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This topic comprises 8 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
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Author
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Topic: I got an interview to be a projectionist at The Majestic!
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Mark Strube
Master Film Handler
Posts: 322
From: Milwaukee, WI, United States
Registered: Feb 2007
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posted 03-10-2007 02:27 AM
quote: Frank Dubrois
Do you think he could sit in a well tuned auditorium and be able to tell us if he's listening to dolby digital, DTS, SDDS or analog? I bet he can't, but ask him...and I'll be he thinks he can. I have no personal ill will towards him..if he gets the job, learns everything, listens well and leaves the arrogance at home with his DVD player and TV, he might do well. Then again, he has this job so built up, that I dont think it can EVER meet his expectations.
Wow, it never ends here. To respond or not to respond. Ah, the hell with it. I don't know about the whole "well-tuned" aspect, but I'm pretty confident I can recognize analog stereo when I hear it. Then again, most of my experiences with it have involved the sound not having that crisp clarity to it, or slight dialogue leak to the rear channels (NOT panning or echoing, which can be in a well-mixed digital track).
Dolby Digital Vs DTS is a tough one. I guess in a perfect theater I couldn't tell the difference, but most are far from perfect. Generally with Dolby Digital, I'll hear a slight gap with the reel change, especially if there's ongoing music or ambient sound FX going on at that time. DTS usually gives itself away with its consistent absolutely seamless soundtrack during reel changes or during bad film noise that would usually cause dropouts with DD read off the film. SDDS, I couldn't tell ya, there was only one theater in my area with that sound system, and it would often revert to analog... I guess with the finnicky readers and it being on the far edges of the film, I shouldn't of been too surprised by that. I will say that with SDDS it sounded like there was a bit more compression on the higher frequency sounds, but that could've just been their particular sound system (which was always insanely loud). If there is a way to tell the difference between DD, DTS, and SDDS in a perfectly tuned theater, I don't know it... I suppose I'd have to be more familiar with the way the various compression algorithms sound on a particular sound system... something that changes with every theater I go to.
I suppose just by my answering of your question you'll find something new to pick me apart on. Or maybe this makes me arrogant? Yeah, that's it. Admitting I know nothing about the job of being a projectionist from the start + talking about other knowledge and interests that I think may be related = total arrogance. Of course! Why couldn't I see it all along! ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
I could mention how I've mixed my own 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks before (custom upmixes for trailers I loved that were only in stereo), or how it's not a TV and DVD player, but in fact a 720p DLP projector and HD-DVD player (Toshiba A2), but I wouldn't want to appear arrogant, now would I. (Cue Frank reminding me snidely how my DLP projector has nothing to do with theater projectors. Really? I thought people weren't opening more theaters because they just didn't feel like it... cause ya know... every projector is only a couple grand. Thanks for clearing that up a few times now.)
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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"
Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002
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posted 03-10-2007 07:42 PM
quote: Mark Strube
Sorry, I don't operate like that. Never have, never will.
Looks like you haven't operated *much in general* so far, and that may explain why some people are reluctant to give respect to someone who is all talk, and, according to himself, little action so far.
By the time I was 22, I had already worked in the cinema for 7 years and was in the middle of my formal studies (or "in college", as one would say in the US), and I think if you ask around, you will find that similar applies to many - most - of the nice people here.
At least in the universe I inhabit, you have to earn respect by work and achievement, not by proclamations, and I am under the impression that most posters here are located in that same universe. Maybe not you, though.
Cinema basically isn't so difficult, so we don't want to be dramtic here, but if you do it *really* well, both as an operator and a technician, it's actually much harder than it looks. Long hours, late hours, weekends, little room for error, high responsibility, and if you ever get into the technical side of things, you will see it is actually quite complex and challenging, and since the equipment is expensive and serves a realtime business, playing with it happens on an altogether different level than home theater and all that. It's much tougher than it looks at first.
Many people here have worked many hard years in that business and know how difficult it can be.
You haven't, so you have to excuse them for not taking you entirely seriously.
That you want to do all that, too, that sounds really nice but first you have to show you can do that. Or anything, really.
quote: Lyle Romer
In an ideal setup where everything has been set precisely I don't think there are many people who would be able to tell what they were listening to in a completely blind test (with the exception of digital vs analog).
Very true, although I think *very few* people ever had the opportunity to run such blind tests under representative conditions. I had a number of auditoriums in Berlin which did actually have SDDS, DTS, and DD all in the same auditorium hooked up to very good B-chains and there I subjected experienced colleagues (and they me) to extensive blind tests.
