My advice if you want to earn a good living and enjoy the job, try to work for some kind of Art House cinema that is Govenment funded , the work is varied they usually pay good rates or a good circuit owned cinema chains, while they are still out there, forget the 'Warehouse' style Pop corn film factories!.

The more experience you can get, the better chances of promotion.
the best payed projectionist jobs is in Preview Theatres or a Technical Manager or a projection engineer.

The BKSTS in the UK last year produced a well written Projectionist Training manual which is worth investing in.

I'm extremely interested in the training manual you mentioned. I've long been aware that it is very difficult to find modern projection training materials. I'm aware of the vintage stuff, such as "Richardson's Blue Book of Projection," but have not seen anything more recent with the exception of the SMPTE manual from 1969. Do you have any specifics on how to order a copy of the UK manual?
 

e-mail movimage@bksts.demon.co.uk www.bksts.demon.co.uk

Edition 1.0 the one I have was printed in 1997
 

Don't get me wrong. The people who run these giant multiplexes work hard for their money (even Joe), but their attention to performance is divided amoung all these screens. (If ever I have a nightmare about the trade, it involves being a relief projectionist in one of these places, and being unable to find one or two of the booths.) The job, as some projectionists have described it to me, becomes one of working in a "film factory".

I don't know if I could take the stress of running one of these installations. I don't think I'd want to try.
 

Now if we were talking 30 screens of automated changeovers running 6000' reels with timers...THAT would be tricky! (but not impossible)

When my theate opened, there was 1 'guy' for every 2-3 projectors. (17 screens)
After a week or two, about HALF of them washed out to the usher and concession depts.
We ran with 3 people in the booth for about the next 6 mos. and for the rest of the year we had 2 ppl.

Now, one 'guy' opens the booth about an hour before 1st show. (12:30) The next guy doesn't come in till 2:00. The "opener" goes home at 6:00 and a "closer" comes in to help the 2:00 guy until he goes home at 10:30. After that the closer is solo for the rest of the night. (S)he has to clean all the machines and shut down at the end of the night.

Anybody who's "compentent" should be able to run 10 screens. (My opinion) As far as status boards and timers... never used 'em.

 

Aaron

 

--Chris
 

I'll take the largest complex you can run platters...add two and I'll run it automated changeovers.

On Thursdays I'll have my new films/trailers and old films/trailers done first too.

BTW...on all this boasting about how many screens everyone is boasting about being able to run, how many times do you get to check EACH screen to ensure optimal focus? I don't know of many platter guys that ever look out after the show starts and don't even do that if they use timers/clocks on the larger plexes.

Steve
 

Okay, I exagerate, but I think people get the point.

No matter how big or small your booth you should be constantly checking things. My suggestion is to just stay on your feet! So many people I train in the booth are good for about 2 months then they just slack off. Next thing you know, they are in one of three places. 1) watching a movie. 2) sitting at the desk reading the newspaper. 3) outside smoking.

If you just stay on your feet and walk up and down the row, (Except for breaks, etc.), you'll almost automatically be checking projectors! Any good projectionist knows that more than HALF of the problems you have can be detected by sound alone!

Remember that scene in "Cinema Paradiso"?
 

As Randy said, a good projectionist is checking things as he/she walks down the booth. I do it without even thinking about it. I also check my threads as I'm threading, and believe it or not - I DON'T make threading mistakes. Threading mistakes are for rookies.

And though I am usually not there when the projector starts up because of timers, I always have time to go downstairs to check movies from the auditoriums at least once a night. I tend to notice any technical problems long before the customers do.

But I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is, so if you don't believe me, come on down to my theatre, and feel free to critique me. I'm always open for suggestions
 

Also, on the late model Christie platters, it's awful hard to make a threading error, as their new roller design doesn't allow the film to fall off the rollers and the AW3 was an excellent design to begin with.

As to checking all machines in a large complex, no problem. Running a large theatre requires going from machine to machine to rethread and such...one must walk by running machines all the time. Sound plays a big role in troubleshooting too. Most things can be detected by sound (except a douser not opening).

I also have used timers for thousands upon thousands of starts in my days and perhaps one in a thousand had a problem such as a jammed douser. Never were there out of frame or out of focus starts and the extremely rare problems were always corrected immediately anyway.
 

The gate parts heat up, the lens heats up and expands...it might look "ok" from a quick glance in the port but not so down at the theatre.

Every once an a while, I get a person that focuses for the trailers when they start...during the opening credits things have started to drift but still passable but by the 3rd reel there is really no description more fitting than "out of focus." And this is with top lenses by ISCO and Schneider.

If you want to see the drift, take binoculars with you around the booth.

Steve
 

One must remember though, those recommended practices were drawn up before polyester came around. I am referring to plattered prints and polyester. Running reel to reel will cause problems regardless of the winding orientation. The hubs are too small. Nevertheless, I've had no problems in the past running platter or changeover winding exclusively emulsion out. Perhaps there is something all together different we are doing other than the winding orientation which causes you headaches and doesn't affect me? Winding tension perhaps???

Anyway, wind however it works best for you...but I'd be awful interested in knowing your booth equipment that is causing you such problems every 20 minutes. If you do stop by, don't forget to bring your binoculars.

 

After you visit Brad's theatre, be sure to visit mine as well. It's right next door. That is if "next door" is an acceptable term for 1000 miles away.

But every Thursday night we screen prints, set the focus right at startup and the focus remains constant throughout. Sometimes when I don't get to run a print on Thursday I will focus the movie on the closing credits the next day. Upon startup after that and every following day the movie is perfectly in focus from beginning to end. We are using Chrisitie projectors and mostly Schneider lenses. On some of our smaller houses the flat lenses are ISCO.
 

He said that the reason for that was because during shipping, the film can get hot or cold and expand or contract. This expansion/contraction could cause reticulation (sp?) of the emulsion if it isn't stored emulsion IN.

He also said that if you store the film in 'stable' conditions, (eg: temperature), you don't have to worry. It won't make much difference which way it's stored 'cuz the film won't expand/contract.

Essentially, he said that you should store the film whatever way works best for you. (I like "out") If you think your film might be subjected to extremes of temperature, them you might want to go with 'emulsion in.'

...Just my $0.02 worth...