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Author Topic: Is There Any "Showmanship" Left? Jonathon Miller Film Handler Posts: 9 From: Kallaroo, Western Australia, Australia Registered: Jul 2008 posted 08-06-2008 12:12 PM                     Cinema 1 at the Piccadilly Cinema in Perth, Western Australia, an old heritage listed art deco cinema in the city centre: As audience enters: Music Playing / Masking In / Curtain Down / Curtain Light On 1) Fade music down / open DVD proj. dowser / fade lights down. 2) Turn curtain light off, revealing DVD ads logo faintly behind the screen / raise curtain 3) Play DVD ads 4) Kick 35mm On / Switch to Sync / Bring DVD Dowser up while video is on black after DVD ads fade out 5) Fade lights off just before lens change 6) Bring masking curtains out / change lens /adjust volume to feature level  |  IP: Logged Gary Crawford Expert Film Handler Posts: 200 From: Neptune NJ USA Registered: Nov 2003 posted 08-06-2008 12:13 PM                     Patrons have told us that they do come to our theatre because we DON'T run ads and commercials. One or two trailers, then the feature. Plus, we're sub-run and about half the ticket price of the area monsterplexes. I started in the early 1970s, with big single-screen theatres, curtains, house and stage lights operated from the booth, and the (then) oldtimers taught me how to put on a nice show. Our theatre today has lights I run manually, and people have commented that our presentations were done very nicely. Older patrons remember how we did it in the big movie palaces, and they like how we do it today. The younger crowd? Well, they wonder why we play that "weird organ music" as the house lights dim. (CD of Jim Riggs at the Paramount Wurlitzer, Oakland CA, playing "Paramount On Parade") Damn kids LOL Our theatre opened in 1925 as a motion picture venue (had been a stage house), still single screen, 520 seats. Beach Cinema, Bradley Beach NJ. Details listed on Cinema Treasures.  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 08-07-2008 01:34 AM                        They may wonder about the music, but I've seen the effect a Wurlitzer can have on an audience that doesn't expect it. Years ago, I worked for Andy Crow, at one of his Olympia (WA) theatres. He had a Wurlitzer in there, and played it several times a week... whenever he felt like it, or whenever a customer (or one of us) could talk him into it (which wasn't hard to do). On some patriotic holiday, I forget which one, Andy decided to play before one of the day's shows. He was good at merging his selections into one big medley, and seemed to play whatever came to mind. This day, he ended his show with "Stars and Stripes Forever". While he was playing, I found an old National Anthem strip, and pulled a loop of the flag waving. About the time Andy rolled into the last part of the song, I hit the curtain with that loop. The crowd went nuts! Of course, once Andy looked up and saw what was going on, he added extra "energy" to his playing. He had a button on the organ console that buzzed the booth, letting us know he was about done. In this case, he had the console lowered back into the pit, just as he was finished. On his last note, we turned off the console spot, closed off the flag loop, & then started the trailer reel on the other machine... lights, curtains (2), the works. That kind of stuff made being a projectionist a lot of fun.  |  IP: Logged Gary Crawford Expert Film Handler Posts: 200 From: Neptune NJ USA Registered: Nov 2003 posted 08-07-2008 10:23 AM                     Oh man, that must have been incredible! Kind of like when we fiddled with the follow spot in the old atmospheric Mayfair in Asbury Park and produced a sunrise in the "sky" above the proscenium as the movie faded to black and the credits began. Who needs house lights when you have a sunrise? It looked great.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 08-07-2008 11:33 AM                     quote: Frank Angel In other words, if you were on the bottom of their totem pole when you were showing film, you'd still be on the bottom of their totem pole after you spent umpteen thousands of dollars putting in that spanking new DLP system to save them print cost money. They may change their mind when they realize the idiots who think "digital = improvement" start showing up to that theater more than their competition.  |  IP: Logged Darryl Spicer Film God Posts: 3250 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 08-07-2008 11:42 AM                    unless the competition has it too then it is back to the bottom of the totem pole.  |  IP: Logged System Notices Forum Watchdog / Soup Nazi Posts: 215 Registered: Apr 2004 posted 05-21-2010 11:01 PM                 It has been 652 days since the last post.  |  IP: Logged F. Hudson Miller Film Handler Posts: 48 From: Los Angeles, CA, USA Registered: Jun 2009 posted 05-21-2010 11:01 PM                  A little bit of quality showmanship still exists in the world. The El Capitan Theater on Hollywood Blvd (across the street from Grauman's) still provides an excellent presentation. Fully restored and used exclusively as the premier venue for the Walt Disney Studios, the El Cap makes every screening an event. The Wurlitzer Organ and 3 or 4 curtains make it quite a pleasure. I highly recommend it if you ever get to Hollywood. I am a motion picture sound editor who has spent thousands and thousands of hours in "Hollywood's" finest studio dubbing theaters, and I still get a little thrill every time the curtain of the El Capitan opens. Quality counts even if corporate theater management refuses to acknowledge it. Thanks to all of you guys and gals who try to make the filmmaker's work look and sound as it was intended. Keep up the good work - you are a dying breed.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 05-22-2010 01:02 AM                        Welcome to the forums and thanks! I think most of us here try to do our best with what we have and the conditions made for us by the money men. But I get really frustrated in Denver where nobody seems interested in putting on a class presentation. I do what I can where I work, but when I am not there it is a manager-run booth. Your presentation can only be as good as your weakest link. By the way, have you ever met or heard of a man named Michael Bay? It just seems like you may have bumped into him once or twice.  |  IP: Logged F. Hudson Miller Film Handler Posts: 48 From: Los Angeles, CA, USA Registered: Jun 2009 posted 05-22-2010 03:43 PM                  Yeah, I seem to remember working on a couple of pictures with a guy named Bay . . . I think they were action films!  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 05-23-2010 04:14 PM                     Yeah, just a couple.  |  IP: Logged

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