In 90% of the material heard in a typical movie, most people, including experienced listeners, can't really tell the differences. That actually includes good and optimally aligned analog reader systems as well.
When the material gets busy and complex, you can hear some very slight differences between DD and DTS, mostly in the surrounds, but you have to specifically play attention to that, and that is only in situations where you have very active stereo surrounds at the same time as action in the front channels. But those differences wouldn't matter on most systems out there and they don't matter in general because the audience doesn't sit there and tries to figure out which sound system is playing, ideally, if everything is working nicely, they get engorssed by the movie experience, and all systems deliver that.
In those tests, people were actually able to pick out SDDS with some regularity, but that doesn't matter anymore anyway now.
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Scott Norwood
Film God
Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 03-10-2007 10:29 PM
I would actually argue that there _is_ some value to having been involved in production work (sound or motion picture) for projectionists. For example, the original poster says that he has mixed his own soundtracks. To me, this means that there is a reasonable chance that he understands the typical theatre speaker placement for mono, matrixed Dolby, and digital reproduction systems, and has at least some knowledge of how the Dolby matrix works and the effect of different types of noise reduction in recording and reproduction. He probably also knows that theatre sound systems must be carefully designed, installed, and calibrated in order to reproduce soundtracks as they were heard in the mix facility, as well as the possible effects of poorly set up and/or poorly maintained systems. If really knows this stuff, it's valuable and would save time in training.
Knowing how to listen is also important. If a horn diaphragm blows or a speaker is wired out of phase, chances are good that someone who knows what a "good" system sounds like would be able to at least identify that something is in need of attention.
I'm not saying that the original poster necessary knows any of this, but that the chances that he does are greater than the chances that someone hired off the street would.
(And, no, I often can't even tell the difference between a good SR track and a digital track, unless there are digital dropouts and/or physical damage to the optical track area. I can, however, tell when something sounds "good" and when something is "wrong." Increasingly, I'm thinking that digital reproduction is overrated and not really necessary for the majority of films. SR sounds great and is much more reliable.)
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Mark Strube
Master Film Handler
Posts: 322
From: Milwaukee, WI, United States
Registered: Feb 2007
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posted 03-10-2007 10:59 PM
quote: Mike Blakesley
And Mark...I wasn't trying to tell you that you weren't hearing a revert. You probably are. I was just saying that I'd heard it was a problem in the past and has been corrected on newer units/prints.
It's all good! There have been times I've gone to a movie on a screen that was advertised as Dolby Digital, where I didn't notice any flaws in the audio... but most of the time that isn't the case, at least around here. quote: Michael Schaffer
Looks like you haven't operated *much in general* so far, and that may explain why some people are reluctant to give respect to someone who is all talk, and, according to himself, little action so far.
So if I had straight up lied about my previous job experience, you wouldn't of treated me so shittily? I never asked you to treat me like I know everything about this industry. However, I think you can give me the common courtesy of *some* politeness here. I don't give respect automatically, and neither should you... but there's a difference between respect and simple kindness, neither of which you've given me, no matter how informative you think your responses are. But hey... my words shouldn't matter to you. As you said, I haven't operated much in general, why give me an ounce of respect or credibility?
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Mark Strube
Master Film Handler
Posts: 322
From: Milwaukee, WI, United States
Registered: Feb 2007
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posted 03-10-2007 11:39 PM
quote: Joel N. Weber II
Another projectionist was later speculating that perhaps there was a borrowed head/tail with some digital sound information that was causing that format switching. And of course, if you know this problem may happen, switching off the digital sound decoder while running the analog-only print may make sense...
Now here's a question for ya. When I went to see Smokin' Aces on the local SDDS screen that's now closed... I remember 2 of the 3 trailers were in SDDS, but the third (Hot Fuzz) was clearly not, much quieter, not nearly as crisp, no directional effects. No idea if that trailer had SDDS or not, though. But for the entire first reel of the movie, it was in quieter (especially for this usually LOUD screen) and more unclear analog. My friends, who I had hyped up this loud screen's sound system to, were disappointed. I remember saying that I bet if it'll click in, it'll happen when it hits the next reel. Sure enough, as soon as it hit the splice, the SDDS clicked in, and it was very loud and clear... the rest of the movie stayed in SDDS, and it sounded great.
I'm wondering, what's the reason for this? It didn't appear that first reel was especially dirty or anything. Is there special header information on the film that instructs certain decoders to go into SDDS mode, that sometimes isn't spliced correctly?
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