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Author Topic: How Did *YOU* Become A Tech? Richard Hamilton Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1341 From: Evansville, Indiana Registered: Jan 2000 posted 08-13-2011 05:50 AM                     Thanks Mark . Do I address you as Kaka or Mo, or do you use an English name? My translator was Zou Qi, but he used the name Kevin in English. E-Mail me and I am happy to help. 堆成垛 (hope that translated right, it's Rick)  |  IP: Logged Jen Pelto Film Handler Posts: 30 From: Muskegon, MI, USA Registered: Aug 2011 posted 08-13-2011 10:06 AM                     AH, I know a Jenn Jennings! She works as the personal assistant to a very notable director. Since she did not cite the director, maybe it's a "secret" right now that he/she is working on a movie, so I won't either The longer you work in the "industry", the smaller our world gets, doesn't it?  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-13-2011 10:15 AM                     So true Jen! The other Jen is attending film school in Boston at the moment...  |  IP: Logged Jen Pelto Film Handler Posts: 30 From: Muskegon, MI, USA Registered: Aug 2011 posted 08-13-2011 11:46 AM                     (Of course, she could be working on it alone or with others -- total possibility! Didn't mean to seem to imply that that wasn't the case) We Jens should join forces and create a super theater full of Jen power. Think: Hooters, only smarter and nerdier and fully-clothed. Right next to the Bob theater (I've noticed a few Bobs on here!)  |  IP: Logged Mike Olpin Chop Chop! Posts: 1852 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Jan 2002 posted 09-03-2011 08:25 PM                     I know all of the Jens.  |  IP: Logged Aaron Garman Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1470 From: Toledo, OH USA Registered: Mar 2003 posted 09-11-2011 03:52 PM                     Wait a minute, how many Jens are there? AJG  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 09-11-2011 09:46 PM                        I don't consider myself a tech, but I've learned enough over the years to know how to fix most every day problems and save the techs for only the most serious of issues. More than anything else, it came from having a piece of equipment that was not working right and wanting to figure out how to make it work. In some cases it was picking up a manual and figuring it out; sometimes it was being walked through troubleshooting and fixing by a tech; and sometimes it was simply taking things apart to see how they work. When I started in this business 15 years ago I knew nothing about how a film projector worked. Over the years I've gone from minor repairs like changing platter rollers, to timing platters, to troubleshooting & testing diodes, to changing intermittents and projector motors. I was able to troubleshoot and fix virtually every projector and platter problem that would fall under the heading of normal or common, as well as many not so common problems. This week we will complete our digital conversion on the last 8 of 12 screens in our indoor theatres. A little over a year ago I had never even laid hands on a digital projector, but I am the primary person handling the installation of the projectors and so far it has gone very smooth. I don't know much about sound equipment and I am limited on electrical knowledge. But I know enough to know what I don't know, and I know enough to save the techs and the company from service calls for most common issues.  |  IP: Logged Joris Springer Film Handler Posts: 83 From: Almere, Flevoland, The Netherlands Registered: Feb 2007 posted 09-15-2011 05:38 PM                     I started out as an service employee (yes yes, I know, many operators don't like the fact that people from the floor get moved up to the booths, I have heard it before, many times) and the first week I worked in the cinema the operator invited me to come on the Thursday morning (Thursday is the day we recieve in my country the new movies and we put them together) and watch how it actually all works. So I came in early and he showed me how he put together Mission Impossible 2. After that he wanted me to test the movie and he even played a bit with the picture to make sure I was paying attention (without of course damaging the film). After that day I came by every Thursday morning though it took me almost 6 years of asking and even us moving to the new building to finally being allowed to put together my first movie. Putting movies in the projector was luckilly already allowed after 1 year of coming in during my time off on the Thursdays. In 2006 I was officially moved partially to the projection booths and since then I have been actually working there since. Over the years I have gotten more and more experience and in fact changed a lot from loving Digital Cinema mostly to starting to feel sad that soon my Vic5's will be leaving us any time. But well, in short, I was invited to watch, then over the years I just kept on coming watching, learning all they could teach me and during the years I was moved to the booths and learned more and more, asking as many things as I could think of and now I am working full-time on the booths, however, without the required papers still. But I am thinking of trying to get them just that since the course in my country is still focused on 35mm I wonder what the use of it still is, even though my employer still does not know when we even get a 4th digital projector or the rest of them. Ups, I think I misunderstood the meaning of tech in this topic, I thought it was meant as a projectionist and not as a technician for a cinema or multiple cinemas. Though in a way at the moment I am the tech of the cinema where I work with a huge backup called FTT. Without them and an old colleague of mine I would be lost with quite some errors that I never encountered before.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 09-15-2011 05:42 PM                        I never officially became a tech (as in supporting myself doing technical work only and no projecting) though I have done tech calls for a few various local theaters. Most theaters in Denver are chains and have their own live-in tech. There are very, very few independent theaters in the Denver metro area and I hate traveling, so I don't think that the job is really worth pursuing.  |  IP: Logged

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