Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Qualifications For Service-Techs Now Going To The Dogs?

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Topic: Qualifications For Service-Techs Now Going To The Dogs?

Barry Hans
Film Handler

Posts: 92
From: Minneapolis, MN, USA
Registered: May 2000

posted 07-19-2002 12:26 AM

IMHO, this type of thread has no place being in this forum.

When we start attacking individuals it's bad.

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Justin McLeod
Film Handler

Posts: 93
From: Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Registered: Jun 2002

posted 07-19-2002 12:42 AM

Joe, The work I can currently do on the Christie projector are; retiming the shutter blade and changing the belt( i need to know how to change out the other belts aswell),Change out the gate bands and completly take apart the basic parts of the aperture and reassemble (I have to clean those things whenever i can), Change out the Bulb igniter,and change out the bulbs. I cant do anything with our christies where you have to auto focus the bulb. I need a little guidence in that dept to.I also need a good understanding of the electrical part of the Christie projector.

What i really need to know are our platter systems,(ours are the christie type),A and B chain training (I do B-chain alignments on home systems so i am very familiar with reading SPL meters). I need instrument training used for setting Up the A and B chain.

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John Eickhof
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 588
From: Wendell, ID USA
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 07-19-2002 01:29 AM

Hey Kookie!! (Bob Koch) It's nice to see you post on the forum!! It's been many years since I have seen you! I still visit with Guy when I am in california! Email me..we can catch up on old times!! Hey Tom! I have not talked with you in years either!! I still see Jim Gillespie
occaisionally... email me!

John

------------------
John Eickhof President, Chief Slave
Northwest Theatre Equipment Co., Inc.
P.O.Box 258
Wendell, ID. 83355-0258
208-536-5489
email: jeickhof@nteequip.com

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Manuel Francisco Valencia
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 151
From: Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 07-19-2002 04:32 AM

Justin

Which theatre do you work for? I have Christies at my theatre and have performed a number of repairs to them. I am also lucky enough to have a tech that is eager in training me so I can show you a little bit more than usual.

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

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

posted 07-19-2002 09:22 AM

The day you stop to learn you die is the best motto for any one experienced or not in this and all industries.
As for bashing someone this probably isn't the place for that

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John Walsh
Film God

Posts: 2490
From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 07-19-2002 09:25 AM

Yes, I agree with Barry; Please let's not attack individuals, especally here (Film-Tech.) We know there will always be people who are not that good, yet will still be promoted. Just like there will always be good people who will be let go, because they tried to improve the quality of their work and pissed off someone.

A problem this industry has is it will not pay a good rate for regular operators, so we are forced to hire inexperienced younger people. This is not altogether bad, it's just that some people you hire may still be immature. This is the way it is, and if you do not account for this in your training, or your day-to-day interaction with them, YOU are wrong.

Now, I don't know anyone involved in this topic, but I know some techs are hired just because they are avaiable at night for emergency service. Most booth problems are fairly easily fixed (usually operator error) so paying a younger, inexperienced person might make sense for some outfits.

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Frank Angel
Film God

Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 07-19-2002 09:49 AM

Yeah,but guys, you gotta admit, it WAS getting juicy!

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Justin McLeod
Film Handler

Posts: 93
From: Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Registered: Jun 2002

posted 07-20-2002 01:38 AM

Manuel,

I work at the spotlight 14 in Norman oklahoma. My theater is owned by Wallace theaters.

Its hard to explain why my manager wont talk to the tech and get him to spend some time with the willing projectionists to help keep things working better. When im with my tech and my manager at the same time, it all the sudden seems like "I" dont know what im talking about but they do. I do know that i would not benefit payrole wise from anymore training or tech work in my booth. I will still get paid the same as the regular employees. The only thing i would gain is knowledge and that means more to me at this point than money. We have problems with some our stereo systems sound i would like to solve but have no way of doing so. Our tech is kind of hard to get along with unless your on his level ( only my opinion though ).

What kind of stuff can you show me?( online ofcoarse)

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

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

posted 07-20-2002 12:08 PM

"We have problems with some our stereo systems sound i would like to solve but have no way of doing so"
Without the test equipment and films and a lot of experience the odds are you will probably make it worse

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Greg Pauley
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 173
From: Huntington, WV, USA
Registered: Jun 2000

posted 07-20-2002 01:08 PM

I started in the business 28 years ago whenever I was 17 years old and didn't know much more than the young people who are starting in the industry today. I was fortunate enough to have been working with a bunch of older guys who taught me the correct way of doing things and would slap me up side my head whenever I did something wrong. I doubt there are too many of us who can say we "knew it all' at a young age or never made a mistake whenever we were first getting in the business. Most of the older guys are gone now who helped me, but I still remember the time I hooked up a surround speaker to the control wire for the curtain. "I got rode for years for that one". I did have a beautiful young lady waiting on me at the bottom of the ladder, which was always my excuse. One thing that is missing today with a lot of theatres is what we now call "Film Done Right" we use to call "Showmanship" in the industry. The fact that films are not being projected with the idea of perfection, but rather the fact the bulb is lit, and the sound is on, is good enough for some. I train a lot of young people today and try to pass on the knowledge I have, some have gone on to work in the industry and some was just looking to get by with doing as little as possible. There are a lot of very bright young people starting in our industry today who just want to learn and haven't been trained properly. IMHO

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Will Kutler
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1506
From: Tucson, AZ, USA
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 07-20-2002 05:09 PM

I will say this, Century Theatres is A VERY POLITICAL company to work for!!

