Work Study students here at M.H. College are under orders to check the projector on every reel change. (even though it's a platter) I will often be on my way to the projector long before any cues appear. When they ask me how I knew when the change was going to happen I respond, "I saw the Two-Minute Warning!"

Two-Minute Warnings are fast becomming a thing of the past with the advent of FilmGuard.

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Tim Reed
Better Projection Pays

Posts: 5246
From: Northampton, PA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 12-08-1999 07:59 PM

"Brain" always used to bug me, too. For the reason that it's a misnomer. The "brains" of the platter are not in the center feedout control.

On another term, I still get calls from people who's intermittent "motor" is on the blink!

Others people often get wrong:
motor = engine
sprocket = gear
film = tape
tape = film
projector = camera (though I've never heard this one in the reverse)
carbons = rod = stick
shutter = fan
booth = box office

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Brian Francis
Film Handler

Posts: 15
From: Newberg, Oregon USA
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 12-09-1999 01:44 AM

It's happened several times that people have asked me if I could "speed up" the <sometimes> film <or often> "tape".

last night one curious observer remarked "so you are still using film?" All I could do was snap back "so you must have an all digital home theatre?" He admitted to having a DVD.

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 12-10-1999 10:08 PM

I must admit to using words like 'bulb' and 'brain'.

It's funny, I don't use 'bulb' when I'm working as a stagehand! We usually refer to the lamps as 'xyz-123',etc., refering to the number of the lamp (bulb) we need because we use several types. It's always understood that one 'relamps' a spotlight.

When I'm at Tinseltown, however, I almost always say 'bulb'. (Or as our first Chief Technician, who was from Kentucky, would say, "BUB".)-- I just think it's just how you get used to saying things in a given atmosphere. If I went to TT17 and said, "Gimme' an XBO-4200 so I can relamp #10", they'd just stare at me and say, "HUH?"

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Jon Miller
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 973
From: San Diego, CA, USA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 12-10-1999 10:26 PM

I can't help but call the take-up ring for a platter system a "donut." Well, they're both circular...

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Ben Wales
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 602
From: Southampton. England
Registered: Jul 99

posted 12-11-1999 05:00 PM

Usher comes into the projection Box.

"The Picture has slipped or fallen down the Screen".

projectionist responce: "I will put it up in a minute" or could say "why not stick it back up on the screen yourself!"

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Jason Burroughs
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 654
From: Allen, TX
Registered: Jun 99

posted 12-11-1999 05:31 PM

I once had a customer quite seriously inform us that the projector had "fallen over" when the lens did not quite change all the way and was shoing the movie up on the ceiling.

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George Roher
Master Film Handler

Posts: 266
From: Washington DC
Registered: Jul 99

posted 12-12-1999 12:30 AM

At one theatre I got what seemed like hundreds of vague complaints on my radio saying that "There's something wrong with the picture in theatre 3" or "The screen's messed up in theatre 4". This confused me because they were complaining about theatres that were in intermission. It always turned out that they were complaining about the slides not being centered or not being on, or the occasional slide that gets stuck in the machine and is only half on screen. It's nice that the customers are worried about missing any advertising.

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Robert Saba
Film Handler

Posts: 7
From: Mesquite, TX, USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 12-12-1999 02:22 AM

I think this could be considered a malapropism.... all I know is I've never used this term. I've heard other managers and even projectionists refer to a missplice as a "misframe" when I was working at AMC. Hmm.... AMC.... go figure.

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Scott Ribbens
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 118
From: Los Angeles
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 12-12-1999 10:17 AM

I once had an usher call the booth on the radio and say "The focus is to loud in theatre number 6"

------------------

Scott

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Ken Layton
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1452
From: Olympia, Wash. USA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 12-12-1999 12:04 PM

I've heard people call Travel Ghost "flutter".

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

Posts: 9532
From: Toronto Ontario Canada
Registered: Jun 99

posted 12-12-1999 03:39 PM

The FOcal Press's book on film editing lists a splice made out of frame as a misframed splice
The term also refers to the picture being out of frame on the screen for any reason
but misframe is the correct term
scarry AMC right

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Michael Cunningham
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 186
From: Anchorage, AK
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 12-15-1999 05:00 AM

Hmm, we always called them jump-frames. I guess because customers complained that the picture had "jumped" up or down. Oh well.

-Mike

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