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This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
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Author
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Topic: Where to place the lamphouse in your training program
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Ken Lackner
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1907
From: Atlanta, GA, USA
Registered: Sep 2001
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posted 10-10-2003 02:56 PM
Ok. How did you manage to reply to yourself???
Seriously, though. I can understand where you are coming from about not trusting anyone to do anything advanced, but I sure know I would hate to be nothing more than a button pusher. A projectionist should know everything he can about his equipment and how to fix *certain* things. He should also know when he is in over his head and call the tech, which I do. Then again, maybe I want to know everything I can because I want to be a tech. But I do know that I sure would hate being told that all I can do is thread movies and start them. You don't need projectionists for that. A manager, heck even an usher, can do that.
(I do notice you use the term "booth operator" rather than projectionist. Unfortuneately, that seems to be what a lot of theaters have these days. I prefer to think of myself as a projectionist.)
If you don't mind me asking, what company is this? (If you prefer not to answer, I understand.)
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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"
Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 10-10-2003 03:24 PM
I think it's a simple time-limit that prevents you from replying to yourself. It's been many hours since my first post. I decided to use the second post to bump the topic to reflect the change since it was more than a simple edit. Brad or Daryl can reveal the ins-and-outs of replying to oneself. I'd be interested to know the mechanics of that.
As for being a button-pusher...
Most young people do not mind. We pay a few dollars more per hour and -- once you get the hang of it -- it is easier than working downstairs in many respects. I suspect they really don't want any more responsibility than we are already giving them.
College students especially don't seem to have a problem with it. They like being away from the other employees, generally unsupervised, and the nature of the job provides them moments when they can catch up on reading and other homework, which they are permitted to do in the booth when shows are running.
There are always exceptions -- we currently have a high-school student who wants to learn the job in detail. His grandfather was the chief projectionist at the theatre I practically grew up in -- that was a change-over/carbon house. He's doing well (still a relative newbie) and if he keeps it up I will probably teach him some of the more advanced stuff eventually. Unfortunately, the reality is that he could very well learn everything and become a fantastic projectionist only to discover that theatres are no longer prepared to pay for a "professional projectionist."
As for managers -- I've seen what can happen. It isn't that they are stupid or anything like that -- their focus is divided on the other aspects of the operation and this is what I saw happening:
The manager would thread all of the shows and set the automation timers. Then they would go about their day-to-day routine and forget about the projectors. I've been there. I've seen what happens.
Some shows would start out-of-frame or out-of-focus. The volume might be too low or too high. Occasionally, a Xenon might fail to strike or a dowser might fail to open all the way. In one instance, a hand dowser had been closed the night before for some strange reason.
And then there was the time when a failsafe wasn't working...and neither was the takeup platter. Film everywhere!
When you use managers as projectionists, you could sometimes never even know there was a problem unless a customer complained. The trouble is that sometimes the customer doesn't know that there's a problem:
I happened to be in the building one day when the managers were still starting the first showings. Whatever movie was playing was nearly over. It was a scope movie playing through the flat lens. Nobody had complained so the problem went unchecked.
That incident told me a few things...
1. Managers are nowhere around when the shows start.
2. Managers don't come back to check on shows.
3. You can't rely on the audience to catch problems -- not even big problems.
The bottom-line is this -- NOTHING can replace having a person in the booth full-time. The truth is that an "operator" has more to do than simple "button-pushing." Booth Operators are needed for their ability to see & hear if a show is running properly. They also need to be able to do general troubleshooting. Granted, it's not as all-encompassing or exciting as what was expected/required of a projectionist "in the old days" but there's no shame in having limits to one's duties, especially when those limits are commensurate with the wage that is offered.
If I could travel back in time -- knowing everything I currently know -- would I change lamps in those theatres where I started? Probably not. They weren't paying for those services and I wouldn't be interested in taking on that level of risk and responsibility for that level of compensation. We had a fair deal and I think they got what they paid for. Lamp changes and projector repairs were not part of the bargain.
My experiences come from a few theatres that I have worked for here in The Bahamas as well as in Detroit and Southern California dating as far back as the mid-1980s but mainly from the mid-1990s. I hope you can understand that I do not want to "name names" as all of these operations are generally very well organized and I would not want to give any of them a bad reputation unnecessarily.