Just about everything that I repaired in that booth were things that needing fixing and adversely effected the quality of presentation.

At this theater where I worked, management always had their tails between there legs for political reasons! Trying to get permission to repair what needed fixing was like pulling teeth! I probably made myself unpopular because of my persistance and attuted of screw politics...just do it! After all, customers pay handsomly at this theater (ticket prices and concession)...so don't they deserve quality! Nontheless, everytime I completed a necessary repair, management was happy because presentation quality improved and the g.m. and salaried managers looked good...plus they took the credit for my achievements!

Anyhow, many of the things that I took the initiative to do should have been done by Mr. Springer! Get the picture!!

Mr. Springer claims that I have an attitude that I "know everything already." I wonder where he gets this info?!! I have already stated elsewhere in F.T. my years of mechanical background...so I brought quite a bit of experience into the booth with me. However, that never prevented me from using and relying on tech. manuals! Furthermore, Bevan Wright will probably attest to the fact that I relied on him more than once for tech advice ! Yes, I have quite often bashed on the Christie projector, but on the other hand, Bevan has always been there to lend advice and help...thanks Bevan !!!! I have learned through experience...which includes a positive attitude towards ones teachers...which is definately not the case with Mr. Springer's protoge!

BTW...John E.!

Jim Gillespie is one hell of a great guy!!!! Norm Lauderback put me onto his trail some time ago while I was in pursuit of my E-7 restoration! Jim has been a wonderful teacher...I spoke with him last week and he is finally moving to Oregon and will hopefully be sending out new business cards soon. I wish that he would participate on F.T. because he would have much positive advice to add!!! One hell of a great person...name of his company is Projection Service Company, Inc...

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 07-21-2002 04:37 AM

Tom, I noticed this is only your second post, but please do take extra special note of the final paragraph in the FAQ document. It states very clearly not to attack "another forum member". This tech you two are speaking of is not a member, and as such Will did not break any rule or policy of this website. I am glad to hear you can vouch for the new tech's desire to learn and qualifications, but the attack on fellow forum member Will is not permitted here. Since you attacked Will directly with your post, his attack back on you looks to me like plain old fashioned retaliation to defend himself. I am not going to say who is right or wrong here (because I don't know and it isn't my business) and I know it seems like a cut and dry moderation on my part, but I have to draw the line somewhere and I hope you can see where I am coming from.

That being said, let's all play happy and refrain from speaking about that specific situation so other people with related input to the topic can post. Thanks.

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Tom Springer
Film Handler

Posts: 4
From: Las Vegas, NV, USA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 07-21-2002 08:37 PM

Brad,
I purposely did not attack Will as I didn't see any reason to do
so but you have really raised my dander - I don't see any relation
to my posting 2 times or 2000 times. As for Will I just stated a
fact that Will was fired from the theatre(he can dispute the reason
if he wants to) and thats a fact. The young man he is bashing( and now he is bashing me) is a nice young man and my company asked me
to let him train with me for a few months - it is not mandatory for
me to do this. Will's opinion of me is not of great importance to
me but the opinion of some of your readers is important to me. I
guess I am like most Techs in this business and think I have a good
knowledge and do a good job for my employer regardless of Will's
opinion. If we would like to continue this I will go into specfics
and have other people write other opinions of my job qualifications
and performance. I still believe Will made a unjustified attack on
someone because he is jealous or anouther reason I'm not smart enough
to figure out. I have talked to people at the theatre and do have
enough information to dispute Will's statement, plus my own personal
experience with BOTH persons. I nor the young man in question, say that he is ready to service theatres by himself but everyday I hear
him say "I learned a lot today" and putting someone down for trying
to progess is not in my book of necessities. I hear in your statement
(Brad) that because I only posted twice I should let this all go (which I would have done until Will's latest post) and I don't think
it is right to do so.

Again I am thankful for you all reading my opinion

Tom Springer

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 07-21-2002 10:03 PM

Ok here we go again.

Tom I am going to let your last post stand, as to be fair, Will got one extra post in when this issue started between the two of you. However I have been working out of town for the last few days and have not been able to keep up with everything being posted. For that matter, I can not possibly be expected to read every single post in every single thread to try and catch disputes like this, so in the future please drop me an email if it seems something is about to turn or is turning sour to alert me to it.

If anyone would like to continue this discussion, please do so. I will however ask Will and Tom to both NOT post any further on this particular thread (feel free to post on any other topic though). Obviously whatever happened in the past is bringing about something that does not belong here. Please use your private emails for that. I appreciate the understanding.

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Richard Hamilton
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1341
From: Evansville, Indiana
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 07-21-2002 10:13 PM

"Wellllll,

I got a real good chuckle the other day when I learned that a "projectionist" with whom I used to work has managed to get promoted to a tech position with a major theatre chain. Notice that I have "projectionist" in quotes !

Anyhow, this kid is an EXTREMELY disrespectful and immuture person with absolutely no mechanical, electricial or electronic experience. Gee whiz, with all the qualified and talented techs out there, this company just might be desperate!!"

These are my thoughts... anytime any willing, young eager projectionist approaches me...Screw them..."Job Security"

From what I've read, if he was disrespectful of you...you deserve it!!

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