my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » The Smell of Projection (Page 2)

This topic comprises 3 pages: 1  2  3

Author Topic: The Smell of Projection Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-22-2008 10:50 AM                        Ah yes, film cement. I was only in the booth about a year before we started using the tape splicer, so I've kinda forgotten what it smelled like but I remember liking it.  |  IP: Logged John Walsh Film God Posts: 2490 From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way Registered: Oct 1999 posted 01-22-2008 11:46 AM                     I kinda liked the smell of mag striping, although it was probably because of the great sound and image to follow, rather than the smell itself....!  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-22-2008 12:49 PM                        quote: Mike Blakesley We had a ticket-taker girl who used to hang out in the booth with me sometimes. A couple of years ago she visited Forsyth after being gone for 15 years -- she walked into the booth and took a deep breath and said, "Ahhhhh, it still smells just the same." (And she was smiling when she said it, so I assume it was a good memory.) Ahhhh, the smell of the ticket taker girl;> Sorry, couldn't help myself  |  IP: Logged Bernard Tonks Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 619 From: Cranleigh, Surrey, England Registered: Apr 2001 posted 01-22-2008 02:12 PM                     As for film cement, I still get a high when my wife uses nail varnish remover!! Some others... Carbon Tetrachloride, used for cleaning the projectors and occasionally film. Since banned. Methylated Spirits, the original lovely addictive odour type. Since banned, now made almost odourless and undrinkable!!! Dipping the red hot carbon holders (for burning up short ends) in the old water fire buckets. My worst smell in a projection room was the ozone from the old 3 electrode xenon lamps. Since banned.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 01-22-2008 11:50 PM                     maybe not the smell, but seeing Carbon Tec fire extinguisher bottles hanging all over fire prone areas in the booth.. ..but did forget how the presence of mag film in the booth gave off it's own odor and I bet those operators running 70mm mag prints entering their booths would notice that odor...and I just barely missed that era.  |  IP: Logged Scott McGuire Film Handler Posts: 94 From: Elmira, NY/United States Registered: Oct 2007 posted 01-23-2008 01:57 AM                     We have a tapas bar in the same building as the theatre so when they are open our booth smells like bacon wrapped scallops. I think this must be one of their more ordered items. I wish they would trade popcorn for scallops as this smell makes me hungry all night long.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 01-23-2008 09:30 AM                        We were allowed to eat all the popcorn and drink all the soda we wanted, we just had to pay for the first containers, then we could refill them as long as they would hold up -- the popcorn containers could go almost forever unless you sat on one or something. The soda cups lasted about a month. No place else I've worked at had such a magnimous policy. I used to love to chew the ice cubes. Later in life, I found out that all that constant ice chewing causes fillings to crack or become loose in the tooth cavity. Practically all mine have had to be drilled out and refilled. But drinking soda and chewing ice all day, eating as much popcorn (fresh popped) as you could stomach, smelling splicing cement and running movies....what more could a kid just hitch-hiking around the country and landing in a town too small to have its own name ask for (Bryan-College Station)?  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-23-2008 10:10 AM                        quote: Ahhhh, the smell of the ticket taker girl;> She DID smell good.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 01-23-2008 02:18 PM                     also, maybe not in the booth, but seeing a good ol' Manley popper roaring away in the concession stand really brings out the 'smell of the theatre' Sorry Cretors and others, they just don't cut it for memory's sake. -Monte  |  IP: Logged System Notices Forum Watchdog / Soup Nazi Posts: 215 Registered: Apr 2004 posted 04-20-2010 08:10 PM                 It has been 818 days since the last post.  |  IP: Logged Jeremy Jorgenson Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1002 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: Feb 2005 posted 04-20-2010 08:10 PM                        *bump* There have been two booths in my career that I have come back to work at after a significant time away, one had a smell that took me right back, the other has no smell memory so far as I can tell (but maybe I should say "yet" as I currently work there, perhaps the nostalgia side of the brain hasn't kicked in). I would like to re-visit some of my old booths at some point, though I know one has been converted to all digital, so I wonder what the effect on the smell would be?  |  IP: Logged Martin Daian Expert Film Handler Posts: 227 From: Montevideo, Uruguay Registered: Jul 2003 posted 04-20-2010 11:59 PM                    Speaking about Cinema Smells i remember when i was a little boy and my grandfathers takeme to the theaters, first need to made a file on the street to enter on the theater, normally this files size arround 500 feet long with 1000's of people awaiting to enter on the theater lobby, i remember that when little by little i near the theater street doors a wonderfull smell go out to the street and when enter on the theater the smell are concentrated, no popcorn machines here so the smell was magical, years later i speak with a professional architect and make this questions that what is the unique theater smell and he say that the smell is produced for a mix of various components installed on the theater, one of the components was the projector carbons fired, the smell is impregned on all the theater, the other factor are the old desmontable acustical ceiling roof that was a 1 feet square acustical panels plaques with holes for the sound, the other factor was the wood on the internal doors and the perlux screen, old perlux screens have a incredible cinema smell, well the people that loves the theaters like all us will feel that sensation of the smell and creates a magic sensation, is a mix of senses, the smell the big spaces and the oldest retro style. Today the theaters not smells like in the old days, today smell to a popcorn and smell to a carpeting, i don't like the smell of the new theaters, i like the old style street theaters smell, that smell and special construction buildings have the magic, today survive very little of this theaters thans to the fans that have some money to maintain this big palaces. The smells of the projectors are also a incredible thing, for example the RCA 400 smells all the same smell, the Siemens also all the same smell, the Philips FP 3 also the same smell, i discovery that mayor part of the smell comes from the paint, in the old projectors more smell for the old coarrugated paint, black and obscure grey coarrugated paint like in the Philips FP3 or like in the Ernemann X, the same paint the same smell, i made the smell projector test and all coincident. The carbon smell are a important part of the smell on the theater, the problem that carbons looks impractical today, expensive and toxic, also the autonomy permits up to 50 minutes of continuous prjection so a platter system will not work, only changeovers.....  |  IP: Logged Alan Plester Expert Film Handler Posts: 209 From: great yarmouth england Registered: Apr 2001 posted 04-21-2010 01:12 PM                     Although I have been out of the game for sadly some time, I can still smell in my head, that certain something, as soon as I opened the booth door, ozone, popcorn,oil, I dont think it ever leaves you, after all, there is no job like it in the world,is there.  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Smith Expert Film Handler Posts: 201 From: Youngstown, OH Registered: Jan 2010 posted 04-21-2010 03:01 PM                     Only glossed over this, so apologies if this one's already been spoken for, but it's not any of that crap, it's the DUST getting incinerated by the lamphouse that is a big part of the smell. Even with digital, shouldn't go away, though WE will certainly be eliminated at most theatres. The older the equipment, and the longer it's been storage, and the brighter the lightbulb, the more that smell permeates the room. Of course, these pesky exhaust ports and BS safety equipment detract from the experience greatly  |  IP: Logged Manny Montes Master Film Handler Posts: 270 From: United States Registered: Feb 2010 posted 04-21-2010 09:55 PM                     The smell of simple green and other cleaning supplies  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 3 pages: 1  2  3

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.