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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"
Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 10-10-2003 09:15 PM
Trust me -- these are *not* arbitrary restrictions. Just what solution would you propose if, after 10 years, you hadn't met more than two employees with the interest/aptitude for the more advanced areas...only to have them leave for university or a better (i.e. higher-paying) job after a year? Not to mention the many "tinkerers" that come and go along the way?
Whatever direction Ken takes, I would advise sequencing it as late as possible in the program.
I'd go as late as "hell freezing over" but some of you would introduce it earlier. It should be a judgement call based on comfort levels.
Edit --
I'm told that the union projectionists would typically have to make it through a long apprenticeship -- and we're talking years here -- before they went on the roster for solo assignments. By that time, they had acquired an extensive background in electricity and other projection-related training.
By comparison, even a good training program designed for today's multiplex will look like a "crash course."
Newbies don't need to know how to change a lamp. I really believe it would be a huge mistake and I urge you not to do this.
1. First, you need to make sure they can lace and thread and correct their own mistakes.
2. After a few months on the job you could select the good ones and show them how to do build-up/tear-down and trailers.
3. If they're still there after six months or so and you feel comfortable with them then you might consider advancing their training into the more technical areas.
Meanwhile, take advantage of the headstart and give yourself the opportunity to gain more experience.
[ 10-11-2003, 02:39 PM: Message edited by: Manny Knowles ]
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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"
Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 10-12-2003 01:24 PM
I wholeheartedly agree -- It's a reflection of an industry-wide change in circumstances and attitude.
Having been a really good booth operator myself I know exactly what the job entails. I hope you're not lumping me in with the "suits" who "don't know and don't care" about film presentation. I know what it takes to run a booth. I also know when to admit that what we'd like and what we can afford are two different animals altogether. It's all fine and good to talk about the "the way things should be" but it isn't healthy to ignore "the way things really are."
I reserve the term "projectionist" for someone who is pursuing it as a lifelong career and who has the advanced skills as well. In my case it has nothing to do with the unions but I *did* hear that same rationale when I was in California back in the 1990s. It could well be true. As it pertains to most modern multiplex cinemas, I prefer the term "booth operator" because it seems more accurate and honest to me.
I can't tell you how many guys I know of who got fired because they overstepped the boundaries of their employment understanding in the booth. Some really knew what they were doing -- and it hurt my feelings to see them get fired like that -- but *most* of the others were nothing more than "tinkerers." Now that I'm in charge of a few booths, I've had to deal with my share of tinkering employees.
Let me tell you that as soon as you get a better understanding as to the depth and breadth of trouble a tinkerer can create, it forces you to apply limitations to the job description. In a sense, it strips away your sense of trust and, yes, a few bad apples can spoil a whole bunch and the innocent is made to suffer with the guilty.
But that's just life; get over it.
Right after I had to deal with my first tinkering "projectionists" I decided to re-examine the entire scenario so that I could nip future problems in the bud. For my part, changing the job title to "booth operator" had a psychological effect that actually helped me in terms of defining what I needed and what I could realistically expect, considering the wage that was being offered. It helped me with figuring out what to include in the training and what to leave out. Like it or not, I think the essentials are threading, starting, monitoring and troubleshooting (and "starting" entails substantially more than "pushing a button").
Something else -- Just because a person knows how to change lamps or rebuild the gear trains in the projectors doesn't necessarily make him/her a projectionist or a technician. It comes down to the employment understanding and the extent of your authority in the booth where you work. If the chain (or theatre) only wants you to thread and start the films and monitor the presentations then you've been hired as a booth operator or a film handler...at least by *my* definition...and that definition doesn't arise out of an elitist mentality. It is not intended to make people feel badly about their job. Rather, it is an admission that the exhibition side of the industry has changed significantly and that there is a connection between presentation quality and general corporate attitudes toward the booth and the features.
Look back and compare what we have now to what was going on twenty years ago. While there have been some wonderful *technological* developments (Xenon lamps and platter systems in particular) they have been perverted and undermined by corner-cutting made possible by those same advancements.
I will be frank with you -- It is interesting to compare my original training program with the one I do nowadays. There have been a few added components but, really, much more has been left out. This thread made me go back and look at what I was doing when I got my first job as a Booth Operations Manager and here it is: I was showing off. A lot of that information was unnecessary and irrelevant to the actual day-to-day work those guys and gals were going to be doing. I wanted them to look up to me and think of me as a "know-it-all." I urge you to resist the temptation to show off all that you know.
Teach them what they absolutely need-to-know and then you can build on that after they've had a chance to digest that information through working hands-on.
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